13. 'A mortal who has heard this and embraced it, who has separated from it all qualities, and has thus reached the subtle Being, rejoices, because he has obtained what is a cause for rejoicing. The house (of Brahman) is open, I believe, O Nakiketas.'

14. Nakiketas said: 'That which thou seest as neither this nor that, as neither effect nor cause, as neither past nor future, tell me that.'

15. Yama said: 'That word (or place) which all the Vedas record, which all penances proclaim, which men desire when they live as religious students, that word I tell thee briefly, it is Om .'

16. 'That (imperishable) syllable means Brahman, that syllable means the highest (Brahman); he who knows that syllable, whatever he desires, is his.'

17. 'This is the best support, this is the highest support; he who knows that support is magnified in the world of Brahma.'

18. 'The knowing (Self) is not born, it dies not; it sprang from nothing, nothing sprang from it. The

[paragraph continues] Ancient is unborn, eternal, everlasting; he is not killed, though the body is killed .'

19. 'If the killer thinks that he kills, if the killed thinks that he is killed, they do not understand; for this one does not kill, nor is that one killed.'

20. 'The Self , smaller than small, greater than great, is hidden in the heart of that creature. A man who is free from desires and free from grief, sees the majesty of the Self by the grace of the Creator .'

21. 'Though sitting still, he walks far; though lying down, he goes everywhere . Who, save myself, is able to know that God who rejoices and rejoices not?'

22. 'The wise who knows the Self as bodiless within the bodies, as unchanging among changing things, as great and omnipresent, does never grieve.'

23. 'That Self cannot be gained by the Veda, nor by understanding, nor by much learning. He whom the Self chooses, by him the Self can be gained. The Self chooses him (his body) as his own.'

24. 'But he who has not first turned away from his wickedness, who is not tranquil, and subdued, or whose mind is not at rest, he can never obtain the Self (even) by knowledge!

25. 'Who then knows where He is, He to whom the Brahmans and Kshatriyas are (as it were) but food , and death itself a condiment?'

Footnotes

^8:1 Cf. I, 16.

^8:2 The commentator explains lolupantah by vikkhedam kritavantah. Some MSS. read lolupante and lolupanti, but one expects either lolupyante or lolupati.

^8:3 Cf. Mund. Up. II, 8.

^9:1 Cf. Bhag. Gita II, 29.

^9:2 Cf. Mund. Up. II, 4.