in thy own self the Eternal and Supreme Soul.[1064] Those
high-souled Brahmanas that are possessed of wisdom succeed in beholding
that Supreme and Universal Soul which is like unto a blazing fire in
effulgence. As a large tree endued with numerous branches and possessed
of many flowers and fruits does not know in which part it has flowers and
in which it has fruits, after the same manner the Soul as modified by
birth and other attributes, does not know whence it has come and whither
it is to go. There is, however, an inner Soul, which beholds (knows)
everything.[1065] One sees the Soul oneself with the aid of the lighted
lamp of knowledge. Beholding, therefore, thyself with thy own self, cease
to regard thy body as thyself and attain thou to omniscience. Cleansed of
all sins, like unto a snake that has cast off its slough, one attains to
high intelligence here and becomes free from every anxiety and the
obligation of acquiring a new body (in a subsequent birth). Its current
spreading in diverse directions, frightful is this river of life bearing
the world onward in its course. The five senses are its crocodiles. The
mind and its purposes are the shores. Cupidity and stupefaction of
judgment are the grass and straw that float on it, covering its bosom.
Lust and wrath are the fierce reptiles that live in it. Truth forms the
tirtha by its miry banks. Falsehood forms its surges, anger its mire.
Taking its rise from the Unmanifest, rapid is its current, and incapable
of being crossed by persons of uncleansed souls. Do thou, with the aid of
the understanding cross that river having desires for its alligators. The
world and its concerns constitute the ocean towards which that river
runs. Genus and species constitute its unfathomable depth that none can
understand. One's birth, O child, is the source from which that stream
takes its rise. Speech constitutes its eddies. Difficult to cross, only
men of learning and wisdom and understanding succeed in crossing it.
Crossing it, thou wilt succeed in freeing thyself from every attachment,
acquiring a tranquil heart, knowing the Soul, and becoming pure in every
respect. Relying then on a purged and elevated understanding, thou wilt
succeed in becoming Brahma's self. Having dissociated thyself from every
worldly attachment, having acquired a purified Soul and transcending
every kind of sin, look thou upon the world like a person looking from
the mountain top upon creatures creeping below