he reward of both. Renunciation
without Yoga is a thing hard to get; united with Yoga the seer enters
_brahma_. ... He is the renouncer and the devotee who does the acts
that ought to be done without relying on the reward of action, not he
that performs no acts and builds no sacrificial fires. Through his
self (spirit) let one raise one's self. Conquer self by self (spirit).
He is the best man who is indifferent to external things, who with
equal mind sees (his spirit) self in everything and everything in self
(God as the Spirit). Such an one obtains the highest bliss, _brahma_.
Whoso sees Me in all and all in Me I am not destroyed for him, and he
is not destroyed for Me."

The knight now asks how it fares with a good man who is not equal to
the discipline of Yoga, and cannot free himself entirely from
attachment. Does he go to destruction like a cloud that is rent,
failing on the path that leads to _brahma_? The Deity replies:
"Neither in this world nor in the beyond is he destroyed. He that acts
virtuously does not enter an evil state. He obtains the heaven that
belongs to the doers of good, and after living there countless summers
is reborn on earth in the family of pure and renowned men, or of pious
devotees. There he receives the knowledge he had in a former body, and
then strives further for perfection. After many births he reaches
perfection and the highest course (union with _brahma_). There are but
few that strive for perfection, and of them only one here and there
truly knows Me. Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, understanding,
and egoism (self-consciousness)--so is my nature divided into eight
parts.[9] But learn now my higher nature, for this is my lower one. My
higher nature is alive, and by it this world is supported. I am the
creator and destroyer of all the world. Higher than I is nothing. On
Me the universe is woven like pearls upon a thread. Taste am I, light
am I of moon and sun, the mystic syllable _[=O]m_ ([)a][)u]m), sound
in space, manliness in men; I am smell and radiance; I am life and
heat. Know Me as the eternal seed of all beings. I am the
understanding of them that have understanding, the radiance of the
radiant ones. Of the strong I am the force, devoid of love and
passion; and I am love, not opposed to virtue. Know all beings to be
from Me alone, whether they have the quality of goodness, of passion,
or of darkness (the three 'qualities' or conditions of all things). I
am not in them;