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The Lord said:
1. They speak of the eternal Ashvattha, roots above, branches below, whose leaves are the Vedic hymns; who knows it knows the Veda.
2. Its branches extend below and above, nurtured by the constituents; its shoots are the objects of the senses, and its roots, extending below, connect with action in the human world.
3-4. Here its form cannot be perceived, neither its end, nor it beginning, nor its continuity. Having cut this so maturely rooted Ashvattha tree with the strong axe of non-attachment, you should then seek out that place from which, once they have attained it, men never again return – “I take refuge with that primal person from whom original activity issued out.”
5. The unperplexed, who are free from pride and delusion, whose failings of attachment have been overcome, who are continually concerned with what relates to the self, whose desires have been extinguished, freed from dualities – from pleasure and pain – go to that imperishable place.
6. The sun does not light it, nor the moon, nor fire. Those who have attained it do not return. It is my highest home.
7. In the world of living souls, a small part of me, becoming an individual eternal soul, draws to itself the five senses and the mind, which exist in material nature.
8. When the lord takes on a body and when he steps up out of it, taking these with him, he goes like the wind, bearing perfumes from their source.
9. Overseeing hearing, sight, touch, taste, smell, and the mind, he makes use of the objects of the senses.
10. Whether he goes or stays, or experiences via his connection with the constituents, the perplexed do not perceive him; but those with the eye of knowledge do.
11. Yogins, striving, see him established in themselves, but, even if they strive, the mindless, who are incomplete in themselves, do not see him.
12. That radiance contained in the sun, which lights up the entire universe, which is in the moon and in fire – know that that radiance is mine.
13. And having penetrated the earth, I support creatures with my vitality; and having become Soma, the essence of flavour, I nourish every herb.
14. Having become the fire of digestion, dwelling in the body of breathing creatures, joined with the in and out breaths, I consume the four kinds of food.
15. I am fixed in the hearts of all; from me come memory, knowledge, and reasoning; I am to be known through all the Vedas, I make the Vedanta, I know the Veda.
16. In the world there are two persons – the perishable and the imperishable. All creatures are perishable, the aloof they call the imperishable.
17. But there is another, higher person, called the Supreme Self, the eternal lord who, penetrating the three worlds, sustains them.
18. As I go beyond the perishable and am even higher than the imperishable, so I am celebrated in the world and the Veda as the Supreme Person.
19. So he who, unperplexed, knows me as the Supreme Person, is all-knowing and shares in me with his entire being, Bharata.
20. Thus I have articulated this most mysterious doctrine, Blameless One; being awakened to this a man may become wise and will have fulfilled his purpose, Bharata.