Monday, July 17, 2006

regarding rat-eating outcastes

I've been reading a new translation of the Bhagavad Gita and I wanted to share some passages that I find especially insightful:

Bhagavad Gita, a new translation by Stephen Mitchell

You have a right to your actions,
but never to your actions' fruits.
Act for action's sake.
And do not be attached to inaction.
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Actions are really performed
by the working of the three gunas;
but a man deluded by the I-sense
imagines, "I am the doer."
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It is better to do your own duty
badly, than to perfectly do
another's; you are safe from harm
when you do what you should be doing.
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When a man has let go of attachments,
when his mind is rooted in wisdom,
everything he does is worship
and his actions all melt away.

God is the offering, God
is the offered, poured out by God
God is attained by all those
who see God in every action.
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Wise men regard all beings
as equal: a learned priest,
a cow, an elephant, a rat,
or a filthy, rat-eating outcaste.
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Pleasures from external objects
are wombs of suffering, Arjuna.
They have their beginnings and their ends;
no wise man seeks joy among them.
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The mature man, fulfilled in wisdom,
resolute, looks with equal
detachment at a lump of dirt,
a rock, or a piece of pure gold.

He looks impartially on all:
those who love him or hate him,
his kinsmen, his enemies, his friends,
the good, and also the wicked.
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For the man who is moderate in food
and pleasure, moderate in action,
moderate in sleep and waking
yoga [of meditation] destroys all sorrow

...to be continued

2 Comments:

At 5:39 PM, July 19, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey, thanks for that...








Esperando la continuaciĆ³n-

 
At 5:39 PM, July 29, 2006, Blogger Enemy of the Republic said...

Stephen Mitchell is a great translator. That is one amazing book--the whole Hindu faith is incredible, but I do think all religions are true.

 

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