Read Mahabharata: Volume 8 Online
Authors: Bibek Debroy
91
Happiness in heaven lasts only till one’s merits are not exhausted.
92
Kama is the god of love. Shiva burnt him down to ashes. Since he no longer possessed a body, Kama came to be known as Ananga.
93
Happiness.
94
Brahma.
95
Brahmacharya.
96
Morning and evening, sandhya.
97
Morning, noon and evening.
98
The preceptor.
99
The student must not ask the preceptor for instruction, but wait for the instruction.
100
After studying in the preceptor’s household.
101
Offered by householders.
102
Of the householder.
103
This goes back to the duties of the householder.
104
There are grains left after a crop has been harvested, or after grain has been milled. If one subsists on these leftovers, that is known as unchhavritti.
105
A variety of young deer.
106
Both kasha and kusha are kinds of grass.
107
Parivrajaka.
108
Alms.
109
Brahma performed austerities in Pushkara, in Rajasthan.
110
Bharadvaja.
111
Relieving oneself.
112
The east in the morning and the west in the evening.
113
The mouth, the two hands and the two feet.
114
Because of a vow.
115
Useless flesh is defined as meat that has not been obtained from sacrifices to the gods and the ancestors.
116
The offering of water to deceased ancestors, with water thrown from the right hand.
117
Payasa is rice cooked in milk and sugar. Krisara is made out of wheat flour, rice and sesamum. The dessert must be particularly praised.
118
Tvam is used for juniors and equals. Seniors must be addressed as
bhavan
for males and
bhavati
for females.
119
The spiritual, concerning the supreme spirit.
120
The brahman.
121
In the body.
122
Mana.
123
Buddhi.
124
The soul.
125
Sattva, rajas and tamas.
126
The qualities are confounded by the senses, the intelligence and the mind.
127
Intelligence.
128
Sattva, rajas and tamas.
129
Not influenced by the senses.
130
Instead, one should try to conquer it.
131
Intelligence.
132
The soul.
133
The atman.
134
Of the senses.
135
Of such men. The qualities mean sattva, rajas and tamas.
136
Everyone does not progress to the same extent.
137
By the senses.
138
Instant moksha and incremental advancements towards moksha.
139
Dhyana yoga. The number four never becomes clear.
140
The senses.
141
Of the body.
142
The five senses having come earlier.
143
The wind is being used as a metaphor.
144
The translation doesn’t capture the nuance. The terms used in the text are respectively
vichara
,
vitarka
and
viveka
. All three are generally reasoning and judgement. However, in the progression of yoga, these are regarded as higher and higher levels of discernment, vichara being the lowest and viveka being the highest.
145
Japa is the recitation of a mantra in a low tone. A japaka is a person who does this.
146
Since both sankhya and yoga have multiple meanings, this causes problems of translation and understanding. The following seems to be a reasonable interpretation. In sankhya, the use of no particular mantra is recommended, sankhya being equated with Vedanta. In yoga, there is the recitation of a particular mantra.
147
Sankhya and yoga.
148
This is a reference to resorting to sankhya, without any specific mantra in mind. However, there is an emphasis on rituals. In contrast, in the mode of abstention, there are no rituals, but one meditates on a specific mantra.
149
These shlokas are not very clear and are also difficult to translate. External probably means external rituals. Internal probably means internal rituals, japa with a specific mantra. However, meditation is also possible without any mantra at all.
150
The final stage of meditation, where one is completely immersed in the brahman.
151
Action.
152
The process of meditation.
153
In this context, hell is being used in a slightly different sense, as anything that falls short of complete liberation.
154
These riches can also be interpreted as the special powers obtained through yoga.
155
That is, they are not freed.
156
Yudhishthira was born from Dharma.
157
The agreeable and the disagreeable.
158
Sattva, rajas and tamas.
159
The five elements, the senses, mind and intelligence.
160
Distinctions between the knower, the object of knowing and the act of knowing.
161
Seeing, thinking, hearing, knowing and the reasons behind these.
162
Time is subservient to the required needs.
163
The Vedangas.
164
The brahman.
165
As will become evident, this goddess is the personification of the gayatri or savitri mantra and his japa was based on reciting this.
166
The gayatri mantra.
167
Yama.
168
Yama.
169
Respectively, water for washing the feet and the gift given to a guest.
170
Studying, teaching, giving gifts, receiving gifts, performing sacrifices and officiating at the sacrifices of others.
171
To the fact that there have been some fruits.
172
Of accepting the fruits.
173
For accepting gifts. The text of the Critical edition says,
vakye
, translating as, in words. Non-Critical versions say
balye
, in childhood. Childhood fits better.
174
Virupa means deformed. Vikrita also means deformed. Vikrita donated a cow and then donated the fruits of this donation to Virupa.
175
Kapilas.
176
Give to Vikrita. Twice, because there are two cows now.
177
That of receiving.
178
These shlokas are not very clear. On the one hand, there is the dharma of accepting what the brahmana is offering. On the other hand, there is the dharma of kshatriyas not accepting. These two must be balanced and rendered equal.
179
Vikrita.
180
This is not true moksha.
