366. Hence with the mind calm and the senses controlled always drown the mind in the Supreme Self that is within, and through the
realisation of thy identity with that Reality destroy the darkness created by Nescience, which is without beginning.
367. The first steps to Yoga are control of speech, non-receiving of gifts, entertaining of no expectations, freedom from activity, and
always living in a retired place.
368. Living in a retired place serves to control the sense-organs, control of the senses helps to control the mind, through control of
the mind egoism is destroyed; and this again gives the Yogi an unbroken realisation of the Bliss of Brahman. Therefore the man of
reflection should always strive only to control the mind.
369. Restrain speech in the Manas, and restrain Manas in the Buddhi; this again restrain in the witness of Buddhi, and merging that
also in the Infinite Absolute Self, attain to supreme Peace.
370. The body, Pranas, organs, manas, Buddhi and the rest – with whichsoever of these supervening adjuncts the mind is
associated, the Yogi is transformed, as it were, into that.
371. When this is stopped, the man of reflection is found to be easily detached from everything, and to get the experience of an
abundance of everlasting Bliss.
372. It is the man of dispassion (Vairagya) who is fit for this internal as well as external renunciation; for the dispassionate man, out
of the desire to be free, relinquishes both internal and external attachment.
373. It is only the dispassionate man who, being thoroughly grounded in Brahman, can give up the external attachment to the
sense-objects and the internal attachment for egoism etc.
374. Know, O wise man, dispassion and discrimination to be like the two wings of a bird in the case of an aspirant. Unless both are
there, none can, with the help of either one, reach the creeper of Liberation that grows, as it were, on the top of an edifice.
375. The extremely dispassionate man alone has Samadhi, and the man of Samadhi alone gets steady realisation; the man who
has realised the Truth is alone free from bondage, and the free soul only experiences eternal Bliss.
376. For the man of self-control I do not find any better instrument of happiness than dispassion, and if that is coupled with a highly
pure realisation of the Self, it conduces to the suzerainty of absolute Independence; and since this is the gateway to the damsel of
everlasting liberation, therefore for thy welfare, be dispassionate both internally and externally, and always fix thy mind on the eternal
Self.
377. Sever thy craving for the sense-objects, which are like poison, for it is the very image of death, and giving up thy pride of caste,
family and order of life, fling actions to a distance. Give up thy identification with such unreal things as the body, and fix thy mind on
the Atman. For thou art really the Witness, Brahman, unshackled by the mind, the One without a second, and Supreme.
378. Fixing the mind firmly on the Ideal, Brahman, and restraining the external organs in their respective centres; with the body held
steady and taking no thought for its maintenance; attaining identity with Brahman and being one with It – always drink joyfully of the
Bliss of Brahman in thy own Self, without a break. What is the use of other things which are entirely hollow ?
379. Giving up the thought of the non-Self which is evil and productive of misery, think of the Self, the Bliss Absolute, which
conduces to Liberation.
380. Here shines eternally the Atman, the Self-effulgent Witness of everything, which has the Buddhi for Its seat. Making this Atman
which is distinct from the unreal, the goal, meditate on It as thy own Self, excluding all other thought.
381. Reflecting on this Atman continuously and without any foreign thought intervening, one must distinctly realise It to be one’s real
Self.
382. Strengthening one’s identification with This, and giving up that with egoism and the rest, one must live without any concern for
them, as if they were trifling things, like a cracked jar or the like.
