Of all that is luminous, She is the Source of light. She is unmanifested, She dwells beyond the darkness of matter. It is the knowledge, the object of knowledge and the goal of knowledge. It dwells in the heart of everyone. Thus, I have in few words described to you the field of action, the knowledge and the object of knowledge. All the depth of these things, to My devotees alone it is given to know it, and thus to reach My nature.

Both material nature and the separate beings, you should know, have no beginning. Their mutations and the three gunas (the three attributes and modes of influence of material nature: virtue, passion and ignorance) have no other origin than material nature.

Nature is said to be the cause of all material acts and their consequences; the separate being (the individual spirit soul separate from Krishna), on the other hand, is the cause of the various pleasures and sufferings he experiences in this world.

Thus, the separate being borrows various ways of existence within the material nature and enjoys the three gunas there: this is because he touches that nature. He then experiences suffering and pleasure in various forms of life.

But there is another beneficiary in the body who transcends matter; and that is the Lord, the supreme possessor, Witness and Conscientious, who is called the Supreme Soul (and whom Jesus called the Holy Spirit).

He will attain liberation who thus knows material nature and what living beings are and how they interact with the three gunas (virtue, passion and ignorance). Whatever his present condition, he will never again be reborn in this world.

Some perceive the Supreme Soul through meditation, others through the cultivation of knowledge, and still others through unselfish action.

Then one meets those who, though not well versed in spiritual knowledge, engage in worship of the Supreme Lord because they have heard of Him. Willingly listening to the sayings of authorities, they too triumph over the cycle of death and rebirth. Know that all that is, movable and immovable, proceeds only from the union of the field of action with the knower of the field.

He who sees that the Supreme Soul in all bodies accompanies the separate soul, and understands that neither of them ever perishes, he indeed sees. He who in every being sees the Supreme Soul, everywhere the same, does not let his mind lead him to degradation. Thus he reaches the supreme and absolute goal. He who can see that it is the body, born of the material nature, which performs all action, that the inner soul never acts, he indeed sees. When the man of intelligence ceases to see in terms of multiple identities, due to multiple bodies, he attains spiritual vision. Then everywhere he sees only the spiritual soul.