The lovers of Brahman ask:
What is the source of this universe? What is Brahman? From where do we come? By what power do we live? Where do we find rest? Who rules over our joys and sorrows, O seers of Brahman?
Shall we think of time, or of the own nature of things, or of a law of necessity, or of chance, or of the elements, or of the power of creation of woman or man? Not a union of these, for above them is a soul who thinks. But our soul is under the power of pleasure and pain!
By the Yoga of meditation and contemplation the wise saw the power of God, hidden in his own creation. It is he who rules over all the sources of this universe, from time to the soul of man.
And they saw the Wheel of his power made of one circle, three layers, sixteen parts, fifty spokes, twenty counterspokes, six groups of eight, three paths, one rope of innumerable strands, and the great illusion:
‘Three layers’ — the three constituent parts of nature: light, fire and darkness; ‘sixteen parts or segments of the rim of the Wheel’ — the five elements, five means to know, five means to do, and the mind; ‘fifty spokes’ — fifty states of consciousness as taught in the Sankhya wisdom: five kinds of error, twenty-eight of weakness, nine of joy and eight of achievement; ‘twenty counterspokes’ — ten senses and their ten objects; ‘six groups of eight’ — forms of nature, constituents of the body, powers of Yoga, modes of feeling, gods, and virtues; ‘three paths’ — the Yoga of light, of love and of life; ‘one rope of innumerable strands’ — desire of innumerable forms; ‘the great illusion’ — the illusion which sees the ONE as two.
They also saw the river of life impetuously rushing with the five streams of sense-feelings which come from five sources, the five elements. Its waves are moved by five breathing winds, and its origin is a fivefold fountain of consciousness. The river has five whirlpools, and the violent waves of five sorrows. It has five stages of pain and five dangerous windings and turnings.
In this vast Wheel of creation wherein all things live and die, wanders round the human soul like a swan in restless flying, and she thinks that God is afar. But when the love of God comes down upon her, then she finds her own immortal life.
Exalted in songs has been Brahman. In him are God and the world and the soul, and he is the imperishable supporter of all. When the seers of Brahman see him in all creation, they find peace in Brahman and are free from all sorrows.
God upholds the oneness of this universe: the seen and the unseen, the transient and the eternal. The soul of man is bound by pleasure and pain; but when she sees God she is free from all fetters.
There is the soul of man with wisdom and unwisdom, power and powerlessness; there is nature, Prakriti, which is creation for the sake of the soul; and there is God, infinite, omnipresent, who watches the work of creation. When a man knows the three he knows Brahman.
Matter in time passes away, but God is for ever in Eternity, and he rules both matter and soul. By meditation on him, by contemplation of him, and by communion with him, there comes in the end the destruction of earthly delusion.
When a man knows God, he is free: his sorrows have an end, and birth and death are no more. When in inner union he is beyond the world of the body, then the third world, the world of the Spirit, is found, where the power of the All is, and man has all: for he is one with the ONE.
Know that Brahman is for ever in thee, and nothing higher is there to be known. When one sees God and the world and the soul, one sees the Three: one sees Brahman.
Even as fire is not seen in wood and yet by power it comes to light as fire, so Brahman in the universe and in the soul is revealed by the power of OM.
The soul is the wood below that can burn and be fire, and OM is the whirling friction-rod above. Prayer is the power that makes OM turn round and then the mystery of God comes to light.
God is found in the soul when sought with truth and self-sacrifice, as fire is found in wood, water in hidden springs, cream in milk, and oil in the oil-fruit.
There is a Spirit who is hidden in all things, as cream is hidden in milk, and who is the source of self-knowledge and self-sacrifice. This is Brahman, the Spirit Supreme. This is Brahman, the Spirit Supreme.