| 18. I am the
Goal, the Sustainer, the Lord, the Witness, the abode, the Shelter and the
Friend, the Origin, Dissolution and Stay, the Treasure house, the Seed imperishable.I
am the goal, the fruit of action I am the witness of what is done and what
is not done by all living beings. I am the abode wherein all living beings
dwell. I am the shelter for the distressed; I relieve from distress those
who come to Me. I am the Friend: I do good without expecting any return.
I am the source of the world. I am that in which it is dissolved, and that
in which it stays. I am the treasure house, that which living beings shall
enjoy in a future period. I am the imperishable seed, that which causes
the growth of all things that germinate, and which endures as long as the
world (samsara) endures. Nothing indeed springs up without a seed ; and
since growth is constant, it is understood that continuity of the seed never
fails. But, I give heat, I hold back and send forth rain, I am the immortality
as well as death, existence and non existence, O Arjuna. As the sun I give
heat by some powerful rays; by certain rays I send forth rain ; and having
sent it forth I take it back by certain rays during eight months, and again
send it forth in the rainy season, I am the immortality of the gods (devas)
and the death of the mortals. I am existence, (the manifested, the effect),
which manifests itself in relation (to the cause) ; and I am the reverse,
the nonexistence (the unmanifested, the cause): Indeed the Lord can never
be altogether non existent ; nor (can it be said) that the effect is existence
and the cause is nonexistence The fruits of interested acts of Vedic ritual.These
men of wisdom who are devoted to Me, adoring Me by the sacrifices mentioned
above, leading lives of retirement in various forms described above and
regarding Me as One or as different; they reach Myself according to their
knowledge. But as regards those who are ignorant and who. long for objects
of desire. |
