man is to live unperceived.[128] Devotion has acts for its
characteristic. Knowledge is the characteristic of renunciation.
Therefore keeping knowledge before his view, the man of understanding
should practise renunciation. The man who has betaken himself to
renunciation and who is possessed of knowledge, who transcends all pairs
of opposites, as also darkness, death, and decrepitude, attains to the
highest goal. I have thus declared to you duly what the indications are
of duty. I shall, after this, tell you of the seizure (comprehension) of
qualities. Smell, which appertains to earth, is seized by the nose. The
wind, that dwells in the nose is likewise appointed (as an agent) in the
perception of smell. Taste is the essence of water. That is seized by the
tongue. Soma, who resides in the tongue, is appointed likewise in the
perception of taste. The quality of a lighted body is colour. That is
seized by the eye. Aditya who always resides in the eye has been
appointed in the perception of colour. Touch always appertains to the
wind (as its quality). That is perceived by the skin. The wind that
always resides in the skin has been appointed in apprehending touch. The
quality of ether is sound. That is seized by the ear. All the quarters,
which reside in the ear, have been appointed in apprehending sound. The
quality of the mind is thought. That is seized by the understanding. The
upholder of consciousness, residing in the heart, has been appointed in
apprehending the mind. The understanding is apprehended in the form of
determination or certitude, and Mahat in the form of knowledge. The
unperceived (Prakriti) has been, it is evident, appointed for the seizure
of all things after certitude. There is no doubt in this.[129] The
Kshetrajna which is eternal and is destitute of qualities as regards its
essence, is incapable of being seized by symbols. Hence, the
characteristic of the Kshetrajna, which is without symbols, is purely
knowledge. The unmanifest resides in the symbol called Kshetra, and is
that in which the qualities are produced and absorbed. I always see,
know, and hear it (though) it is hidden. Purusha knows it: therefore is
he called Kshetrajna. The Kshetrajna perceives also the operations of the
qualities and absence of their operations. The qualities, which are
created repeatedly, do not know themselves, being unintelligent, as
entities to be created and endued with a beginning, middle, and end. No
one else attain