Chapter 40

“Brahmana said, ‘From the unmanifest first sprang Mahat (the Great Soul)endued with great intelligence, the source of all the qualities. That issaid to be the first creation. The Great Soul is signified by thesesynonymous words–the Great Soul, Intelligence, Vishnu, Jishnu, Sambhu ofgreat valour, the Understanding, the means of acquiring knowledge, themeans of perception, as also fame, courage, and memory. Knowing this, alearned Brahmana has never to encounter delusion. It has hands and feeton every side, it has ears on every side. It stands, pervading everythingin the universe. Of great power, that Being is stationed in the heart ofall. Minuteness, Lightness and Affluence, are his. He is the lord of all,and identical with effulgence, and knows not decay. In Him are all thosewho comprehend the nature of the understanding, all those who are devotedto goodness of disposition, all those who practise meditation, who arealways devoted to Yoga, who are firm in truth, who have subdued theirsenses, who are possessed of knowledge, who are freed from cupidity, whohave conquered wrath, who are of cheerful hearts, who are endued withwisdom, who are liberated from ideas of meum (and teum), and who aredevoid of egoism. All these, freed from every kind of attachment, attainto the status of Greatness. That person who understands that holy andhigh goal, viz., the Great Soul, becomes freed from delusion. Theself-born Vishnu becomes the Lord in the primary creations. He who thusknows the Lord lying in the cave, the Supreme, Ancient Being, ofuniversal form, the golden one, the highest goal of all persons enduedwith understanding,–that intelligent man lives, transcending theunderstanding.'”