(18) Devoted each to his own duty, man attains perfection; how one, devoted to one's own duty, attains success, that do thou hear.

(17) 'He who has three times performed this Nâkiketa rite, and has been united with the three (father, mother, and teacher), and has performed the three duties (study, sacrifice, almsgiving) overcomes birth and death. When he has learnt and understood this fire, which knows (or makes us know) all that is born of Brahman, which is venerable and divine, then he obtains everlasting peace.'

(13) To that pupil who has approached him respectfully, whose thoughts are not troubled by any desires, and who has obtained perfect peace, the wise teacher truly told that knowledge of Brahman through which he knows the eternal and true Person.

(9) 'That doctrine is not to be obtained by argument, but when it is declared by another, then, O dearest, it is easy to understand. Thou hast obtained it now; thou art truly a man of true resolve. May we have always an inquirer like thee!'

(392) After a man has once understood the law as taught by the Well-awakened (Buddha), let him worship it carefully, as the Brâhmana worships the sacrificial fire.

(1) Tat: [Now] in the General Sermons, father, thou didst speak in riddles most unclear, conversing on Divinity; and when thou saidst no man could e'er be saved before Rebirth, thy meaning thou didst hide. Further, when I became thy Suppliant, in Wending up the Mount, after thou hadst conversed with me, and when I longed to learn the Sermon (Logos) on Rebirth (for this beyond all other things is just the thing I know not), thou saidst, that thou wouldst give it me - "when thou shalt have become a stranger to the world". Wherefore I got me ready and made the thought in me a stranger to the world-illusion. And now do thou fill up the things that fall short in me with what thou saidst would give me the tradition of Rebirth, setting it forth in speech or in the secret way. I know not, O Thrice-greatest one, from out what matter and what womb Man comes to birth, or of what seed.

(3) Do thou perform (thy) bounden duty; for, action is superior to inaction. And even the maintenance of the body would not be possible for thee by inaction.

(41) If such food be bestowed on the absent, What dainties may not the guest who is present expect? The courtier who attends in the presence of the king The difference between them is beyond calculation; One sees the light, the other on]y the veil. Strive to obtain entrance within, Having chosen thy Director, be not weak of heart, Nor yet sluggish and lax as water and mud; But if thou takest umbrage at every rub, How wilt thou become a polished mirror?"

(18) Better is one's own duty (though) destitute of merits, than the duty of another well performed. Doing the duty ordained according to nature, one incurs no sin.

(15) Thus, this most Secret Science has been taught by Me, O sinless one; on knowing this, (a man) becomes wise, O Bharata and all his duties are accomplished.

(3) Now Kahola Kaushltakeya questioned him. * Yajna- valkya/ said he, ' explain to me him who is just the Brahma present and not beyond our ken, him who is the Soul in all things. ' He is your soul, which is in all things/ ' He who passes beyond hunger and thirst, beyond sorrow and delusion, beyond old age and death — Brahmans who know such a Soul overcome desire for sons, desire for wealth, desire for worlds, and live the life of mendicants. For desire for sons is desire for wealth, and desire for wealth is desire for worlds, for both these are merely desires. Therefore let a Brahman become disgusted with learning and desire to live as a child. When he has become disgusted both with the state of childhood and with learning, then he becomes an ascetic (muni). When he has become disgusted both with the non-ascetic state and with the ascetic state, then he becomes a Brahman/ us ' By what means would he become a Brahman? ' Aught else than this Soul (Atman) is wretched/ Thereupon Kahola Kaushitakeya held his peace.

(13) if a man hear such scriptures as these, comprehend, hold, recite, and through the power of the necessary means, discriminate, explain, and make them manifest clearly to all beings, and thereby preserve the law, he for these reasons is said to pay homage to the law. “ ‘

(28) For this moment there are several vital profound teachings. Listen undistractedly. Even though thou hast not apprehended by the above settings-face-to-face, here [thou wilt, because] even those who are very weak in devotions will recognize the signs. Therefore listen.

(22) And where this is wanting, the art See note 31. will never be learned. The second is, a copy or ensample by which thou mayest learn. The third is to give earnest heed to the master, and watch how he worketh, and to be obedient to him in all things, and to trust him and follow him. The fourth is to put thy own hand to the work, and practise it with all industry. But where one of these four is wanting, the art will never be learned and mastered. So likewise is it with this preparation. For he who hath the first, that is, thorough diligence and constant, persevering desire towards his end, will also seek and find all that appertaineth thereunto, or is serviceable and profitable to it. But he who hath not that earnestness and diligence, love and desire, seeketh not, and therefore findeth not, and therefore remaineth ever unprepared. And therefore he never attaineth unto that end.

