ess
and misery both here and hereafter, are said to be destroyed when men
become unattached to everything and practise the religion of abstention
or nivritti. The paraphrase of the second line is asaktah alepamakasam
asthaya mahati alingameva pacyanti. Alepamakasam asthaya is explained by
the commentator as Sagunam Brahma asthaya.

827. Urnanabha is generic term for all worms that weave threads from
within their bellies. It does not always mean the spider. Here, it
implies a silk-worm. The analogy then becomes complete.

828. Nipatatyasaktah is wrongly rendered by the Burdwan translator. K.P.
Singha gives the sense correctly but takes nipatali for utpatati.

829. Samudayah is explained by the commentator as equivalent to hetu.

830. Giving food and clothes to the poor and needy in times of scarcity
is referred to.

831. The reading I adopt is Vrataluvdhah. If, however, the Bengal reading
vrataluplah be adopted, the meaning would be "such men are deceived by
their vows," the sense being that though acquiring heaven and the other
objects of their desire, yet they fall down upon exhaustion of their
merit and never attain to what is permanent, viz., emancipation, which is
attainable by following the religion of nivritti only.

832. The object of Bhishma's two answers is to show that the giving of
pain to others (sacrificing animals) is censurable, and the giving of
pain to one's own self is equally censurable.

833. Existence comes into being and ceases. Non-existence also comes into
being and ceases. This is the grammatical construction. The words, of
course, imply only the appearance and disappearance of all kinds of
phenomena.

834. This refers to the theory set forth in the previous sections about
the Soul's real inactivity amidst its seeming activity in respect of all
acts.

835. The Burdwan translator renders the second line as "six thousand
Gandharvas used to dance before thee seven kinds of dance."

836. Both the vernacular translators have misunderstood this verse. A
samya is explained as a little wooden cane measuring about six and thirty
fingers breadth in altitude. What Vali did was to go round the Earth
(anuparyagah, i.e., parihrityagatavan) throwing or hurling a samya. When
thrown from a particular point by a strong man, the samya clears a
certain distance. This space is called a Devayajana. Vali went round the
globe, performing sacrifices upon each such Devayajana.

837. Pravyaharaya is explained