“’Learn my superior nature, O hero! by means of which this world is sustained.  I am the cause of the production and dissolution of the whole universe.  There exists no other thing superior to me.  On me are all the worlds suspended, as numbers of pearls on a string.  I am the savor of waters, and the principle of light in the moon and sun, the mystic syllable Om in the Vedas, the sound in the ether, the essence of man in men, the sweet smell in the earth; and I am the brightness in flame, the vitality in all beings, and the power of mortification in ascetics.  Know, O son of Pritha! that I am the eternal seed of all things which exist.  I am the intellect of those who have intellect:  I am the strength of the strong....  And know that all dispositions, whether good, bad or indifferent, proceed also from me.  I do not exist in them, but they in me....  I am dear to the spiritually wise beyond possessions, and he is dear to me.  A great-minded man who is convinced that Vasudevu (Krishna) is everything is difficult to find....  If one worships any inferior personage with faith, I make his faith constant.  Gifted with such faith, he seeks the propitiation of this personage, and from him receives the pleasant objects of his desires, which (however) were sent by me alone.  But the reward of these little-minded men is finite.  They who sacrifice to the gods go to the gods:  they who worship me come to me.  I am the immolation.  I am the whole sacrificial rite.  I am the libation to ancestors.  I am the drug.  I am the incantation.  I am the fire.  I am the incense.  I am the father, the mother, the sustainer, the grandfather of this universe—­the path, the supporter, the master, the witness, the habitation, the refuge, the friend, the origin, the dissolution, the place, the receptacle, the inexhaustible seed.  I heat.  I withhold and give the rain.  I am ambrosia and death, the existing and the non-existing.  Even those who devoutly worship other gods with the gift of faith worship me, but only improperly.  I am the same to all beings.  I have neither foe nor friend.  I am the beginning and the middle and the end of existing things.  Among bodies I am the beaming sun.  Among senses I am the heart.  Among waters I am the ocean.  Among mountains I am Himalaya.  Among trees I am the banyan; among men, the king; among weapons, the thunderbolt; among things which count, time; among animals, the lion; among purifiers, the wind.  I am Death who seizes all:  I am the birth of those who are to be.  I am Fame, Fortune, Speech, Memory, Meditation, Perseverance and Patience among feminine words.  I am the game of dice among things which deceive:  I am splendor among things which are shining.  Among tamers I am the rod; among means of victory I am polity; among mysteries I am silence, the knowledge of the wise....

“’They who know me to be the God of this universe, the God of gods and the God of worship—­they who know me to be the God of this universe, the God of gods and the God of worship—­yea, they who know me to be these things in the hour of death, they know me indeed.’”