(6) These vital Breaths (prand), disputing among themselves on self-superiority, went to Brahma. Then they said: ' Which of us is the most excellent? ' Then he said: ' The one of you after whose going off this body is thought to be worse off, he is the most excellent of you.

(13) They who perceive with the eye of wisdom this distinction between the Field and the Knower of the Field, and also the deliverance from Prakriti, the cause of all beings— they attain the Supreme.

(15) He who, undeluded, knows Me thus as the Supreme Self— he knows all, Ο Bhārata, and he worships Me with all his heart.

(6) Om \ Verily, he who knows the chiefest and best, becomes the chiefest and best of his own [people]. Breath (prdna\ verily, is chiefest and best. He who knows this becomes the chiefest and best of his own [people] and even of those of whom he wishes so to become. 5 A parallel passage in simpler form is Chand. 5.1. 1-5,

(1) Now next, a Consideration of the Activities. — Prajapati created the active functions (karma). They,. when they had been created, strove with one another. * I am going the double meaning of a word, a procedure characteristic of the Upamshads. The word lokya may here be translated 'world-wise or * world-procuring/ When properly instructed, a son is ' world-wise ' in his own attainment of the world through knowledge. He is also * world-procuring ' for his father, in that he is able, through the discharge of appointed filial duties, to help the departed spirit of his father to attain a better world than would otherwise be possible. from the hell called Put, therefore he is called putra (son) [i.e. deliverer from hell],' to speak/ the voice began. ' I am going to see/ said the eye. 6 I am going to hear,' said the ear. So spake the other func- tions, each according to his function. Death, appearing as weariness, laid hold and took possession of them, and, taking possession of them, Death checked them. Therefore the voice becomes weary, the eye becomes weary, the ear becomes weary. But Death did not take possession of him who was the middle breath. They sought to know him. They said: ( Verily, he is the best of us, since whether moving or not moving, he is not perturbed, nor perishes. Come, let us all become a form of him.' Of him, indeed, they became a form. Therefore they are named ' vital breaths ' after him. In whatever family there is a man who has this knowledge, they call that family after him. Whoever strives with one who knows this, dries up and finally dies.— So much with reference to the self.

(7) Now the choosing of the Better not only proves a lot most fair for him who makes the choice, seeing it makes the man a God, but also shows his piety to God. Whereas the [choosing] of the Worse, although it doth destroy the "man", it doth only disturb God's harmony to this extent, that as processions pass by in the middle of the way, without being able to do anything but take the road from others, so do such men move in procession through the world led by their bodies' pleasures.

(8) Having come to Me, these high-souled men are no more subject to rebirth, which is transitory and the abode of pain; for they have reached the highest perfection.

(2) Then said Yajnavalkya: ' Ah (bata) \ Lo (arc\ dear (priya) as you are to us, dear is what you say! Come, sit down. I will explain to you. But while I am expounding, do you seek to ponder thereon.

(18) Manjusri asked: “What is the root of good and evil?”

Vimalakirti replied: “The body is the root of good and evil.”

(3) * Yajnavalkya/ said he, * when a man dies, what does not leave him? ' All-gods. An endless world he wins thereby.'

(1) Verily, the person here who knows this, is himself that Prajapati with the sixteen parts who is the year. The fifteen parts are his wealth. The sixteenth part is his self (atman). In wealth alone [not in self] is one increased and diminished. That which is the self (atman) is a hub; wealth, a felly. Therefore even if one is overcome by the loss of everything, provided he himself lives, people say merely. ' He has come off with the loss of a felly! ' The three worlds and how to win them j 6. Now, there are of a truth three worlds — the world of men, the world of the fathers, and the world of the gods.. This world of men is to be obtained by a son only, by no other means; the world of the fathers, by sacrifice; the world of the gods, by knowledge. The world of the gods is verily the best of worlds. Therefore they praise knowledge. A father's transmission to his son

(3) But, O Arjuna! he who controls the senses with the mind, and commences the discipline of Karma yoga by his organs of action without attachment, is the best.

(7) After they had sat down the Buddha asked SariputANSWER: “Have you seen what the great Bodhisattvas have done with their transcendental powers?”>
Sariputra replied that he had.

(4) The Blessed Lord said: O Arjuna! Many births of Mine have passed as well as yours. I know them all but you know them not.

(8) Sariputra said: “It is a rare thing, World Honoured One, that this man could leave a pure land to come to this world full of hatred and harmfulness!”

(2) “World Honoured One, the body of the Tathagata being such, seeing Him as above-mentioned is correct whereas seeing Him otherwise is wrong.”

(11) Arjuna said: Out of compassion for me You have spoken words of ultimate profundity concerning the Self, and they have dispelled my delusion.

(7) Who said: “Welcome, Manjusri, you come with no idea of coming and you see with no idea of seeing.”

(3) He said to them: < Venerable Brahmans, let him of you who is the best Brahman drive away these cows/ Those Brahmans durst not. Then Yajnavalkya said to his pupil: ' Samasravas, my dear, drive them away.' He drove them away. The Brahmans were angry. ' How can he declare himself to be the best Brahman among us? ' Now there was Asvala, the Hotri-priest of Janaka, [king] of Videha. He asked him: < Yajfiavalkya, are you now the best Brahman among us? * He replied, < We give honor to the best Brahman. But we are really desirous of having those cows/ Thereupon Asvala, the Hotri-priest, began to question him.

(6) Then he addresses the child's mother: — f You are Ila, of the lineage of Mitra and Varuna! O heroine 1 She has borne a hero 1 7 Continue to be such a woman abounding in heroes — She who has made us abound in a hero!' world-all; or as Rig- Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Sama-Veda, i.e. all knowledge. of vedas, i property, wealth. See Asvalayana Gnhya Sutras I. 15. 3-8; Paraskara Grihya Sutras i. 17. 1-4; Gobhila Grihya Sutras 2. 8. 14-; and Manava Dharma Sastra 2. 30-33. 5 RV. i. 164. 4 with lines b and c transposed. Of such a son, verily, they say: ' Ah, you have gone beyond your father! Ah, you have gone beyond your grandfather! 5 Ah, he reaches the highest pinnacle of splendor, glory, and sacred knowledge who is born as the son of a Brahman who knows this!