truly."

"'Bhishma said, "In this connection is cited the old narrative of the
discourse between a preceptor and his disciple on the subject of
Emancipation. There was a regenerate preceptor who was the foremost of
Rishis. He looked like a mass of splendour. Possessed of a high soul, he
was firm in truth and a complete master of his senses. Once on a time, a
disciple of great intelligence and close attention, desirous of obtaining
what was for his highest good, touched the preceptor's feet, and standing
with joined hands before him, said, 'If, O illustrious one, thou hast been
gratified with the worship I have offered thee, it behoveth thee to solve
a great doubt of mine. Whence am I and whence art thou? Tell me this
fully. Tell me also what is the final cause. Why also, O best of
regenerate ones, when the material cause in all beings is the same, their
origin and destruction happen in such dissimilar ways? It beseems thee, O
thou of great learning, also to explain the object of the declarations in
the Vedas (about difference of rites in respect of different classes of
men), the meaning of the injunctions of the Smritis and of those
injunctions which apply to all classes of men.'[715]

"'"The preceptor said, 'Listen, O disciple, O thou of great wisdom! This
that thou hast asked me is undisclosed in the very Vedas and is the
highest subject for thought or discourse. It is called Adhyatma and is
the most valuable of all branches of learning and of all sacred
institutes. Vasudeva is the Supreme (cause) of the universe. He is the
origin of the Vedas (viz., Om). He is Truth, Knowledge, Sacrifice,
Renunciation, Self-restraint, and Righteousness. Persons conversant with
the Vedas know Him as All-pervading, Eternal, Omnipresent, the Creator
and the Destroyer, the Unmanifest, Brahma, Immutable. Hear now the story
of Him who took his birth in Vrishni's race. A Brahmana should hear of
the greatness of that God of gods, viz., Him called Vishnu of
immeasurable energy, from the lips of Brahmanas. A person of the royal
order should hear it from persons of that order. One who is a Vaisya
should hear it from Vaisyas, and a high-souled Sudra should hear it from
Sudras. Thou deservest to hear it. Listen now to the auspicious account
of Krishna, that narrative which is the foremost of all narratives.
Vasudeva is the wheel of Time, without beginning and without end.
Existence and Non-existence are the attributes by which His real nature
i