Note 5 — BOOK I.
Reading edition
p. 3. l. 7. Sense subdued. The highest notion of this favourite perfection of Indian character, may be given in the words of the author of the Bhagavat-Gita: "The highest perfection to which the soul can attain, is action without passion. The mind is to be entirely independent of external objects; to preserve its undisturbed serenity it should have the conscious power of withdrawing all its senses within itself, as the tortoise draws all its limbs beneath in shell." Action is necessary, but action must produce no emotion—no sensation on the calm spirit within; whatever may be their consequences, however important, however awful, events are to be unfelt, and almost unperceived by the impassive mind; and on this principle Arjuna is to execute the fated slaughter upon his kindred without the least feeling of sorrow or compunction being permitted to intrude on the divine apathy of his soul. Some of the images in which this passionless tranquillity of the spirit is described, appear singularly beautiful:
As to th' unrais'd unswelling ocean flow the multitudinous streams, So to the soul serene, unmov'd—flow in the undisturbing lusts.
And then again the soul, in this state of unbroken quietude,
Floats like the lotus on the lake, unmov'd, unruffled by the tide.