Knowledge of the Absolute (of God)
Teaching of Krishna, God, the Supreme Person.
Now listen. This is the way in which, fully conscious of Me in the practice of yoga (the practice of union and communion with God), your mind bound to Me, you will know Me in its entirety, without the slightest doubt.
In its totality, I will reveal it to you, this knowledge of the phenomenon and of the noumenon, outside of which there is nothing left to know.
Among thousands of men, perhaps only one will seek perfection, and among those who attain it, rare is the one who knows Me in truth.
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego (the fact of identifying oneself with one's body, of wanting to dominate matter, and material nature), these eight elements distinct from Myself, constitute My lower energy.
Besides this lower energy, another energy is Mine, a higher, spiritual energy. The living beings, which struggle with material nature and by which the universe subsists, constitute it.
Of all things in this world, material and spiritual, know that I am the origin and the end.
No truth is superior to Me. All things rest on Me, like pearls on a string. I am the flavour of water, the light of the sun and moon, the syllable Om of the Vedic mantras. I am the sound in the ether, and in man the ability.
Of the earth I am the original fragrance, and of the fire the heat. I am the life in all that lives, and the asceticism of the ascetic.
Know that I am the first seed of all beings. Of the intelligent I am intelligence, and of the powerful I am prowess. I am the strength of the strong free from desire and passion. I am the carnal union that does not violate the principles of religion.
Every state of being, whether it be of Virtue, Passion or Ignorance, is but a manifestation of My energy. In a sense, I am everything; never, however, do I lose My individuality. Understand that I am not subject to the gunas. Misled by the three gunas [the three attributes and modes of influence of material nature: Virtue, Passion, and Ignorance], the entire Universe is unaware of who I am, I the Supreme, the Unquenchable, who transcends these material influences.
The energy constituted by the three gunas, this divine energy, Mine, cannot be surpassed without harm. But he who surrenders to Me easily crosses its limits.
The fools, the last of men, those whose knowledge is stolen by delusion, the demoniacs, these miscreants do not surrender to Me.
Of four orders, the virtuous who with devotion serve Me: the unfortunate, the curious, the man who pursues wealth and the one who desires to know the Absolute (Krishna).
Of all, superior is the wise man with perfect knowledge, whom pure devotional service unites with Me. I am very dear to him, as he is also very dear to Me.