greedy men, bound in chains of iron, sitting around
that fruit-yielding tree, pay their adorations to it,
in expectation of obtaining its fruit.[1096] He who,
subduing those chains, cutteth down that tree and
seeks to cast off both sorrow and joy, succeeds in
attaining to the end of both.[1097] That foolish man
who nourishes this tree by indulgence in the objects
of the senses is destroyed by those very objects in
which he indulges after the manner of a poisonous pill
destroying the patient to whom it is administered.[1098]
A dexterous person, however, by the aid of Yoga, forcibly
teareth up and cutteth with the sword of samadhi,
the far-reaching root of this tree.[1099] One who
knows that the end of all acts undertaken from only
the desire of fruit is rebirth or chains that bind,
succeeds in transcending all sorrow. The body
is said to be a city. The understanding is said
to be its mistress. The mind dwelling within
the body is the minister of that mistress whose chief
function is to decide. The senses are the citizen
that are employed by the mind (upon the service of
the mistress). For cherishing those citizens
the mind displays a strong inclination for acts of
diverse kinds. In the matter of those acts, two
great faults are observable, viz., Tamas and
Rajas.[1100] Upon the fruits of those acts rest those
citizens along with the chiefs of the city (viz., Mind,
Understanding, and Consciousness).[1101] The two faults
(already spoken of) live upon the fruits of those
acts that are accomplished by forbidden means.
This being the case, the understanding, which of itself
is unconquerable (by either Rajas or Tamas), descends
to a state of equality with the mind (by becoming
as much tainted as the mind that serves it). Then
again the senses, agitated by the stained mind, lose
their own stability. Those objects again for
whose acquisition the understanding strives (regarding
them to be beneficial) become productive of grief and
ultimately Meet with destruction. Those objects,
after destruction, are recollected by the mind, and
accordingly they afflict the mind even after they are
lost. The understanding is afflicted at the same
time, for the mind is said to be different from the
understanding only when the mind is considered in
respect of its chief function of receiving impressions
about whose certainty it is no judge. In reality,
however, the mind is identical with the understanding.[1102]
The Rajas (productive of only sorrow and evil of every
kind) that is in the understanding then overwhelms
the Soul itself that lies over the Rajas-stained understanding
like an image upon a mirror.[1103] It is the mind
that first unites in friendship with Rajas. Having
united itself, it seizes the soul, the understanding,
and the senses (like a false minister seizing the
king and the citizens after having conspired with
a foe) and makes them over to Rajas (with which it
has united itself).’”