of kine?  Whence do those fruits arise?  Where are they to be found?  Tell me also this old history, viz., whence have the earth, all earthly objects, wind, sky, aquatic creatures, water, heaven, and the denizens of heaven, all sprung?  Man’s inclinations tend towards that object about which he seeks knowledge.  I have no knowledge of that Ancient and Supreme one.  How shall I rescue myself from a false display of inclinations towards Him?[650] The Riks, all the Samanas, all the Yajuses, the Chhandas, Astronomy, Nirukta, Grammar, Sankalpa, and Siksha, I have studied.  But I pave no knowledge of the nature of the great creatures (the five primal elements) that enter into the composition of everything.[651] Tell me all I have asked thee, by using only simple assertions and distinguishing adjectives or attributes.  Tell me what the fruits are of Knowledge and what those fruits that are attached to sacrifices and other religious rites.  Explain to me how also an embodied being departs from his body and how he attains to another body.’

“Manu said, ’That which is agreeable to one is said to constitute one’s happiness.  Similarly, that which is disagreeable to one is said to constitute one’s misery.—­By this I shall obtain happiness and keep off misery—­from a sentiment like this flow all religious acts.  The efforts for the acquisition of Knowledge, however, arise from a sentiment for avoiding both happiness and misery.[652] The ordinances about sacrifices and other observances, that occur in the Vedas, are all connected with desire.  He, however, who liberates himself from desire, succeeds in attaining to Brahma.  That man who, from desire of winning happiness, walks in the path of acts which are of diverse kinds, has to go to hell.’[653]

“Vrihaspati said, ’Men’s aspirations are concerned with the acquisition of the agreeable which ends in happiness, and the avoidance of the disagreeable which brings misery.  Such acquisition and such avoidance again are accomplished by acts.’[654]

“Manu said, ’It is by liberating oneself from acts that one succeeds in entering into Brahma.  The ordinances about acts have flowed for that very end.[655] The ordinances about acts tempts only those whose hearts are not free from desire.  By liberating oneself from acts (as already said) one acquires the highest state.  One desirous of felicity (Emancipation), betaking oneself to religious rites, becomes purified (from attachments) by acts having for their object the purification of the soul, and at last wins great splendour.  By liberating oneself from acts, one acquires the highest end, viz., Brahma, which is very much above the reward that acts give.  Creatures have all been created by Mind and Act.  These again are the two best paths adored by all.  Outward acts produce fruits that are transitory as also eternal.  For acquiring the latter there is no other means than abandonment of fruits by the mind.[656] As the eye, when night passes away and the veil of