The Yogi or Sanyasi

A Yogi and Sanyasi does rightful work, not seeking gain from it.

And he is neither who lights not the flame Of sacrifice, nor setteth hand to task.

Regard as true Renouncer him that makes

Worship by work, for who renounceth not Works not as Yogin. So is that well said:

“By works the votary doth rise to faith, And saintship is the ceasing from all works; Because the perfect Yogin acts–but acts Unmoved by passions and unbound by deeds, Setting result aside. Let each man raise The Self by Soul, not trample down his Self, Since Soul that is Self’s friend may grow Self’s foe. Soul is Self’s friend when Self doth rule o’er Self, But Self turns enemy if Soul’s own self Hates Self as not itself.[FN#10]

The sovereign soul Of him who lives self-governed and at peace Is centred in itself, taking alike Pleasure and pain; heat, cold; glory and shame. He is the Yogi, he is Yukta, glad With joy of light and truth; dwelling apart Upon a peak, with senses subjugate Whereto the clod, the rock, the glistering gold Show all as one. By this sign is he known Being of equal grace to comrades, friends, Chance-comers, strangers, lovers, enemies, Aliens and kinsmen; loving all alike, evil or good.

He should sit steadfastly meditating, solitary. His thoughts controlled, his passions laid away. He should quit his belongings.

In a fair, still spot Having his fixed abode,–not too much raised, Nor yet too low,–let him abide, his goods

A cloth, a deerskin, and the Kusa-grass.

There, setting hard his mind upon The One, Restraining heart and senses, silent, calm, Let him accomplish Yoga, and achieve Pureness of soul, holding immovable

Body and neck and head, his gaze absorbed on his nose-end,[FN#11] rapt from all around, Tranquil in spirit, free of fear, intent Upon his Brahmacharya vow, devout, Musing on Me, lost in the thought of Me.

That Yojin, so devoted, so controlled, Comes to the peace beyond,–My peace, the peace Of high Nirvana!

But for earthly needs Religion is not his who too much fasts Or too much feasts, nor his who sleeps away An idle mind; nor his who wears to waste His strength in vigils. Nay, Arjuna! call That the true piety which most removes Earth-aches and ills, where one is moderate In eating and in resting, and in sport; Measured in wish and act; sleeping betimes, Waking betimes for duty. When the man, So living, centres on his soul the thought Straitly restrained–untouched internally

By stress of sense–then is he Yukta. See!

Steadfast a lamp burns sheltered from the wind; Such is the likeness of the Yogi’s mind Shut from sense-storms and burning bright to Heaven. When mind broods placid, soothed with holy wont; When Self contemplates self, and in itself Hath comfort; when it knows the nameless joy Beyond all scope of sense, revealed to soul– Only to soul! and, knowing, wavers not, True to the farther Truth; when, holding this, It deems no other treasure comparable, But, harboured there, cannot be stirred or shook By any gravest grief, call that state “peace,” That happy severance Yoga; call that man The perfect Yogin!

Steadfastly the will must toil until efforts end in ease and thought has passed from thinking.

Shaking off all longings bred by dreams of fame and gain, Shutting the doorways of the senses close With watchful ward; so, step by step, it comes To gift of peace assured and heart assuaged, When the mind dwells self-wrapped, and the soul broods Cumberless. But, as often as the heart Breaks–wild and wavering–from control, so oft Let him re-curb it, let him rein it back To the soul’s governance; for perfect bliss Grows only in the bosom tranquillised, The spirit passionless, purged from offence, Vowed to the Infinite. He who thus vows His soul to the Supreme Soul, quitting sin, Passes unhindered to the endless bliss Of unity with Brahma. He so vowed, So blended, sees the Life-Soul resident In all things living, and all living things In that Life-Soul contained. And whoso thus Discerneth Me in all, and all in Me, I never let him go; nor looseneth he Hold upon Me; but, dwell he where he may, Whate’er his life, in Me he dwells and lives, Because he knows and worships Me, Who dwell In all which lives, and cleaves to Me in all. Arjuna! if a man sees everywhere– Taught by his own similitude–one Life, One Essence in the Evil and the Good, Hold him a Yogi, yea! well-perfected!