e three attributes of Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas. Though really
unmanifest, she is called indestructible Prakriti and dwell in all
manifest forms. Know that She is the source whence we two have sprung.
That all-pervading Soul, which is made up of all existent and
non-existent things, is adored by us. Even He is what we worship in all
those rites that we perform in honour of the deities and the Pitris.
There is no higher deity or Pitri than He. O regenerate one, He should be
known as our Soul. It is him that we worship. This course of duties
followed by men has, O regenerate one, been promulgated by Him. It is His
ordinance that we should duly perform all the rites laid down in respect
of the deities and the Pitris. Brahman, Sthanu, Manu, Daksha, Bhrigu,
Dharma, Yama, Marichi, Angiras, Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha,
Parameshthi, Vivaswat, Shoma, he that has been called Karddama, Krodha,
Avak, and Krita,--these one and twenty persons, called Prajapatis, were
first born. All of them obeyed the eternal law of the Supreme God.
Observing all the rites, in detail, that were ordained in honour of the
deities and the Pitris, all those foremost of regenerate persons acquired
all those objects which they sought. The incorporeal denizens of Heaven
itself bow to that Supreme deity and through His grace they attain to
those fruits and that end which He ordains for them. This is the settled
conclusion of the scriptures that these persons freed from these seven
and ten attributes, (viz., the five senses of knowledge, the five senses
of action, the five vital breaths, and mind and understanding), who have
cast off all acts, and are divested of the five and ten elements which
constitute the gross body, are said to be Emancipate. That which the
Emancipate attain to as their ultimate end is called by the name of
Kshetrajna. He is regarded (in the scriptures) as both possessed of and
free from all the attributes. He can be apprehended by Knowledge alone.
We two have sprung from Him. Knowing him in that way, we adore that
eternal Soul of all things. The Vedas and all the modes of life, though
characterised by divergences of opinion, all worship Him with devotion.
It is He who, speedily moved to grace, confers on them high ends fraught
with felicity. Those persons in this world who, filled with His spirit,
become fully and conclusively devoted to Him, attain to ends that are
much higher, for they succeed in entering Him and becoming mer