The Anugita

The Anugita is part of the Asvamedhikaparva a book of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. It contains Krishna's conversation with Arjuna when Krishna decided to return to Dwaraka after restoring to the Pandavas, their kingdom. The main topics discussed are transmigration of souls, means of attaining liberation, description of gunas and ashramas, dharma, and the effects of tapas or austerity.

Practical instructions

For those who aspire to live the Higher Life a teaching is offered for practice. This piece of practical instruction is to be found in the Anugita.

The Instructor says:

I have crossed beyond that very impassable place, in which fancies are the gadflies and mosquitoes, in which grief and joy are cold and heat, in which delusion is the blinding darkness, in which avarice is the beasts of prey and reptiles, in which desire and anger are the obstructers, the way to which consists in worldly objects, and is to be crossed by one singly. I have entered the great forest.

Then follows the description:

There is nothing else more delightful than that, when there is no distinction from it. There is nothing more afflicting than that, when there is a distinction from it. There is nothing smaller than that; there is nothing larger than that. There is nothing subtler than that; there is no other happiness equal to that.Entering it, the twice-born do not grieve, and do not exult. They are not afraid of anybody, and nobody is afraid of them. In that forest are seven large trees, seven fruits, and seven guests, seven hermitages, seven forms of concentration, and seven forms of initiation. This is the description of the forest.

Description of Yajna in Anugita

In the Anugita Yajna is described in a very beautiful form. This Yajna is going on daily in this body and it is going on everywhere in the world, outside and inside. It is sacrifice of all those factors which tend to tether the soul to the bodily tabernacle into the fire of the knowledge of the Absolute. This is called Jnana-Yajna which means the offering of knowledge into the fire of Knowledge. Which knowledge is offered into which knowledge? The knowledge of our individual existence in all its aspects is offered in the knowledge of the Supreme Being. The concept of this mysterious Dharma before us cannot be contained in our minds.

References

* Kashinath Trimbak Telag (translator), "The Anugita: Being a Translation of Sanscrit Manuscripts from the Asvameda Paravan of the Mahabharata, and Being a Natural Adjunct to the Bhagavad Gita"