Alarka's Question on Yoga

Verse 1 (markandeya.38.1)

जड उवाच । दत्तात्रेयं ततो विप्रं प्रणिपत्य स पार्थिवः । प्रत्युवाच महात्मानं प्रश्रयावनतो वचः॥ ३८.१ ॥

jaḍa uvāca dattātreyaṁ tato vipraṁ praṇipatya sa pārthivaḥ pratyuvāca mahātmānaṁ praśrayāvanato vacaḥ

Jada said: Then, bowing to the Brahmin Dattatreya, that king, humbled in reverence, spoke these words to the great soul:

Verse 2 (markandeya.38.2)

सम्यक् प्रपश्यतो ब्रह्मन् ! मम दुः खं न किञ्चन । असम्यग्दर्शिना मग्नाः सर्वदैवासुखार्णवे॥ ३८.२ ॥

samyak prapaśyato brahman ! mama duḥ khaṁ na kiñcana asamyagdarśinā magnāḥ sarvadaivāsukhārṇave

'O Brahmin! To one who sees rightly, there is no sorrow at all for me; it is those of false vision who are ever sunk in the ocean of misery.'

Verse 3 (markandeya.38.3)

यस्मिन् यस्मिन्ममासक्ता बुद्धिः पुंसः प्रजायते । ततस्ततः समादाय दुः खान्येव प्रयच्छति॥ ३८.३ ॥

yasmin yasminmamāsaktā buddhiḥ puṁsaḥ prajāyate tatastataḥ samādāya duḥ khānyeva prayacchati

'On whatever object a man's mind becomes attached, from that very object it draws and delivers only sorrows.'

Verse 4 (markandeya.38.4)

मार्जारभक्षिते दुः खं यादृशं गृहकुक्कुटे । न तादृङ्ममताशून्ये कलविङ्केऽथ मूषिके॥ ३८.४ ॥

mārjārabhakṣite duḥ khaṁ yādṛśaṁ gṛhakukkuṭe na tādṛṅmamatāśūnye kalaviṅke 'tha mūṣike

'Such sorrow as arises when a cat devours one's own household hen is not felt in the same way for a sparrow or a mouse, where the sense of "mine" is absent.'

Verse 5 (markandeya.38.5)

सोऽहं न दुः खी न सुखी यतोऽहं प्रकृतेः परः । यो भूताभिभवो भूतैः सुखदुः खात्मको हि सः॥ ३८.५ ॥

so 'haṁ na duḥ khī na sukhī yato 'haṁ prakṛteḥ paraḥ yo bhūtābhibhavo bhūtaiḥ sukhaduḥ khātmako hi saḥ

'I, therefore, am neither sorrowful nor joyful, since I am beyond material nature; for that which is of the nature of pleasure and pain is only the impact of elements upon elements.'

Verse 6 (markandeya.38.6)

दत्तात्रेय उवाच । एवमेतन्नरव्याघ्र ! यथैतद्व्याहृतं त्वया । ममेति मूलं दुः कस्य न ममेति च निर्वृतेः॥ ३८.६ ॥

dattātreya uvāca evametannaravyāghra ! yathaitadvyāhṛtaṁ tvayā mameti mūlaṁ duḥ kasya na mameti ca nirvṛteḥ

Dattatreya said: 'It is exactly so, O tiger among men, just as you have spoken. The notion "this is mine" is the root of sorrow, and "this is not mine" is the root of bliss.'

Verse 7 (markandeya.38.7)

मत्प्रश्नादेव ते ज्ञानमुत्पन्नमिदमुत्तमम् । ममेति प्रत्ययो येन क्षिप्तः शाल्मलितूलवत्॥ ३८.७ ॥

matpraśnādeva te jñānamutpannamidamuttamam mameti pratyayo yena kṣiptaḥ śālmalitūlavat

'From my very question alone, this supreme knowledge has arisen in you, by which the notion "mine" has been cast away like the down of the silk-cotton tree.'

Verse 8 (markandeya.38.8)

अहमित्यङ्कुरोत्पन्नो ममेति स्कन्धवान् महान् । गृहक्षेत्रोच्चशाखश्च पुत्रदारादिपल्लवः॥ ३८.८ ॥

ahamityaṅkurotpanno mameti skandhavān mahān gṛhakṣetroccaśākhaśca putradārādipallavaḥ

'Sprung up as a shoot in the form of "I," grown great with the trunk of "mine," having house and land for its lofty branches, and children and wife for its foliage—'

Verse 9 (markandeya.38.9)

धनधान्यमहापत्रो नैककालप्रवर्धितः । पुण्यापुण्याग्रपुष्पश्च सुखदुः खमहाफलः॥ ३८.९ ॥

dhanadhānyamahāpatro naikakālapravardhitaḥ puṇyāpuṇyāgrapuṣpaśca sukhaduḥ khamahāphalaḥ

'—with wealth and grain for its great leaves, nourished over countless seasons, with merit and demerit as its topmost blossoms, and pleasure and pain as its great fruits—'

Verse 10 (markandeya.38.10)

तत्र मुक्तिपथव्यापि मूढसम्पर्कसेचनः । विधित्साभृङ्गमालाढ्यो कृत्यज्ञानमहातरुः॥ ३८.१० ॥

tatra muktipathavyāpi mūḍhasamparkasecanaḥ vidhitsābhṛṅgamālāḍhyo kṛtyajñānamahātaruḥ

'—this great tree of action and its knowledge, spreading over the very path of liberation, watered by contact with the deluded, thronged with swarms of bees that are endless desires to act—'

Verse 11 (markandeya.38.11)

संसाराध्वपरिश्रान्ता ये तच्छायां समाश्रिताः । भ्रान्तिज्ञानसुखाधीनास्तेषामात्यन्तिकं कुतः॥ ३८.११ ॥

saṁsārādhvapariśrāntā ye tacchāyāṁ samāśritāḥ bhrāntijñānasukhādhīnāsteṣāmātyantikaṁ kutaḥ

'Those who, wearied on the path of worldly existence, take shelter in its shade, and depend on the false pleasure of deluded knowledge—how can they ever attain final liberation?'

