May God, the Lord of all, accept this thanks and be pleased with us. By Thee is everything that is born supported, and to Thee is the return of all. There creatures live, where Thy mercy is!

So he who eats by this rule is grateful for his provision.

The ascetic and the devout

10 He indeed who knows this is truly devout. Now, as there is no one to touch harlots who have entered into a vacant house, so he who does not touch objects of sense that come to him is truly devout.

Food is God's provision

11 This, verily, is the highest of God's provisions for the body, namely food; for truly, this life consists of food. For thus has it been said: "If one does not eat, he becomes a non-thinker, a non-hearer, a non-toucher, a non-seer, a non-speaker, a non-smeller, a non-taster, and he lets go his vital breaths." And furthermore: "If, indeed, one eats, he becomes well supplied with life; he becomes a thinker; he becomes a hearer; he becomes a toucher; he becomes a speaker; he becomes a taster; he becomes a smeller; he becomes a seer." For thus has it been said:

From food, verily, creatures are produced,

whatsoever creatures dwell on the earth.

Moreover by food, in truth, they live.

Moreover into it also they finally pass.

12 Now, it has elsewhere been said: "Verily, all things here fly forth, day by day, desiring to get food. The sun gives forth heat by God's decree. When supplied with food, living beings here digest. Fire, verily, blazes up with food." This world was fashioned by God with provision for all. Hence, one should give thanks for food. For thus has it been said:

From food created things are born.

By food, when born, do they grow up.

It both is eaten and eats things.

Because of that it is called food.

13 Now, it has elsewhere been said: "Life is the essence of food; mind, of life; understanding, of mind; bliss, of understanding." He becomes possessed of food, life, mind, understanding, and bliss who knows this. Verily, in as many things here on earth as do eat food does he eat food who knows this.

Food does, indeed, prevent decay;

food is allaying, 'tis declared.

Food is the life of animals,

is foremost, healing, 'tis declared.

God is Lord of time

14 Now, it has elsewhere been said: "Food, verily, is the source of the creatures of this world; and time, a measure created for food. The sun is the sign by which time is reckoned." The year is composed of moments and other durations of time, and consists of twelve months. For thus has it been said:

However many parts of time,

through all of them runs yonder sun by God's command.

Whoever supposes Time to be God, from him time withdraws afar. For thus has it been said:

From God flow forth created things.

By God, too, they advance to growth.

In God's knowledge, too, they disappear.

Time is His creation, and He is beyond it.

15 There are, assuredly, two aspects: time, and what is beyond time. That which is prior to the sun is beyond time, without parts. But that which begins with the sun is time, which has parts. Verily, the form of that which has parts is the year. From the year, by God's decree, are these creatures produced. Through the year, verily, after having been produced, do they grow. In the year they disappear.

16 This world is the great ocean of creatures. In God's creation are the moon, stars, planets, the year, and these other things. And from them comes this whole world here, and whatever thing, good or evil, may be seen in the world. Therefore one should consider the sun as a sign of God and a measure of time. Moreover it has been said:

The offerer, the enjoyer, the gift, the prayer,

the devotion, the Lord of all:

every one whatsoever is subject to the Lord, the Witness,

who is above the orb of the sun.

God is infinite and incomprehensible

17 Verily, in the beginning there was God, the limitless One, limitless to the east, limitless to the south, limitless to the west, limitless to the north, and above and below, limitless in every direction. Truly, for Him east and the other directions exist not, nor across, nor below, nor above.

Incomprehensible is that supreme Lord, unlimited, unborn, not to be reasoned about, unthinkable. In the dissolution of the world He alone remains. By His command He brings forth this world, which is a mass of His thought. It is known by Him, and by His command it disappears.

His light is a sign in yonder sun, and in the brilliant light of a smokeless fire, as also in the heat that cooks the food in the stomach.

To the mercy of the One goes he who knows this.

The discipline of remembrance

18 The precept for effecting this is this: restraint of the senses, withdrawal from the objects of sense, meditation, concentration, contemplation, and absorption in remembrance of God. Such is said to be the sixfold discipline. By this means,

when a seer sees the brilliant Maker, the Lord,

then, being a knower, shaking off the burden of sin,

he returns everything to the supreme Imperishable.

For thus has it been said:

As to a mountain that's enflamed

deer and birds do not resort,

so with those who know God, faults

do never any shelter find.

Withdrawal from the objects of sense

19 Now, it has elsewhere been said: "Verily, when a knower has restrained his mind from the external, and the breath has put to rest objects of sense, thereupon let him continue void of vain imaginings." For thus has it been said:

That which is beyond thought, yet which stands in the midst of thought,

the unthinkable, supreme mystery:

thereon let one concentrate his thought.

The serene vision

20 For thus has it been said:

By tranquillity of thought

one comes to be at peace with God.

With soul serene, devoted to the Lord,

delight eternal one enjoys!

Who is both higher and lower,

That One, known by the name of Om,

Soundless and void of any likeness to creation —

Upon Him concentrate in the mind!

