n; for the Spirit, standing in
nature, appreciates the nature-born qualities. The cause of the
Spirit's re-birth is its connection with the qualities, (This is
S[=a]nkhya doctrine, and the same with that propounded above in regard
to activity.) The Supreme Spirit is the Support and great Lord of all,
the _[=a]tm[=a]_, while _brahma_ (=_prakriti_) is the womb in which I
place My seed, and from that is the origin of all things. The great
_brahma_ is the womb, and I am the seed-giving father of all the forms
which come into being. The three 'qualities' (conditions, attributes),
goodness, passion, and darkness, are born of nature and bind the
inexhaustible incorporate (Spirit) in the body. The quality (or
attribute) of goodness binds the soul with pleasure and knowledge;
that of passion (activity), with desire and action; that of darkness
(dulness), with ignorance. One that has the attribute of goodness
chiefly goes after death to the highest heaven; one that has chiefly
passion is born again among men of action; one that has chiefly
darkness is born among the ignorant. One that sees that these
attributes are the only agents, one that knows what is higher than the
attributes, enters into my being. The incorporate spirit that has
passed above the three attributes (the origin of bodies), being
released from birth, death, age, and pain, obtains immortality. To
pass above these attributes one must become indifferent to all change,
be undisturbed by anything, and worship Me with devotion.... I am to
be learned from all the Vedas; I made the Ved[=a]nta; I alone know the
Vedas. There are two persons in the world, one destructible and one
indestructible; the destructible one is all created things; the
indestructible one is called the Unchanging one. But there is still a
third highest person, called the Supreme Spirit, who, pervading the
three worlds, supports them, the inexhaustible Lord. Inasmuch as I
surpass the destructible and am higher than the indestructible,
therefore am I known in the world and in the Veda as the Highest
Person."

The references to the S[=a]nkhyas, or S[=a]nkhya-Yogas, are not yet
exhausted. There is another in a following chapter (vi. 18. 13) which
some scholiasts say refers to the Ved[=a]nta-system, though this is in
direct contradiction to the text. But the extracts already given
suffice to show how vague and uncertain are, on the whole, the
philosophical views on which depends the Divine Song. Until th