Verse 12 (markandeya.38.12)

यैस्तु सत्सङ्गपाषाणशितेन ममतातरुः । छिन्नो विद्याकुठारेण ते गतास्तेन वर्त्मना॥ ३८.१२ ॥

yaistu satsaṅgapāṣāṇaśitena mamatātaruḥ chinno vidyākuṭhāreṇa te gatāstena vartmanā

'But those by whom this tree of "mine-ness" has been felled with the axe of true knowledge, sharpened on the whetstone of the company of the good—they alone have travelled that true path.'

Verse 13 (markandeya.38.13)

प्राप्य ब्रह्मवनं शीतं नीरजस्कमकण्टकम् । प्राप्नुवन्ति परां प्राज्ञा निर्वृतिं वृत्तिवर्जिताः॥ ३८.१३ ॥

prāpya brahmavanaṁ śītaṁ nīrajaskamakaṇṭakam prāpnuvanti parāṁ prājñā nirvṛtiṁ vṛttivarjitāḥ

'Reaching the forest of Brahman—cool, free of dust, free of thorns—the wise, freed from all activity, attain the supreme bliss.'

Verse 14 (markandeya.38.14)

भूतेन्द्रियमयं स्थूलं न त्वं राजन्न चाप्यहम् । न तन्मात्रमयावावां नैवान्तः करणात्मकौ॥ ३८.१४ ॥

bhūtendriyamayaṁ sthūlaṁ na tvaṁ rājanna cāpyaham na tanmātramayāvāvāṁ naivāntaḥ karaṇātmakau

'You are not, O king, this gross body made of the elements and senses; nor am I. Neither of us consists of the subtle elements, nor are we of the nature of the inner faculty.'

Verse 15 (markandeya.38.15)

कं वा पश्यामि राजेन्द्र ! प्रधानमिदमावयोः । यतः परो हि क्षेत्रज्ञः सङ्घातो हि गुणात्मकः॥ ३८.१५ ॥

kaṁ vā paśyāmi rājendra ! pradhānamidamāvayoḥ yataḥ paro hi kṣetrajñaḥ saṅghāto hi guṇātmakaḥ

'What, then, O king of kings, do I see as primary between us two? For the knower of the field is beyond it, while the body is but an aggregate of the guṇas.'

Verse 16 (markandeya.38.16)

मशकोडुम्बरेषीकामुञ्जमत्स्याम्भसां यथा । एकत्वेऽपि पृथग्भावस्तथा क्षेत्रात्मनोर्नृप !॥ ३८.१६ ॥

maśakoḍumbareṣīkāmuñjamatsyāmbhasāṁ yathā ekatve 'pi pṛthagbhāvastathā kṣetrātmanornṛpa !

'As with the gnat and the fig-fruit, the reed and its pith, or the fish and the water—seemingly one, yet distinct—so it is, O king, between the body and the Self.'

Verse 17 (markandeya.38.17)

अलर्क उवाच । भगवंस्त्वत्प्रसादेन ममाविर्भूतमुत्तमम् । ज्ञानं प्रधानचिच्छक्ति-विवेककरमीदृशम्॥ ३८.१७ ॥

alarka uvāca bhagavaṁstvatprasādena mamāvirbhūtamuttamam jñānaṁ pradhānacicchakti-vivekakaramīdṛśam

Alarka said: 'O Lord, by your grace, this supreme knowledge has arisen in me, such as brings discernment between Matter and the power of Consciousness.'

Verse 18 (markandeya.38.18)

किन्त्वत्र विषयाक्रान्ते स्थैर्यवत्त्वं न चेतसि । न चापि वेद्मि मुच्येयं कथं प्रकृतिबन्धनात्॥ ३८.१८ ॥

kintvatra viṣayākrānte sthairyavattvaṁ na cetasi na cāpi vedmi mucyeyaṁ kathaṁ prakṛtibandhanāt

'But my mind, overrun by the objects of sense, has no steadiness in this; nor do I know how I may be freed from the bondage of material nature.'

Verse 19 (markandeya.38.19)

कथं न भूयां भूयश्च कथं निर्गुणतामियाम् । कथञ्च ब्रह्मणैकत्वं व्रजेयं शाश्वतेन वै॥ ३८.१९ ॥

kathaṁ na bhūyāṁ bhūyaśca kathaṁ nirguṇatāmiyām kathañca brahmaṇaikatvaṁ vrajeyaṁ śāśvatena vai

'How may I not come into being again and again? How may I attain the state beyond the guṇas? And how may I attain oneness with the eternal Brahman?'

Verse 20 (markandeya.38.20)

तन्मे योगन्तथा ब्रह्मन् ! प्रणतायाभियाचते । सम्यग् ब्रूहि महाप्राज्ञ ! सत्सङ्गो ह्युपकृन्नृणाम्॥ ३८.२० ॥

tanme yogantathā brahman ! praṇatāyābhiyācate samyag brūhi mahāprājña ! satsaṅgo hyupakṛnnṛṇām

'Therefore, O Brahmin, tell fully to me, bowed down and beseeching, that yoga. O most wise one, speak rightly, for the company of the good indeed benefits men.'