(14) Again, to practise according to the teaching of all the law, to be in accordance with the twelve chains of causation, to be far above all heresies, to attain to the acquiescence in the eternal law, to be absolutely selfless, to be without personality, yet to be free from dissension, free from discord concerning the law of cause and effect, to be free from ideas of possession, not to depend on words but to depend on meaning, not to depend on knowledge but to depend on wisdom, not to depend on incomplete scriptures but to depend on complete scripture, not to depend on man but to depend on the law, to be in accordance with the nature of things, not to cherish any heretical views, to have no abode, and no refuge, to regard the twelve chains of causation as working in an endless circle thus as follows:—as ignorance is completely annihilated, all component things are completely annihilated, until we come to, as birth is completely annihilated, old age and death are also completely annihilated. This is paying homage to the law, which is superior to all other homages.’ ”

(6) "Real mourning grieves in silence. Real anger awes without expression. Real friendship is unison without the aid of smiles. Our emotions are dependent upon the original purity within; and accordingly we hold the latter in esteem. "If applied to human affairs, then in serving our parents we are filial, in serving our prince we are loyal, in the banquet hour we are merry, in the hour of mourning we are sad. "The object of loyalty is successful service; of a banquet, mirth; of mourning, grief; of serving parents, gratifying their wishes. If the service is accomplished, it matters not that no trace remain. If parents be gratified, it matters not how. If a banquet results in mirth, the accessories are of no importance. If there be real grief in mourning, it matters not what ceremonies may be employed. "Ceremonial is the invention of man. Our original purity is given to us from God. It is as it is, and cannot be changed. Wherefore the true Sage models himself upon God, and holds his original purity in esteem. He is independent of human exigencies. Fools, however, reverse this. They cannot model themselves upon God, and have to fall back on man. They do not hold original purity in esteem. Consequently they are ever suffering the vicissitudes of mortality, and never reaching the goal. Alas! you, Sir, were early steeped in deceit, and are late in hearing the great doctrine." Confucius, having again prostrated himself twice, arose and said, "It has been a godsend to meet you, Sir, to-day. Pray allow me to follow you as your servant, that I may benefit by your teaching. I venture to ask where you live that I may enter upon my duties and learn the great doctrine."

(12) Let a Brâhmana, after he has examined all these worlds which are gained by works, acquire freedom from all desires. Nothing that is eternal (not made) can be gained by what is not eternal (made). Let him, in order to understand this, take fuel in his hand and approach a Guru who is learned and dwells entirely in Brahman.

(48) He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks) from day to day to diminish (his doing). He diminishes it and again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing nothing (on purpose). Having arrived at this point of non-action, there is nothing which he does not do. He who gets as his own all under heaven does so by giving himself no trouble (with that end). If one take trouble (with that end), he is not equal to getting as his own all under heaven.

(1) Those who exercise their faculties in mere worldly studies, hoping thereby to revert to their original condition; and those who sink their aspirations in mundane thoughts, hoping thereby to reach enlightenment;—these are the dullards of the earth. The ancients, in cultivating Tao, begat knowledge out of repose. When born, this knowledge was not applied to any purpose; and so it may be said that out of knowledge they begat repose. Knowledge and repose thus mutually producing each other, harmony and order were developed. Virtue is harmony; Tao is order. Virtue all-embracing,—hence charity. Tao all-influencing,—hence duty to one's neighbour. From the establishment of these two springs loyalty. Then comes music, an expression of inward purity and truth; followed by ceremonial, or sincerity expressed in ornamental guise. If music and ceremonial are ill regulated, the empire is plunged into confusion. And to attempt to correct others while one's own virtue is clouded, is to set one's own virtue a task for which it is inadequate, the result being that the natural constitution of the object will suffer.

(4) On this point there is this verse: Where one's mind is attached — the inner self Goes thereto with action, being attached to it alone. Obtaining the end of his action, Whatever he does in this world, He comes again from that world To this world of action. — So the man who desires. The soul of the released Now the man who does not desire. — He who is without desire, who is freed from desire, whose desire is satisfied, whose desire is the Soul — his breaths do not depart. Being very Brahma, he goes to Brahma.