Sacred Texts Hinduism Mahabharata Index Previous Next
"Brahman said, 'Ye best of beings, I shall now declare to you accurately what (the quality of) Passion is. Ye highly blessed ones, do you understand what those qualities are that appertain to Passion, Injuring (others), beauty, toil, pleasure and pain, cold and heat, lordship (or power), war, peace, arguments, dissatisfaction, endurance, 1 might, valour, pride, wrath, exertion, quarrel (or collision), jealousy, desire, malice, battle, the sense of meum or mineness, protection (of others), slaughter, bonds, and affliction, buying and selling, lopping off, cutting, piercing and cutting off the coat of mail that another has worn, 2 fierceness, cruelty, villifying, pointing out the faults of others, thoughts entirely devoted to worldly affairs, anxiety, animosity, reviling of others, false speech, false or vain gifts, hesitancy and doubt, boastfulness of speech, dispraise and praise, laudation, prowess, defiance, attendance (as on the sick and the weak), obedience (to the commands of preceptors and parents), service or ministrations, harbouring of thirst or desire, cleverness or dexterity of conduct, policy heedlessness, contumely, possessions, and diverse decorations that prevail in the world among men, women, animals, inanimate things, houses, grief, incredulousness, vows and regulations, actions with expectation (of good result), diverse acts of public charity, the rites in respect of Swaha salutations, rites of Swadha and Vashat, officiating at the sacrifices of others, imparting of instruction, performance of sacrifices, study, making of gifts, acceptance of gifts, rites of expiation, auspicious acts, the wish to have this and that, affection generated by the merits of the object for which or whom it is felt, treachery, deception, disrespect and respect, theft, killing, desire of concealment, vexation, wakefulness, ostentation, haughtiness, attachment, devotion, contentment, exultation, gambling, indulgence in scandal, all relations arising out of women, attachment to dancing, instrumental music and songs--all these qualities, ye learned Brahmanas, have been said to belong to Passion. Those men on Earth who meditate on the past, present, and the future, who are devoted to the aggregate of three, viz., Religion, Wealth, and Pleasure, who acting from impulse of desire, exult on attaining to affluence in respect of
every desire, are said to be enveloped by Passion. These men have downward courses. Repeatedly reborn in this world, they give themselves up to pleasure. They covet what belongs to this world as also all those fruit, that belong to the world hereafter. They make gifts, accept gifts, offer oblations to the Pitris, and pour libations on the sacrificial fire. The qualities of Passion have (thus) been declared to you in their variety. The course of conduct also to which it leads has been properly described to you. The man who always understands these qualities, succeeds in always freeing himself from all of them which appertain to Passion.'"
64:1 Some texts read Santapah and not Sanghatah. The meaning then will be grief or sorrow.
64:2 This may refer to the exposure of other people's weaknesses by tearing open their veils or covers.