(5) 'As in a mirror, so (Brahman may be seen clearly) here in this 'body; as in a dream, in the world of the Fathers; as in the water, he is seen about in the world of the Gandharvas; as in light and shade, in the world of Brahmâ.'

(2) That Brahman (mind) has four feet (quarters). Speech is one foot, breath is one foot, the eye is one foot, the car is one foot-so much with reference to the body. Then with reference to the gods, Agni (fire) is one foot, Vâyu (air) is one foot, Âditya (sun) is one foot, the quarters are one foot. Thus both the worship which has reference to the body, and the worship which has reference to the Devas, has been taught.

(2) 'He (Brahman) is the swan (sun), dwelling in the bright heaven; he is the Vasu (air), dwelling in the sky; he is the sacrificer (fire), dwelling on the hearth; he is the guest (Soma), dwelling in the sacrificial jar; he dwells in men, in gods (vara), in the sacrifice (rita), in heaven; he is born in the water, on earth, in the sacrifice (rita), on the mountains; he is the True and the Great.'

(11) Arjuna said: In Thy body, Ο Lord, I behold all the gods and all the diverse hosts of beings— the Lord Brahmā, seated on the lotus, and all the rishis and the celestial serpents.

(11) That immortal Brahman is before, that Brahman is behind, that Brahman is right and left. It has gone forth below and above; Brahman alone is all this, it is the best.

(1) 'A diver-bird (Madgu, meant for Prâna) will declare to you another foot of Brahman.' (After these words of the Hamsa), Satyakâma, on the morrow, drove the cows onward. And when they came towards the evening, he lighted a fire, penned the cows, laid wood on the fire, and sat down behind the fire, looking toward the east.

(3) They dwelt there as pupils for thirty-two years. Then Pragâpati asked them: 'For what purpose have you both dwelt here?' They replied: 'A saying of yours is being repeated, viz. "the Self which is free from sin, free from old age, from death and grief, from hunger and thirst, which desires nothing but what it ought to desire, and imagines nothing but what it ought to imagine, that it is which we must search out, that it is which we must try to understand. He who has searched out that Self and understands it, obtains all worlds and all desires." Now we both have dwelt here because we wish for that Self.' Pragâpati said to them: 'The person that is seen in the eye , that is the Self. This is what I have said. This is the immortal, the fearless, this is Brahman.' They asked: 'Sir, he who is perceived in the water, and he who is perceived in a mirror, who is he?' He replied: 'He himself indeed is seen in all these .'

(7) Aniruddha:

The Buddha then said to Aniruddha:

“You call on Vimalakirti to inquire after his health on my behalf.”

Aniruddha said:

“World Honoured One, I am not qualified to call on him and inquired after his health. For once when I was walking about while meditating to prevent sleepiness, a Brahma called, ‘The Gloriously Pure’, together with an entourage of ten thousand devas sent off rays of light, came to my place, bowed their heads to salute me and asked:

‘How far does your deva eye see?’ I replied:

‘Virtuous one, I see the land of Sakyamuni Buddha in the great chiliocosm like an amala fruit held in my hand.’ Vimalakirti (suddenly) came and said:

‘Hey, Aniruddha, when your deva eye sees, does it see form or formlessness? If it sees form, you are no better than those heretics who have won five supernatural powers. If you see formlessness, your deva eye is non-active (wu wei) and should be unseeing.’ “World Honoured One, I kept silent.”

And the devas praised Vimalakirti for what they had not heard before, They then paid reverence and asked him:

‘Is there anyone in this world who has realized the real deva eye?”

Vimalakirti replied:

“There is the Buddha who has realized the real deva eye; He is always in the state of samadhi and sees all Buddha lands without (giving rise to) the duality (of subjective eye and objective form).”

At that time, Brahma and five hundred of his relatives developed the anuttara-samyak-sambodhi mind; they bowed their heads at Vimalakirti’s feet and suddenly disappeared. This is why I am not qualified to call on him to inquire after his health.”

(10) 'What is here (visible in the world), the same is there (invisible in Brahman); and what is there, the same is here. He who sees any difference here (between Brahman and the world), goes from death to death.'

