Wisdom Vault — onlinknow.co.za

Learn now, dear Prince! how, if thy soul be set Ever on Me--still exercising Yog, Still making Me thy Refuge--thou shalt come Most surely unto perfect hold of Me. I will declare to thee that utmost lore, Whole and particular, which, when thou knowest, Leaveth no more to know here in this world.

Of many thousand mortals, one, perchance, Striveth for Truth; and of those few that strive-- Nay, and rise high--one only--here and there-- Knoweth Me, as I am, the very Truth. Earth, water, flame, air, ether, life, and mind, And individuality--those eight Make up the showing of Me, Manifest.

These be my lower Nature; learn the higher, Whereby, thou Valiant One! this Universe Is, by its principle of life, produced; Whereby the worlds of visible things are born As from a Yoni. I am that womb: I make and I unmake this Universe: Than me there is no other Master, Prince!

All these hang on me As hangs a row of pearls upon its string. I am the fresh taste of the water; I The silver of the moon, the gold o' the sun, The word of worship in the Veds, the thrill That passeth in the ether, and the strength Of man's shed seed.

I am the good sweet smell Of the moistened earth, I am the fire's red light, The vital air moving in all which moves, The holiness of hallowed souls, the root Undying, whence hath sprung whatever is; The wisdom of the wise, the intellect Of the informed, the greatness of the great.

The splendour of the splendid. These am I, free from passion and desire; Yet am I right desire in all who yearn, Chief of the Bharatas! for all those moods, Soothfast, or passionate, or ignorant, Which Nature frames, deduce from me; but all Are merged in me--not I in them!

The world-- Deceived by those three qualities of being-- Wotteth not Me Who am outside them all, Above them all, Eternal! Hard it is To pierce that veil divine of various shows Which hideth Me; yet they who worship Me Pierce it and pass beyond.

I am not known To evil-doers, nor to foolish ones, Nor to the base and churlish; nor to those Whose mind is cheated by the show of things, Nor those that take the way of Asuras.[FN#12] Four sorts of mortals know me: he who weeps, Arjuna! and the man who yearns to know; And he who toils to help; and he who sits Certain of me, enlightened.

Of these four, O Prince of India! highest, nearest, best That last is, the devout soul, wise, intent Upon "The One." Dear, above all, am I To him; and he is dearest unto me! All four are good, and seek me; but mine own, The true of heart, the faithful--stayed on me, Taking me as their utmost blessedness, They are not "mine,"but I--even I myself!

At end of many births to Me they come! Yet hard the wise Mahatma is to find, That man who sayeth, "All is Vasudev!"[FN#13] There be those, too, whose knowledge, turned aside By this desire or that, gives them to serve Some lower gods, with various rites, constrained By that which mouldeth them.