GIVE reverence, O man, to mystery, | |
Keep your soul patient, and with closed eye hear. | |
Know that the Good is in all things, the whole | |
Being by him pervaded and upheld. | |
He is the will, the thwarting circumstance, | 5 |
The two opposing forces equal both | |
Birth, Death, are one. Think not the Lotus flower | |
Or tulip is more honoured than the grass, | |
The bindweed, or the thistle. He who kneels | |
To Cama, kneeleth unto me; the maid | 10 |
Who sings to Ganga sings to me; I am | |
Wisdom unto the wise, and cunning lore | |
Unto the subtle. He who knows his soul, | |
And from thence looketh unto mine; who sees | |
All underneath the moon regardlessly, | 15 |
Living on silent, as a shaded lamp | |
Burns with steady flame:he sure shall find me | |
He findeth wisdom, greatness, happiness. | |
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Know, further, the Great One delighteth not | |
In him who works, and strives, and is against | 20 |
The nature of the present. Not the less | |
Am I the gladness of the conqueror | |
And the despair of impotence that fails. | |
I am the ultimate, the tendency | |
Of all things to their nature, which is mine. | 25 |
Put round thee garments of rich softness, hang | |
Fine gold about thine ankles, hands, and ears, | |
Set the rich ruby and rare diamond | |
Upon thy brow.I made them, I also | |
Made them be sought by thee; thou lackst them not? | 30 |
Then throw them whence they came, and leave with them | |
The wish to be aught else than nature forms. | |
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Know that the great Good in the age called First, | |
Beheld a world of mortals, mong whom none | |
Enquired for Truth, because no falsehood was: | 35 |
Nature was Truth; man held whateer he wished: | |
No will was thwarted, and no deed was termed, | |
Good, Evil. In much wisdom is much grief. | |
He who increases knowledge sorrow also | |
Takes with it, till he rises unto me, | 40 |
Knowing that I am in all, still the same: | |
Knowing that I am Peace in the contented. | |
I, Great, revealed unto the Seer, how man | |
Had wandered, and he gave a name and form | |
To my communings and he called it Veda. | 45 |
To him who understands it is great gain | |
Who understandeth not, to him the Sign | |
And ritual is authority and guide, | |
A living and expiring confidence. | |