6. Who is Brahmā [the creator]?
7. Who is Vishṇu [the preserver]?
8. Who is Ruḍra [the destroyer]?
9. Who is Inḍra?
10. Who is Yama [the angel of death]?
11. Who is Sūrya [the Sun]?
12. Who is Chanḍra [the Moon]?
13. Who are Ḍevas [the Angels]?
14. Who are Asuras [the Demons]?
15. Who are Piśāchas [the evil spirits]?
16. Who are Manushyas [the men]?
17. Who are Women?
18. What are beasts, etc.?
19. What are the Sṭhāvaras [fixed ones]?
20. Who are Brahmans and others?

That Brahman is Brahmā, Vishṇu, Ruḍra and Inḍra, Yama, Sun and Moon, Ḍevas, Asuras, Piśāchas, men, women, beasts, etc., the fixed ones, Brahmans and others. Here there is no manyness in the least degree: all this is verily Brahman.

21. What is Jāṭi (caste)

It cannot refer to the skin, the blood, the flesh or the bone. There is no caste for Āṭmā; caste is only conventional.

22. What is Karma?

Karma is that action alone which is performed by the organs and ascribed to Āṭmā as "I do" (viz., agency being attributed to Āṭmā).

23. What is Akarma [or non-Karma]?

Akarma is the performance, without any desire for the fruits, of the daily and occasional rites, sacrifices, vows, austerities, gifts and other actions that are associated with the egoism of the actor and the enjoyer, and that are productive of bondage, rebirth, etc.

24. What is Jñāna?

It is the realisation by direct cognition of the fact that in this changing universe there is nothing but Chaiṭanya [the one life] that is Consciousness, that is of the form of the seer and the seen, pervading all things, that is the same in all, and that is not subject to changes like pot, cloth, etc. This realisation is brought about by means of the subjugation of the body and the senses, the serving of a good Guru (teacher), the hearing of the exposition of Veḍānṭic doctrines and constant meditation thereon.

25. What is Ajñāna?

It is the illusory attribution, like the snake in the rope, of many Āṭmās (souls) through the diverse Upāḍhis [or vehicles] of the angels, beasts, men, the fixed ones, females, males, castes and orders of life, bondage and emancipation, etc., to Brahman that is secondless, all-permeating and of the nature of all.

26. What is Sukha (happiness)?

It is a state of being of the nature of bliss, having cognized through experience the Reality of Sachchiḍānanḍa [or that which is be-ness, consciousness and bliss].

27. What is Ḍuḥkha (pains)?

It is the mere Saṅkalpa [or the thinking] of the objects of mundane existence [or of not-Self according to the Bombay Edition].

28. What is Swarga (heaven)?

It is the association with Saṭ [either good men or Brahman which is Saṭ, the true].

29. What is Naraka (hell)?

It is the association with that which brings about this mundane existence which is Asaṭ [the false].