181
The four characteristics are the four means of obtaining knowledge—the senses, inference, intuition and revelation. The six are hunger, thirst, sorrow, delusion, disease and death. The sixteen are the five organs of sense, the five organs of action, the five kinds of life breath and the mind.
182
Purusha is probably to be understood as the creator and space (
akasha
) as the brahman.
183
The brahmana.
184
Savitri.
185
The brahmana has given away his fruits of japa to the king. The king offers that the brahmana should retain these fruits of his japa and also take half of the king’s fruits.
186
To give me your fruits.
187
Narada and Parvata are sages. Vishvavasu is a gandharva and the Hahas and the Huhus are gandharvas.
188
The brahmana and the king.
189
Into the mass of energy.
190
Brahma’s.
191
Japakas and yogis.
192
The text uses the word smriti. The reference is thus to the original smriti texts and the ones that followed.
193
Brihaspati was Manu’s student.
194
Behind creation.
195
We have translated
agama
as this, as opposed to
shastra.
196
The brahman. This is false because Brihaspati worships something that he does not know.
197
Etymology in the Vedas.
198
Concerning rituals.
199
Concerning accurate pronunciation.
200
Sattva, rajas and tamas. Sattva action is driven by a desire for heaven, rajas by a desire for superiority and victory and tamas by a desire to harm others. The intentions are thus important.
201
Those born from wombs, eggs, sweat, plants and herbs and divinities.
202
After destruction.
203
The soul is left implicit in the text. We have added this. Otherwise, the sentence is incomplete.
204
Because of lack of comprehension, knowledge is bound down.
205
The senses.
206
The atman.
207
This is a difficult shloka to translate and we have taken some liberties.
208
The senses have to be destroyed before the atman can be comprehended.
209
As opposed to rising and setting.
210
Release from a body and entering another body.
211
At the time of an eclipse.
212
An eclipse is believed to be due to Rahu devouring the sun and the moon.
213
This is a difficult shloka to translate and the interpretation is the following. In dreams, the manifest body is inactive and consciousness is active. After death, consciousness is separated from the senses and from knowledge. Knowledge remains and though the body is no longer existent, knowledge exists in that state of non-existence.
214
The five senses.
215
The atman.
216
Of the senses.
217
Of action.
218
Of the senses.
219
The brahman.
220
Other than inside one’s own self.
221
Towards performing action.
222
Such as sexual intercourse between members of the same species.
223
Of rebirth.
224
The five senses and their qualities.
225
The inferior kind of knowledge, tantamount to ignorance.
The ninth volume will complete Bhishma’s teachings in Shanti Parva, that is, it will complete the Moksha Dharma section. Bhishma’s teachings continue in Anushasana Parva, specifically, in Dana Dharma. This volume will have roughly half of Dana Dharma Parva.
The Mahabharata: Volume 9
will be published in April 2014.
Carving time out from one’s regular schedule and work engagements to embark on such a mammoth work of translation has been difficult. The past tense should not be used, since only 80 per cent of the road has yet been traversed. Sometimes, I wish I had been born in nineteenth-century Bengal, with a benefactor funding me for doing nothing but this. But alas, the days of gentlemen of leisure are long over. The time could not be carved out from professional engagements, barring of course assorted television channels, who must have wondered why I have been so reluctant to head for their studios in the evenings. It was ascribed to health, interpreted as adverse health. It was certainly health, but not in an adverse sense. Reading the Mahabharata is good for one’s mental health and is an activity to be recommended, without any statutory warnings. The time was stolen in the evenings and over weekends. The cost was therefore borne by one’s immediate family, and to a lesser extent by friends. Socializing was reduced, since every dinner meant one less chapter done. The family has first claim on the debt, though I am sure it also has claim on whatever merits are due. At least Suparna does, and these volumes are therefore dedicated to her. I suspect Sirius has no claim on the merits, though he has been remarkably patient at the times when he has been curled up near my feet and I have been translating away. There is some allegory there about a dog keeping company when the Mahabharata is being read and translated.
Most people have thought I was mad, even if they never quite said that. Among those who believed and thought it was worthwhile, beyond immediate family, are M. Veerappa Moily, Ashok Desai, Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Laveesh Bhandari. And my sons, Nihshanka and Vidroha. The various reviewers of the earlier volumes have also
been extremely kind. Incidentally, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Vaman Shivram Apte. When he compiled the student’s Sanskrit dictionary more than a hundred years ago in Pune, I am certain he had no idea that it would be used so comprehensively to translate the Mahabharata.
Penguin also believed. My initial hesitation about being able to deliver was brushed aside by R. Sivapriya, who pushed me after the series had been commissioned by V. Karthika. And then Sumitra Srinivasan became the editor, followed by Paloma Dutta. The enthusiasm of these ladies was so infectious that everything just snowballed and Paloma ensured that the final product of the eight volume was much more readable than what I had initially produced.
When I first embarked on what was also a personal voyage of sorts, the end was never in sight and seemed to stretch to infinity. Now that 80 per cent is over (and 10 per cent more is in the pipeline), the horizon can be seen. And all the people mentioned above have had a role to play in this journey.