(1) 'A Hamsa (flamingo, meant for the sun) will declare to you another foot of Brahman.' (After these words of Agni), Satyakâma, on the morrow, drove the cows onward. And when they came towards the evening, he lighted a fire, penned the cows, laid wood on the fire, and sat down behind the fire, looking toward the east.

(1) He said: 'The person that is seen in the eye, that is the Self. This is the immortal, the fearless, this is Brahman . Even though they drop melted butter or water on him, it runs away on both sides .

(5) The eye is indeed the fourth foot of Brahman. That foot shines with Âditya (sun) as its light, and warms. He who knows this, shines and warms through his celebrity, fame, and glory of countenance.

(2) 'Those who belong to us, whether living or departed, and whatever else there is which we wish for and do not obtain, all that we find there (if we descend into our heart, where Brahman dwells, in the ether of the heart), There are all our true desires, but hidden by what is false . As people who do not know the country, walk again and again over a gold treasure that has been hidden somewhere in the earth and do not discover it, thus do all these creatures day after day go into the Brahma-world (they are merged in Brahman, while asleep), and yet do not discover it, because they are carried away by untruth (they do not come to themselves, i. e. they do not discover the true Self in Brahman, dwelling in the heart).

(5) The sages look with equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with knowledge and humility, on a cow, on an elephant, on a dog and on the outcaste who feeds on dog’s flesh.

(1) It is necessary then, as I think, first to set forth what we think is the purpose of every Hierarchy, and what benefit each one confers upon its followers; and next to celebrate the Heavenly Hierarchies according to their revelation in the Oracles; then following these Oracles, to say in what sacred forms the holy writings of the Oracles depict the celestial orders, and to what sort of simplicity we must be carried through the representations; in order that we also may not, like the vulgar, irreverently think that the heavenly and Godlike minds are certain many-footed and many-faced creatures, or moulded to the brutishness of oxen, or the savage form of lions, and fashioned like the hooked beaks of eagles, or the feathery down of birds, and should imagine that there are certain wheels of fire above the heaven, or material thrones upon which the Godhead may recline, or certain many-coloured horses, and spear-bearing leaders of the host, and whatever else was transmitted by the Oracles to us under multifarious symbols of sacred imagery. And indeed, the Word of God artlessly makes use of poetic representations of sacred things, respecting the shapeless minds, out of regard to our intelligence, so to speak, consulting a mode of education proper and natural to it, and moulding the inspired writings for it.

(2) 'He who meditates on reflection as Brahman, is lord and master, as it were, as far as reflection reaches--he who meditates on reflection as Brahman.' 'Sir, is there something better than reflection?' 'Yes, there is something better than reflection.' 'Sir, tell it me.'

(10) Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Abode, the Supreme Holiness. All the sages have declared You to be the eternal, self-luminous Person, the first of the gods, unborn and all-pervading; likewise have the divine sages Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaimed. So, too, have You said unto me.

(5) But when he departs from this body, then he departs upwards by those very rays (towards the worlds which he has gained by merit, not by knowledge); or he goes out while meditating on Om (and thus securing an entrance into the Brahmaloka). And while his mind is failing, he is going to the sun. For the sun is the door of the world (of Brahman). Those who know, walk in; those who do not know, are shut out. There is this verse 1: 'There are a hundred and one arteries of the heart; one of them penetrates the crown of the head; moving upwards by it a man reaches the immortal; the others serve for departing in different directions, yea, in different directions 2.'

(8) And John the apostle says: "No man hath seen God at any time. The only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him," -calling invisibility and ineffableness the bosom of God. Hence some have called it the Depth, as containing and embosoming all things, inaccessible and boundless. This discourse respecting God is most difficult to handle. For since the first principle of everything is difficult to find out, the absolutely first and oldest principle, which is the cause of all other things being and having been, is difficult to exhibit. For bow can that be expressed which is neither genus, nor difference, nor species, nor individual, nor number; nay more, is neither an event, nor that to which an event happens? No one can rightly express Him wholly. For on account of His greatness He is ranked as the All, and is the Father of the universe. Nor are any parts to be predicated of Him.

(1) 'Agni will declare to you another foot of Brahman.' (After these words of the bull), Satyakâma, on the morrow, drove the cows (toward the house of the teacher). And when they came towards the evening, he lighted a fire, penned the cows, laid wood on the fire, and sat down behind the fire, looking to the east.