Piercing, in deep meditation, through darkness

to the shining, immortal God.

24 Now, it has elsewhere been said: 'The body is a bow. The arrow is Om. The mind is its point. Darkness is the mark. Having pierced through the darkness, one goes to what is not enveloped in darkness. Then, having pierced through what is thus enveloped, one sees the Light of God, mighty, beyond darkness, whose sign is the shining sun, and also the moon, fire and lightning. Now, assuredly, when one has been guided to Him, one goes to immortality in the Garden.' For thus has it been said: —

The meditation that is on the highest truth within

Is also directed upon outer signs.

Hence the unqualified understanding

Comes into qualifiedness.

But when the mind has been stilled,

And there is the joy whose only witness is the soul —

That is God's peace, the immortal, the pure!

That is the way! That indeed is the goal!

The vision of the brilliant Soul in the perfect devotion of the believer

25 Now, it has elsewhere been said: 'He who, with senses drawn in as in sleep, with thoughts perfectly pure as in slumber, being in the pit of the senses yet not under their control, remembers his Lord, the Guide, the Light, the Ever-Wakeful, the Ageless, the Deathless, the Sorrowless — he himself is raised, a guided one, brilliant, free of sorrow.' For thus has it been said: —

Whereas one thus joins breath and the remembrance of God

And all the manifold world —

Therefore it has been declared to be devotion ('Joining').

The harmony of the breath and mind,

And likewise of the senses,

And the relinquishment of all attachments to existence —

This is designated as devotion.

In the offering of restrained breath in devotion, the light of the Creator becomes manifest

26 Now, it has elsewhere been said: 'Verily, as the huntsman draws in fish with his net, thus, assuredly, does one draw in these breaths with the remembrance of God, and offer them up in the fire that is free from ill.'

Furthermore, it is like a heated caldron. Now, as ghee in a heated caldron lights up by contact with grass or wood, thus, assuredly, does he who is called non-breath light up by contact with the breaths.

Now, that which lights up is a sign of God, and that is the highest station of God the All-Pervading, and that is the power of God the Healer and Avenger. That, having manifested itself thus unmeasured times, fills these worlds. For thus has it been said: —

And as, indeed, from fire the sparks do issue,

And likewise, too, from out the sun its light-rays,

From Him all breathing creatures

Come forth into this world, each in its order.

The light of God hidden in the body, made fully manifest through devotion

27 Now, it has elsewhere been said: 'Assuredly, this is the heat from God, the supreme, the immortal, the bodiless — even the warmth of the body.

For that heat this body is the melted butter.

Now, although it is manifest, verily it is hidden in the space of the heart. Therefore by intense concentration they so clear the heart that the light, as it were, of that heat appears.

Thereupon one passes speedily into that condition of light, as a lump of iron that is hidden in the earth passes speedily into the condition of earthiness. As fire, iron-workers, and the like do not overcome a lump of iron that is in the condition of clay, so in devotion thought together with its support vanishes away.' For thus has it been said: —

The storehouse of the heart

Is bliss, is the supreme abode!

This is ourselves, our devotion too;

And this, the heat of fire and sun.

Entrance into the presence of God after slaying the door-keeper, self-conceit

28 Now, it has elsewhere been said: 'Having passed beyond the elements, the senses, and objects of sense; thereupon having seized the bow whose string is the life of a devoted wanderer and whose stick is steadfastness; and with the arrow which consists of freedom from self-conceit having struck down the first warder of the door to God — he who has confusion as his crown, covetousness and envy as his ear-rings, lassitude, drunkenness, and impurity as his staff, lord of self-conceit, who seizes the bow whose string is anger and whose stick is lust, and who slays beings here with the arrow of desire — having slain him, having crossed over with the raft of the remembrance of God to the other side of the space in the heart, in the inner space which gradually becomes manifest, one should enter into His presence, as the miner seeking minerals enters into the mine. Then let him disperse the fourfold sheath by the instruction of a righteous teacher.

The unhampered soul — the perfect believer

Henceforth being pure, clean, tranquil, selfless, steadfast, he abides in the greatness God has granted him.

Henceforth, having seen the soul which abides in the greatness granted by God, he looks down upon the wheel of worldly turning as upon a rolling chariot-wheel.'

For thus has it been said: —

If a man practises devotion for six months,

And is constantly freed from the senses,

The infinite, supreme, mysterious

Devotion is perfectly produced.

But if a man is afflicted with passion and darkness,

Enlightened as he may be —

If to son and wife and family

He is attached — for such a one, no, never at all!

Conclusion of the instruction on the knowledge of God and on devotion

29 Having spoken thus, absorbed in thought, Sakayanya did obeisance to him and said: 'By this knowledge of God, O king, did the sons of the Creator ascend the path of God.

By the practice of devotion one gains contentment, endurance of the pairs of opposites, and tranquillity.

This profoundest mystery one should not mention to any one who is not a son, or who is not a pupil, or who is not tranquil. However, to one who is devoted to none other than to his teacher, or to one who is supplied with all the qualifications, one may give it.