Without Knowledge it can never be attained.  The wise have said it, O monarch.  Hence, one should strive one’s best for acquiring true Knowledge in all its details, by which one may succeed in freeing oneself from birth and death.  Obtaining knowledge from a Brahmana or a Kshatriya or Vaisya or even a Sudra who is of low birth, one endued with faith should always show reverence for such knowledge.  Birth and death cannot assail one that is endued with faith.  All orders of men are Brahmanas.  All are sprung from Brahma.  All men utter Brahma.[1674] Aided by an understanding that is derived from and directed to Brahma.  I inculcated this science treating of Prakriti and Purusha.  Indeed, this whole universe is Brahma.  From the mouth of Brahma sprung the Brahmanas; from his arms, sprung the Kshatriyas; from his navel, the Vaisya; and from his feet, the Sudras.  All the orders, (having sprung in this way) should not be regarded as pilfering from one another.  Impelled by Ignorance, all men meet with death and attain, O king, to birth that is the cause of acts.[1675] Divested of Knowledge, all orders of men, dragged by terrible Ignorance, fall into varied orders of being due to the principles that flow from Prakriti.  For this reason, all should, by every means, seek to acquire Knowledge.  I have told thee that every person is entitled to strive for its acquisition.  One that is possessed of Knowledge is a Brahmana.  Others, (viz., Kshatriyas and Vaisyas and Sudras) are possessed of knowledge.  Hence, this science of Emancipation is always open to them all.  This, O king has been said by the Wise.  The questions thou hadst asked me have all been answered by me agreeably to the truth.  Do thou, therefore, cast off all grief.  Go thou to the other end of this enquiry.  Thy questions were good.  Blessings on thy head for ever!

“Bhishma continued—­Thus instructed by the intelligent Yajnavalkya the king of Mithila became filled with joy.  The king honoured that foremost of ascetics by walking round his person.  Dismissed by the monarch, he departed from his court.  King Daivarati, having obtained the knowledge of the religion of Emancipation, took his seat, and touching a million of kine and a quantity of gold and a measure of gems and jewels, gave them away unto a number of Brahmanas.  Installing his son in the sovereignty of the Videhas, the old king began to live, adopting the practices of the Yatis.  Thinking mainly of all ordinary duties and their derelictions (as laid down in the scriptures), the king began to study the science of the Sankhyas and the Yogins in their entirety.  Regarding himself to be Infinite, he began to reflect on only the Eternal and Independent One.  He cast off all ordinary duties and their derelictions, Virtue and Vice, Truth and Falsehood, Birth and Death, and all other things appertaining to the principles produced by Prakriti.  Both Sankhyas and Yogins, agreeably to the teachings of their sciences, regard this universe