Vedic Literature | Ekamsat | Uddhava-Gita | Exhortation to Avoid Evil Company
2. One, who has been firmly established in the knowledge of the Atman and thereby liberated from the ego-sense in regard to the body and the mind, may still live among the products of the gunas so long as the body is alive. But as he is aware of the products being false presentations born of Maya, he is no longer bound by them in spite of his being in their midst.
3. One should never associate with people whose ideal in life is mere satisfaction of hunger and sex. One who keeps company of such persons is consigned to the dense darkness of ignorance, just as a blind man led by another blind man is.
4. The famous emperor Pururavas, on recovery from the terribly distracting state of mind into which he had fallen because of separation from Urvasi, became possessed of an intense spirit of dispassion and expressed his feelings poetically.
5. With Urvasi deserting him, the emperor ran after her, naked, like a mad man, moaning in desperation, appealing to her not to run away.
6. With his passion for her un-satiated and his whole mind still absorbed in
her, he was not aware of the long time he had spent in her company and of the
years ahead in his life.
8. With her robbing me of my heart, I never knew in her company when the sun had risen or set. Nor was I aware of the countless years that had passed this way.
9. Look at the enormity of my delusion and ignorance! I am a jewel in the community of the ruling princess, nay an emperor. In spite of it, I have just been reduced to a mere pet animal of a woman.
10. Wailing and naked, like a mad man, I followed the track of the woman who had discarded me like a blade of grass, me with all the power, and insignia of an emperor.
11. What happened to my imperial power and majesty, when I pursued this deserting woman like a jackass following its female companion and receiving its kicks?
12. Of what use are learning, austerity, abandonment, Vedic study, solitude and silence, if one’s heart is carried away by a woman?
13. Fie on me priding on my being emperor, and on my learning, but without any understanding of my own good - a veritable ass or bull subordinated completely by female species!
14. The long years I had spent enjoying the honey of Urvasi’s lips did not satiate my sexual urge. On the other hand, it had the same effect as the offering of ghee to the sacrificial fire.
15. Who could release my mind captivated by this courtesan except the supreme worshipful Lord Mahavishnu, the One who transcends all sense-perception, and yet draws and holds the minds (souls) of even sages who are immersed in the bliss of the Self?
16. Though Urvasi gave me sound advice, the absolute slave of the senses that I am, it has all been ineffective in dispelling the powerful infatuation that has seized my mind.
17. In fact, she has done me no harm. My woes are entirely due to my own uncontrolled sense-impressions. If a man gets frightened by mistaking a rope for a snake, the rope is not at all to blame.
18. What is this body, a mass of foul-smelling substances, extremely impure and dirty? Where are beauty and other attractive qualities one has been associating with the body? Certainly they are not in the body that is foul and filthy in everyway. The beauty and other qualities are only a superimposition on the body by the ignorant mind.
19. It is impossible to determine as to who have claim to this body. Does it belong to parents as it has arisen from them? Does it belong to wife as she claims to have enjoyment and protection from it? Does it belong to one’s employer because of its subordination to him? Does it belong to dogs and vultures, as it provides food to them on its death, if it is left as such without cremation or burial? Does it belong to one’s friends, as they expect many forms of help from it?
20. For the body of a woman, the dirtiest of all world-stuff, bound to be reduced into worthless substances like ashes or food for worms, man develops intense attachment and goes about exclaiming ‘how beautiful is this woman?, how charming is her smile?’
21. What difference is there between worms and ourselves (men) both of whom seek delight in a body constituted of skin, flesh, blood, fat, marrow, bone, etc and full of filthy fasces and urine?
22. Though contemplation can reveal the hollowness and stupidity of physical attraction, the reflective seeker should not keep the company of women or of others enslaved by women. For, the mind gets agitated when the senses and their objects come into mutual juxtaposition.
23. Mind cannot have attraction for objects that have never been seen or heard of. The mind of a man who never allows his senses to dally with their objects becomes gradually controlled and tranquil.
24. So, one should not have physical contact with women or men who are ‘women’s
men’. For, even men of discrimination should not put too much trust in their
capacity to withstand the onslaught of senses in relation of their objects. Men
of ignorance can never do it.’
26. So a man of wisdom should abandon contact with men of sensuous dispositions and seek the company of holy ones. By their guidance, holy men help to efface the sensuous tendencies of the mind.
27. The holy ones are those who depend on none except Me, who always think of Me, who are tranquil, even-minded, without ego, beyond the pairs of opposites, and who do not accept gifts or accumulate riches.
28. Oh noble-minded Uddhava! Holy men always speak of My excellences and achievements with a very beneficial effect on all. Their company eradicates sinful tendencies in the minds of people.
29. Those, who respectfully listen to the discourses of holy men, glorify Me in songs and recitals, feel enlightened with them and become devoted to Me developing firm faith in Me and delight in My contemplation.
30. Oh pious friend! What more is there to be attained by one who has developed loving devotion to Me – the Brahman, the repository of infinite auspicious qualities, the abounding field of infinite bliss and consciousness?
31. Just as one who approaches fire gets rid of cold, darkness and fear, so does the company of holy men help one to overcome the chillness of ritualism, the darkness of ignorance and the fear of samsara.
32. Holy men with the knowledge of the Brahman and established in pure tranquility are the sole support of men struggling in the ocean of samsara, just as a strong boat is for people ship-wrecked on the sea.
33. Just as food is the source of life to living beings, just as I am the support to the distressed, just as one’s dharma is one’s wealth after death, so for those overpowered by life in samsara, the holy man is the only centre of relief.
34. The saints give you the spiritual eyes to realize the Lord in His glory and in His immanence. As the sun, high up in the sky, enables one perceive the externals only, the saints, the real patron-deities and relatives, enable one recognize the Atman and even Me.
35. Now Pururavas gave up his infatuation for Urvasi completely. He lost all hankering after, and attachment to worldly objects, and wandered about in the land, with his heart steeped in the bliss of the Atman.