Chapter 1 — Manki Gita

Yudhishthira asked - If any person, desiring to accomplish acts (of charity and sacrifices), fails to find (the necessary) wealth, and thirst of wealth overwhelms him, what is that which he must do for obtaining happiness?

Oh, heir of Bharata! He who - regards everything (viz., joy and sorrow, honour and insult, etc.,) with an equal eye, never exerts himself (for gratifying his desire for earthly possessions), practises truthfulness of speech, is free from all kinds of attachment & and has no desire for any action; turns out to be a happy man.

These five, the wise ancestors say, are the means for the acquisition of perfect tranquillity or emancipation. These are called Heaven. These are Dharma. These constitute the highest happiness.

In this connection also is cited the old narrative, sung by Manki when freed from attachments, Oh Yudhishthira! Learn it.

In the continuous efforts of earning wealth, a sage named Manki found that he was repeatedly doomed to disappointments. At last, with a little remnant of wealth he purchased a couple of calves.

One day tying those young bulls properly, as he was training them for the yoke in the fields; shying at the sight of a camel that was lying down on the road, those young animals suddenly ran by both sides of that camel.

Enraged at finding, as they were brushing with it, those calves fall upon camel’s neck, and that perturbed camel suddenly rose up and ran at a quick pace, bearing away the two helpless calves dangling on either side of its neck.

Beholding his two calves thus borne away by that strong camel and seeing that they were at the point of death, Manki began to lament.

If wealth be not ordained by destiny, it can never be acquired by even a clever man exerting himself with the best attention, confidence and accomplishing with skill and all that is necessary towards that end.

I had, before this, endeavoured by diverse means and devotion to earn wealth. Behold this misfortune brought about by my-destiny to the association I had!

My bulls are borne away, tossing up & down, by the camel, as it is running in an uneven course, which seems to be mere an accident.

Alas, those dear bulls of mine are dangling on the camel's neck like a couple of gems! Verily this is the result of my-destiny only, turning out my exertion to be mere impudence.

If anything like exertion seems to produce results, a deeper search would discover; that it too stood prompted by the destiny only.

Hence, the person that desires happiness should renounce all attachment. The man without attachments, no longer cherishing any desire for earning wealth, can sleep happily.

How! It was well said, while going to the great forest from the King Janaka's palace; by Suka the renouncer of everything.

Amongst these two, viz., one who achieves the fruition of his every wish, and one who verily casts-off his all wishes; the renunciation of all wishes, is much superior to the achievements of their fruition.

None in the past could ever attain to the end of one’s entire intensions; so long as the body survives, desires keep on multiplying even in the dull-one’s mind.

Oh, my mind verily possessed by cupidity, adopt tranquillity by freeing yourself from all attachments! Repeatedly you have been deceived (by desire and hope); how is it that you do not still free yourself from attachments?

If I am not one that deserves destruction by you, if I am one with whom you should sport in delight; then, oh my wealth-coveting mind! Please do not induce me towards cupidity.

You have repeatedly lost your hoarded wealth. O my wealth-coveting and foolish mind! When will you succeed in emancipating yourself from the desire of wealth?

Shame on my foolishness; that I have become a toy for you! Otherwise, how a man becomes the slave of others?

None born on earth did ever attain to the end of desires, and no one that will take birth will succeed in attaining to it. Casting off all acts at last, I have been awakened.

Certainly, O Desire, your heart is as hard as thunderbolt, since though affected by a hundred of distresses, it does not break into a hundred of pieces!

Now I know you well, O Desire, along with everything dear to you! In continual search of your dear things till now, I never had any happiness in my own Self.

I came to know your root, O Desire! Invariably, you sprout from will. I shall, therefore, avoid will and you shall be destroyed with your roots.

The fraught desire for wealth can never be with happiness. Wealth, if acquired great is the anxiety for its protection, loss after its acquisition is felt as death and lastly, its acquisition itself is very uncertain.

If the wealth cannot be acquired, even by the surrender of one's person; what else can be more painful than this? Even when acquired, one is never gratified with its measure but continues to seek it more & more.

Like the sweet water of the Ganges, acquisition of the wealth only increases one's hankering for it; let it be my lamentation, but now I have awakened. Oh Desire! Please leave me.

