When the adventurous pilgrim resolves to enter the great forest, who knows what wonders they may encounter there? As the Anu Gita states: 'In that forest are seven large trees ,
seven fruits, and seven guests; seven hermitages, seven (forms of)
concentration, and seven (forms of) initiation.' Moreover there 'always dwell seven females there'. One may also encounter 'the seven perfect sages, together with their chiefs'. It is said that 'these
seven rays follow after this same sun. Hills and mountains also are
there collected together, and rivers and streams flowing with water
produced from the Brahman.' The following passage is from chapter 12 of the Anu Gita (Kashinath T Telang (1882). Max Muller (ed.). The Bhagavadgîtâ: With the Sanatsugâtîya and the Anugîtâ. Clarendon Press)
p. 285 The Brâhmana said:
I have crossed beyond that very impassable place, in which fancies are the gadflies and mosquitoes 3, 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 obstructors, the way to which consists in worldly objects, and is to be crossed by one singly 4. And I have entered the great forest 5.
285:3 Cf. as to all this Gîtâ, p. 101.285:4 This is not the forest spoken of before. but what has been before called the 'impassable place,' but which also at p. 286 is by implication called a forest, viz. the course of worldly life.
285:5
Viz. the
2. ear,
3. tongue,
4.skin, and
5. nose, and
6. the mind, and
7. understanding--
these are called trees, as being producers of the fruits, namely, the pleasures and pains derived from their several operations; the guests are the powers of each sense personified--they receive the fruits above described; the hermitages are the trees above mentioned, in which the guests take shelter; the seven forms of concentration are the exclusion from the self of the seven functions of the seven senses &c. already referred to; the seven forms of initiation refer to the initiation into the higher life, by repudiating as not one's own the actions of each member out of the group of seven. Cf. as to this Khândogya, p. 219, and commentary there.
285:6 Cf. for these different numbers of colours, Yoga-sûtra II, 19, and commentary, p. 105, and Sânkhya-sâra,
p. 18. The trees here meant are the Tanmâtras, or subtle elements, and
the theory is that the Gandha-tanmâtra, or subtle element of smell, has
five qualities, its own special one, so to say, and the four special ones of the others;
the next is taste, the next colour, the next touch, and the last sound;
each has one quality less than its predecessor. See Yoga-sûtra, p. 106,
and gloss; Sânkhya-sûtra I, 62; and Vedânta Paribhâshâ, p. 45.
The Brâhmana's wife said:
Where is that forest, O very intelligent person! what are the trees (there), and what the rivers, and the hills and mountains; and at what distance is that forest?
The Brâhmana said:
286:1
These are mind and understanding; the fruits and flowers are here of
'undistinguished colours,' as the text expresses it, since they include
the colours of all the fruits of all the other five sets of trees; that
is to say, the subject-matter of their operations is sound, taste,
&c., the subject-matters of all the senses together.
'Undistinguished colours' is, perhaps, more literally 'of colours not
clear.' Arguna Misra paraphrases it by 'of variegated colours,' which is no doubt the true ultimate sense.
286:3 I. e., I presume, devoted to the Brahman.
286:4 I. e. true knowledge, Arguna Misra.
286:6 I. e. when the senses having worked, as unconnected with the self, are finally absorbed into it. Cf. Sânkhya-kârikâ 49 and Katha, p. 151.
2. brilliance, and
3. greatness,
4. enlightenment,
5. victory,
6. perfection, and
7. power 7--
these seven rays follow after this same sun. Hills and mountains also are there collected together, and rivers and streams flowing with water produced from the Brahman 8. And there is the confluence of the rivers in the secluded place 9 for the sacrifice, whence those who are contented in their own selfs repair to the divine grandsire himself.
287:2 These are, according to Arguna Misra, the Mahat, Ahankâra,
and five Tanmâtras. Their faces are turned downwards, as they are
obstacles in the way upwards, viz. the way of final emancipation; they
are brilliant, as they light up the course of worldly life; and hence,
too, they are 'causes of generation.' They give birth to the universe.
287:3 They conceal the higher delight of final emancipation.
287:4 I follow Arguna Misra, but the text is doubtful.
287:5 Viz. the Brahman.
287:6 Cf. Khândogya, pp. 295-300. The word sages here, as before, means the various organs. See Brihadâranyaka, p. 415.
287:7 Glory = renown; brilliance = Brahmic splendour (Brahmategas); perfection = obtaining what is desired; power = not being conquered by others, Arguna Misra. About the sun, see line 3 of text above.
287:8 I. e. contentment. See the second line in the text above.
287:9 I. e. the space in the heart, the sacrifice being that of 'concentration of mind,' yogayagña,--Nîlakantha.
A confluence of rivers is very sacred--here the meaning intended seems
to be the absorption of all desires by contentment into the heart.
288:1 Literally, 'lean.'
288:2 I. e. the body in the soul, Arguna Misra.
288:3 Knowledge is Brahman, which is described as a forest here, Arguna Misra.
