to be due to the action of the Manifest and the Unmanifest.  The learned say that Brahma is freed from good and evil, is self-dependent, the highest of the high, Eternal, and Pure.  Do thou, therefore, O monarch, become Pure!  The giver, the receiver of the gift, the gift itself, and that which is ordered to be given away, are all to be deemed as the unmanifest Soul.  The Soul is the Soul’s one possession.  Who, therefore, can be a stranger to one?  Do thou think always in this way.  Never think otherwise.  He who does not know what is Prakriti possessed of attributes and what is Purusha transcending attributes, only he, not possessed as he is of knowledge, repairs to sacred waters and performs sacrifices.  Not by study of the Vedas, not by penances, not by sacrifices O son of Kuru, can one attain to the status of Brahma.  Only when one succeeds in apprehending the Supreme or Unmanifest, one comes to be regarded with reverence.  They who wait upon Mahat attain to regions of Mahat.  They who wait upon Consciousness, attain to the spot that belongs to Consciousness.  They who wait upon what is higher attain to places that are higher than these.  Those persons, learned in the scriptures, who succeed in apprehending Eternal Brahma who is higher than Unmanifest Prakriti, succeed in obtaining that which transcends birth and death, which is free from attributes, and which is both existent and non-existent I got all this knowledge from Janaka.  The latter had obtained it from Yajnavalkya.  Knowledge is very superior.  Sacrifices cannot compare with it.  With the aid of Knowledge one succeeds in crossing the world’s ocean which is full of difficulties and dangers.  One can never cross that ocean by means of sacrifices.  Birth and death, and other impediments, O king, men of knowledge say, one cannot pass over by ordinary exertion.[1676] Men attain to heaven through sacrifices, penances, vows, and observances.  But they have again to fall down therefrom on the Earth.  Do thou, therefore, adore with reverence that which is Supreme, most pure, blessed, stainless, and sacred, and which transcends all states (being Emancipation itself).  By apprehending Kshetra, O king, and by performing the Sacrifice that consists in the acquisition of Knowledge, thou wilt really be wise.  In former time, Yajnavalkya did that good to king Janaka which is derivable from a study of the Upanishads.  The Eternal and Immutable Supreme was the topic about which the great Rishi had discoursed to the king of Mithila.  It enabled him to attain to that Brahma which is auspicious, and immortal, and which transcends all kinds of sorrow.”

SECTION CCCXX

“Yudhishthira said, ’Having acquired great power and great wealth, and having obtained a long period of life, how may one succeed in avoiding death?  By which of these means, viz., penances, or the accomplishment of the diverse acts (laid down in the Vedas), or by knowledge of the Srutis, or the application of medicines, can one succeed in avoiding decrepitude and death?’