Vagrancy along the Vagus
& all along the Watchtower

[Verse 3°]

All along the watchtower

Princes (道 Princeps) kept the view (shield & supervise)

While all the women (Entrails*) came and went

Barefoot servants too

Outside, in the distance

A wildcat** (Tyger) did growl

Two riders (Joker & Thief) were approaching

The wind began to howl (震)

Μή, φίλα ψυχά, βίον ἀθάνατον σπεῦδε, τὰν δ' ἔμπρακτον ἄντλει μαχανάν ➱

Oh! my soul do not aspire to eternal life but exhaust the limits of the possible

Pindar, Pythian, 3.61f.

Over-stability is a hindrance

⮩ Search for the perfect Equanimity

Between 51 & 52

Between 01 & 02

Between 62 — as 29/30 is the cliffhanger in this case — & 63

                    ⮩ 52⮭ & 51⮯ VS 30⮭ & 29⮯

《道德經-第四十三章》

天下之至柔，馳騁天下之至堅。
無有入無間，吾是以知無為之有益。
不言之教，無為之益，天下希及之。

(The universal use (of the action in the weakness of the Dào))

The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice.

I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose).

There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without words, and the advantage arising from non-action.

43 - Herman Ould

The most yielding thing in the world
Masters the hardest thing in the world.
Its nothingness can penetrate even the impenetrable.
That is how I know the value of non-action.
But teaching without the use of words;
And an action that is non-action -
How few in the world achieve this!

43 - Arthur Waley

What is of all things most yielding
Can overwhelm that which is of all things most hard.
Being substanceless it can enter even where is no space;
That is how I know the value of action that is actionless.
But that there can be teaching without words,
Value in action that is actionless,
Few indeed can understand.

कर्मण्यकर्म य: पश्येदकर्मणि च कर्म य: |

स बुद्धिमान्मनुष्येषु स युक्त: कृत्स्नकर्मकृत् || 18||

Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4, Verse 18

भगवद्गीता (bhagavadgītā), from भगवत् (bhagavat, “holy”) + गीता (gītā, “song”)

BG 4.18: Those who see action in inaction and inaction in action are truly wise amongst humans. Although performing all kinds of actions, they are yogis and masters of all their actions².

राधा  कृष्ण • rādhā kṛṣṇa

° The beginning of this final verse suddenly shifts the scene, without at first giving us any sense of how this new setting connects to the first one. In contrast to the first two verses, which were full of conversation, this verse unfolds almost cinematically, full of visual imagery. This new scene is populated with princes, women, and barefoot servants, establishing a time and place in the past, although again using enduring, archetypal figures. These figures guarding a castle seem to represent an established society, and the existing power structure. But what are they guarding against?

A wildcat growls from a distance, suggesting the savage, untamed power of nature lurking just beyond the well-ordered lights of the castle. Then we see the two riders approaching. Suddenly, in only four words, the first two verses are connected with the last. With a sort of cinematic establishing shot but used at the end of the story rather than the beginning, we see the thief and the joker approaching the castle. We already know that they want to establish a different set of values, one based on the worth of human life. Their approach towards the guarded castle suggests an impending confrontation. And then the last line of the song strengthens this suggestion with imagery of a furious storm starting to build.

This last verse makes the relationships—suggested in the previous lines—physical. The thief, joker & wildcat are all placed outside the castle, which is occupied by princes & servants. So we now have, in a very concrete sense, independent outsiders and a rigid power hierarchy.

* Entrails means literally just ‘insides’ – and indeed there is an unbroken semantic undercurrent to the word from earliest times to the present day signifying exactly that (as in ‘entrails of the earth’). It comes ultimately from the Latin adjective interāneus ‘internal’, a derivative of the adverb and preposition inter ‘inside, among’. Its neuter plural form interānea came to be used as a noun, and at some point underwent a metamorphosis to medieval Latin intrālia ‘inner parts, intestines’. English acquired the word via Old French entrailles.

entrails, from (Lewis & Short)

intĕrānĕus: a, um, adj. inter,

I.    inward, interior, internal.

II.  Adj.: vomica, Scrib. Comp. 96.—

III. Subst.: intĕrānĕ-um, i, n., a gut, intestine: procedentis interanei morbus, Plin. 32, 9, 33, § 105.—In plur., Col. 9, 14; Plin. 30, 7, 20, § 64.

(Gaffiot)

intĕrānĕus, a, um (inter), intérieur, intestinal : Scrib. Comp. 96 || -nĕum, ī, n., intestin : Plin. 32, 105 || -nĕa, ōrum, n., intestins : Col. Rust. 9, 14, 15 ; Plin. 30, 64.

** Alternative spelling of wild cat, any undomesticated felid, as tigers or lions.

² Commentary

Action in inaction. There is one kind of inaction by which persons look upon their social duties as burdensome and renounce them out of indolence. They give up actions physically, but their mind continues to contemplate upon the objects of the senses. Such persons may appear to be inactive, but their lethargic idleness robs them of their life. When अर्जुन Arjun (white/shining) suggested that he wishes to shy away from his duty of fighting the war, श्री कृष्ण Shree Krishna (of a dark or blue complexion) explained to him that it would be missing the point of that lesson, and he would go to the hellish regions/focus for such inaction.

Inaction in action. There is another kind of inaction performed by कर्म योगी karm yogis. They execute their social duties without attachment to results, dedicating the fruits of their actions to GØD. Although engaged in all kinds of activities, they are not entangled in karmic reactions, since they have no motive for personal enjoyment. There were many great kings in Indian history—Dhruv, Prahlad, Yudhisthir, Prithu, and Ambarish—who discharged their kingly duties to the best of their abilities, and yet because their minds were not entangled in material desires, their actions were termed अकर्म Akarm or inaction. Another name for अकर्म Akarm is कर्म योग Karm Yog.