Verse 55

⁵⁰Hari is the self of those who bear bodies; he is himself nature, and the Lord. The soles of his feet are the refuge, for it is from there that safety comes to men here. ⁵¹He is the dearest, and he is the self, and from him no fear comes, not the least. One who knows this is the one who knows; and one who knows is a teacher, and is Hari. ⁵²So your question is cut through, bull among men. Now hear from me the secret I speak here, and it is well settled. ⁵³Look for the deer grazing on some small thing in a shelter of flowers, paired with its mate, taken with the chant of the swarm of six-footed bees, its ear caught; going on without counting the wolves ahead that feed on breath, and pierced from behind by the hunter's arrow.

⁵⁴The meaning of this is: in the shelter that is a household of women, who are of the same nature as flowers, he goes searching out the smallest thing of all, a scrap of the pleasure of desire born from the ripening of works done for a wish, the pleasure of the tongue and the organ and the rest, which smells like the honey of flowers; he pairs with a mate and sets his mind fast on that; and his ear is drawn away, and greatly, by the talk of women and such people, lovelier than anything, like the sung chant of a swarm of six-footed bees; and he plays in his house without counting those days and nights ahead of him, those particular scraps of time which, like a pack of wolves, carry off his life; while from behind, unseen, the hunter who is the ender follows after, and here strikes him down with an arrow. King, you ought to look at this self of yours, whose heart is pierced.

⁵⁵So look well at this deer's behaviour of your own within. Hold the mind in the heart, and the ear's stream in the mind. Leave the household of women, where the talk is of the worst company; take pleasure in the shelter of swans, and step by step come to rest.