Varna and Asrama Rules
Skandha XI. Chap. 17-18
The seventeenth and eighteenth chapters deal with Varna and Âsrama rules.
What One Is to Do for Moksha
Skandha XI. Chap. 19
Jnâna (knowledge), Vairâgya (dispassion), Vijnâna (direct knowledge), Sraddhâ (faith) Bhakti (Devotion), these are the requisites of Moksha. The nine (Prakriti, Purusha, Mahat. Ahankâra and the five Tanmatras), the eleven (five Jnânendriyas, five Karmendriyas and Manas), the five Bhûtas, the three (Gunas), that knowledge by which one knows that these constitute all beings and that the One underlies all these is Jnâna.
(The first training of the mind is to break up the objects into their component elements. Thus we can mentally resolve any object into its chemical elements and this Universe into a mass of homogeneous nebula. The process is to be carried further, till we get the Tatvas or the ultimate principles of the Sânkhya philosophy. Then the next step is to realise the one Purusha as underlying all the Prâkritic principles.)
Vijnâna is the direct knowledge of the One by itself and not as pervading all Prâkritic forms. (Jnâna is indirect knowledge and Vijnâna is direct knowledge of Brahmâ).
All the existing things being formed of the three Gunas have their growth, existence and end. What follows the transformation from one form into another, at all the three stages of beginning, middle and end, and what remains behind after the destruction of all forms — that is the existing (Sat).
The Vedas, direct perception, the sayings of great men and logical inference are the four Pramanas or evidences. The world of transformations does not stand the test of any of them (i.e. there is only one real existence, the existence of the transformable and transformed world being only relative and unreal. This is the conclusion arrived at from all sources. Therefore the wise man becomes dispassionate to all things.
Transformation is the end of all actions. Therefore the wise man sees all the regions that may be attained by actions from that of Brahmâ downwards, as miserable and transitory even like the worlds that are seen. This is Vairagya or Dispassion.
I have told you already of Bhakti yoga. Hear again what I say. Sraddhâ or faith in the nectar like sayings about Me, constant recitals about myself, steadiness in worshipping Me, the chanting of devotional hymns, the hearty performance of divine service, adoration by means of the body, worship of my votaries, the realisation of my existence in all beings, the directing of the daily actions and of the daily talks towards Me, the offering up of the mind to Me, the giving up of all desires, of all objects, of all enjoyments and of all joys for my Sake, the performance of Vedic karma all for Me — by all these, Bhakti grows up towards Me.