The Supreme Reality, the Self, cannot be grasped by the eye, nor by speech, nor even by the gods themselves. It is not attained through austerity or action alone. Rather, when the mind is purified by the grace of true knowledge, one beholds that indivisible Being through deep meditation. This subtle Self must be realized by the mind, into which the life-force has entered in fivefold form. In this Self, all the minds of living beings are interwoven. When the mind is cleansed and made pure, the Self shines forth in its own splendor. Whatever world a person of pure mind contemplates with his heart, whatever desires he earnestly wishes for, he attains those worlds and those desires. Therefore, one who seeks prosperity should worship the knower of the Self. The wise know that supreme abode of Brahman, the shining, pure ground in which the entire universe is established. Those who worship the Person beyond desire transcend this pure world itself. But whoever, thinking himself to be the doer, chases after objects of desire, he is born again and again, carried by those desires into various places and forms. Yet for the one whose desires are fulfilled, whose Self is firmly established, all desires dissolve here and now. This Self is not attained by mere instruction, nor by intellectual prowess, nor by much hearing of scriptures. It is gained only by him whom the Self chooses; to that person, the Self reveals its true nature. It cannot be reached by one who lacks strength, nor by the careless, nor by improper austerity. But for those who strive with knowledge, who are steadfast, the Self enters the abode of Brahman. Having realized this truth, the sages, satisfied in knowledge, self-controlled, free from passion, and at peace, enter into all things with united minds, having reached the all-pervading. Those ascetics, pure in heart and firmly established in the knowledge of Vedanta through the discipline of renunciation, at the end of their lives, in the realms of Brahman, become completely liberated and immortal. When the fifteen parts of being and all the gods with their presiding deities have merged, then all actions and even the self shaped by knowledge become one in the supreme, imperishable Reality. Just as rivers, losing their names and forms, flow into and disappear in the ocean, so too does the wise one, freed from name and form, merge into the supreme, divine Person who is beyond all. Whoever truly knows that supreme Brahman becomes Brahman indeed. In his lineage, none remain ignorant of Brahman. He crosses over sorrow and evil, and, freed from the knots of the heart, becomes immortal. It is said: those who are active, learned in the scriptures, devoted to Brahman, and who offer with faith to the one fire—only to them should this knowledge of Brahman be taught, to those who have faithfully performed the prescribed vow. This is the truth: in ancient times, the sage Angiras declared it. This knowledge is not to be studied by one who has not fulfilled the vow. Salutations to the supreme sages, salutations to the supreme sages.