The gift of life

Knowledge of the Mighty, the greatest possible boon to men

3.1 Pratardana Daivodasi, by courage in the cause of God and by strength, arrived at the beloved abode of the Garden.

To him then God the Mighty said: "Pratardana, choose a boon!"

Then said Pratardana: "Do You Yourself choose for me the one which You deem most beneficent to mankind."

To him then God said: "A superior, verily, chooses not for an inferior. Do you yourself choose."

"No boon, verily, then, is it to me!" said Pratardana.

But God departed not from the truth, for God is Truth.

To him then God said: "Understand Me. This indeed I deem most beneficent to man, namely, that one should know his Lord and understand Him. So he who understands Me, by no deed whatsoever of his is his world injured, so long as he repents and seeks forgiveness."

The Giver of life and immortality

3.2 Then He said: "It is I who give the breath of life, and the intelligence that knows. Worship Me as the Giver of life, as the Giver of immortality. Life is My gift. Breath is My gift. Immortality is My gift. For, as long as the breath remains in this body, so long is there life. For indeed, with the breath in this world one may obtain immortality through intelligence and true intention.

So he who worships Me as the Giver of life and of immortality reaches the full term of life in this world; he obtains immortality, indestructibility, in the heavenly Garden."