Let the band of (five) elements which has taken refuge in this body of mine, may live happily if it likes, or may go wherever it chooses. (Your departure may become the cause of my death, but now I don’t care for it.)

All of you, the followers of Desire and Cupidity, Behold! I have no joy in you; abandoning you all, I shall take refuge in the quality of Goodness/Sattva alone.

Devoting my intellect to Yoga, I shall behold all elements in my own body along with my soul in my own mind, to follow the instructions of the wise mentally; and such my mind, I shall devote to the Brahman. Further, keeping myself well composed, I shall rove happily through the world, without any attachment, banishing you from plunging me into sorrows, again!

Verily the progenitor of thirst, grief, and fatigue for ever; oh Desire! If I continue to be agitated/prompted by you, indeed, I shall be deprived of every way (to the eternal Joy).

The grief that one feels at the loss of wealth is very keen, I think; and it is far greater than what one feels under any other circumstances; for kinsmen and friends disregard one who loses his wealth.

With various kinds of humiliation that number by thousands, there are many more painful faults in poverty. On the other hand, a trace happiness that appears in the wealth is mingled with the major pain.

Robbers slay, openly in the town itself, the person that is possessed of wealth, or afflict him with various kinds of severity, or always keep him anxious with repression.

At last, after a long time, I have understood that, verily the desire for wealth is fraught with sorrow. Oh Desire! You force one in your clutches, to pursue each & every object upon which you happen to settle.

Devoid of any logic you (desire) are but childish; none can satisfy you. Like a blazing fire, it is beyond anybody’s limit to appease you. You know not whether it is easy or difficult to pursue an object of your choice.

You cannot be filled to the brim, like the nether region. You are intended to plunge me into sorrow. From this day, O Desire, I will never be able to accommodate you, again.

I who had felt despair, at first, at the loss of my wealth, have now attained to the high state of perfect freedom from attachments. At this moment, I think no longer, of any desire.

I am suffering so much here; as, a destitute of intelligence until-now I could not understand. (That the association with wealth is always fraught with sufferings.) But now having adopted renunciation in consequence of the loss of my wealth; now-onwards I can rest completely, freed from every kind of fever/trouble.

I cast you off, Oh Desire! With all the passions of my heart; you will never be able to dwell with me or sport with me, again.

I shall forgive slander or those who speak ill of me. If anybody from aversion speaks disagreeable words of me, disregarding those words I shall address him in agreeable speeches. Even when injured, I shall not reiterate with injury.

In contentment of heart and with all my senses at ease, I shall always live upon what may be available to me per chance. I shall never contribute to the gratification of the wishes entertained by you; as you are my foe.

Know it for certain; that, freedom from attachment, emancipation from desire, contentment, tranquillity, truth, self-restraint, forgiveness, and universal compassion are the noble qualities, that have now I come to me.

Therefore desire, cupidity, thirst, miserliness must now depart from me, who have now adopted the path of Goodness.

Having cast off desire and cupidity, great is my happiness now. I shall no longer yield to the influence of cupidity and no longer suffer misery like an un-restrained person.

One is sure to obtain happiness as per the measure of the desires relinquished. Truly, one who yields to desire always suffers.

Whatever passions or aggravations connected with desire must be relinquished by a person; for sorrow, shamelessness, discontent and all such states arise from desire.

Like a person plunging into a cool lake, that too in the hot season, I have now entered into Brahma (i.e. I have realised). Now I am calm, I have freed myself from the entire grief and the pure happiness has now come over to me.

The felicity that results from the gratification of desire in this world, or that other purer & glorious felicity which one enjoys in other worlds, does not amount to even a sixteenth part of that which arises upon the abandonment of all kinds of thirst.

Out of an aggregate of the seven viz.; desire, anger, greed, illusion, pride, jealousy & attachment; killing the principle of desire, which is a bitter foe; I have entered the immortal city of Brahma and shall pass my days there in happiness like a king!

Relying upon such intelligence, freed from attachments, and casting off all desires Manki, attained to Brahma the abode of the highest felicity (i.e. he realised.)

Indeed, benefitted by a loss of his two calves, Manki attained to the immortality. Certainly, cutting out desire to the very roots, he attained to the high felicity.