beginning, middle, and end, he is Unchangeable.  He transcends all sorrow, for sorrow has limits.[697] That Vishnu hath been called the Supreme Brahma.  He is the refuge or object of what is called the Highest.  Knowing Him, they that are wise, freed from everything that owns the power of Time, attain to what is called Emancipation.  All these (that we perceive) are displayed in attributes.  That which is called Brahma, being without attributes, is superior to these.[698] Abstention from acts is the highest religion.  That religion is sure to lead to deathlessness (Emancipation).  The Richs, the Yajuses, and the Samans, have for their refuge the body.  They flow from the end of the tongue.  They cannot be acquired without effort and are subject to destruction.  Brahma, however, cannot be acquired in this way, for (without depending upon the body) it depends upon that (i.e., the knower or Soul) which has the body for its refuge.  Without beginning, middle, or end, Brahma cannot be acquired by exertion (like to what is necessary for the acquirement of the Vedas).  The Richs, the Samans, the Yajuses have each a beginning.  Those that have a beginning have also an end.  But Brahma is said to be without beginning.  And because Brahma hath neither beginning nor end, it is said to be infinite and unchangeable.  In consequence of unchangeableness, Brahma transcends all sorrow as also all pairs of opposites.  Through unfavourable destiny, through inability to find out the proper means, and through the impediments offered by acts, mortals succeed not in beholding the path by which Brahma may be reached.  In consequence of attachment to worldly possessions, of a vision of the joys of the highest heaven, and of coveting something other than Brahma, men do not attain to the Supreme.[699] Others beholding worldly objects covet their possession.  Desirous of such objects, they have no longing for Brahma in consequence of its transcending all attributes.[700] How shall he that is attached to attributes which are inferior, arrive at a knowledge of him that is possessed of attributes that are superior?  It is by inference that one can arrive at a knowledge of Him that transcends all this in attributes and form.  By subtile intelligence alone can we know Him.  We cannot describe Him in words.  The mind is seizable by the mind, the eye by eye.[701] By knowledge the understanding can be purified of its dross.  The understanding may be employed for purifying the mind.  By the mind should the senses be controlled.  Achieving all this, one may attain to the Unchangeable.  One who has, by contemplation, become freed from attachments, and who has been enriched by the possession of a discerning mind, succeeds in attaining to Brahma which is without desire and above all attributes.  As the wind keeps away from the fire that is embedded within a piece of wood, even so persons that are agitated (by desire for worldly possessions) keep away from that which is Supreme.  Upon the destruction of all earthly objects, the mind