Samans, and the Yajushes, all the obligatory practices should be observed
and all the Vedas studied with reverence, O Viswavasu! O foremost of
Gandharvas, they who study the Vedas with all their branches but who do
not know the Supreme Soul from which all things take their birth and into
which all things merge when destruction comes, and which is the one
object whose knowledge the Vedas seek to inculcate. Indeed, they, who
have no acquaintance with that which the Vedas seek to establish, study
the Vedas to no purpose and bear their burthen of such study in vain. If
a person desirous of butter churns the milk of the she-ass, without
finding what he seeks he simply meets with a substance that is as foul of
smell as ordure. After the same manner, if one, having studied the Vedas,
fails to comprehend what is Prakriti and what is Purusha, one only proves
one's own foolishness of understanding and bears a useless burthen (in
the form of Vedic lore).[1668] One should, with devoted attention,
reflect on both Prakriti and Purusha, so that one may avoid repeated
birth and death. Reflection upon the fact of one's repeated births and
deaths and avoiding the religion of acts that is productive at best of
destructible results, one should betake oneself to the indestructible
religion of Yoga. O Kasyapa, if one reflects continuously on the nature of
the Jiva-soul and its connection with the Supreme Soul, one then succeeds
in divesting oneself of all attributes and in beholding the Supreme Soul.
The Eternal and Unmanifest Supreme Soul is regarded by men of foolish
understandings to be different from the twenty-fifth or Jiva-soul. They
are endued with wisdom that behold both these as truly one and the same.
Frightened at repeated births and deaths, the Sankhyas and Yogins regard
the Jiva-soul and the Supreme Soul to be one and the same.

"'"'Viswavasu then said, "Thou hast, O foremost of Brahmanas, said that
Jiva-soul is indestructible and truly undistinguished from the Supreme
Soul. This, however, is difficult to understand. It behoveth thee to once
more discourse on this topic to me. I have heard discourses on this
subject from Jaigishavya, Aista, Devala, the regenerate sage Parasara,
the intelligent Varshaganya, Bhrigu, Panchasikha Kapila, Suka, Gautama,
Arshtisena, the high-souled Garga, Narada, Asuri, the intelligent
Paulastya, Sanatkumara, the high-souled Sukra, and my sire Kasyapa.
Subsequently I heard the discourses of Rudra and t