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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; but they are in Me. Me, the inexhaustible, beyond them, the world knows not, for it is confused by these three qualities (conditions); and hard to overcome is the divine illusion which envelops Me, while it arises from the qualities. Only they pass through this illusion who come to Me alone. Wicked men, whose knowledge is taken away by illusion, relying on a devilish (demoniac) condition, do not come to Me. They that have not the highest knowledge worship various divinities; but whatever be the form that any one worships with faith make his faith steady. He obtains his desires in worshipping that divinity, although they are really bestowed upon him by Me.[10] But the fruit of these men, in that they have little wisdom, has its end. He that sacrifices to (lesser) gods goes to those gods; but they that worship Me come to Me. I know the things that were, that are, and are to be; but Me no one knoweth, for I am enveloped in illusion. I am the supreme being, the supreme godhead, the supreme sacrifice, the Supreme Spirit, brahma."
The knight asks "What is brahma, the Supreme Spirit, the supreme being, the supreme sacrifice?" The Deity: "The supreme, the indestructible, is called brahma. Its personal existence is Supreme Spirit (self). Destructible existence is supreme being (all except (=altm[=a). The Person is the supreme godhead. I myself am the supreme sacrifice in this body."
