Brahma, the first of the gods, was born the creator and protector of the universe. He imparted the supreme knowledge of Brahman, which is the basis of all knowledge, to Atharva, his eldest son.

Lord Brahma declared the knowledge of Brahman to Atharvan, who then taught it to Sage Angiras. This knowledge was passed on by Sage Angira to Bharadvaja and Satyavaha, and Bharadvaja conveyed it to Angiras, encompassing both the higher and lower aspects.

Śaunaka, a great householder, approached the sage Aṅgiras and inquired, 'O revered one, what is that by knowing which everything becomes known?'

He said to him: "There are two kinds of knowledge to be known," as indeed the knowers of Brahman say, "the higher and the lower."

In that context, the lower knowledge consists of the Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda, and the sciences of phonetics, rituals, grammar, etymology, metrics, and astronomy. The highest knowledge is that through which the imperishable truth is realized.

The wise perceive that which is unseen, ungraspable, without lineage, without color, without eyes, ears, without hands and feet, eternal, all-pervading, most subtle, imperishable, as the source of all beings.

Just as a spider creates and withdraws its web, as plants grow on earth, and as hair grows from a living person, so does the universe arise from the imperishable.

Through penance, Brahman grows, leading to the creation of food. From food arise life, mind, truth, worlds, and immortality in actions.

The omniscient and all-knowing one, whose austerity is made of knowledge, from him arise Lord Brahma, name, form, and food.

'This-That' - is the truth, the reality.

The sages saw the prescribed actions in the mantras, which were extended in many ways during the Treta age. O seekers of truth, perform these actions regularly; this is your path to the virtuous world.

When the flame flickers in the kindled sacrificial fire, the oblations should be offered within the portion of ghee.

The one who performs Agnihotra without observing the new moon and full moon rituals, without offering the first fruits, without hosting guests, without the Vaiśvadeva offering, or is performed improperly, destroys his worlds for seven months.

The seven tongues of the fire are described as black, fierce, swift as the mind, very red, smoky-colored, sparkling universally radiant, and flickering like a goddess.

Among these, the one who performs rituals in the presence of the shining ones and offers oblations at the right time is led by the rays of the sun to the abode of the One-Lord of the gods.

The brilliant oblations carry the sacrificer by the sun's rays, inviting him, saying, 'Come, come'. They utter dear words and worship; this is your sacred and well-earned world of the Supreme Brahman.

These sacrificial forms, though spoken of as eighteen in number, are unsteady rafts. Those who consider them superior and praise them are fools; they will certainly face old age and death again.

Enveloped in ignorance, they consider themselves wise and learned; being led by the blind, the fools wander as the blind lead the blind.

Fools, existing in many ways of ignorance, think themselves accomplished. The performers of actions do not understand due to attachment; they become distressed and fall down, their world destroyed.

The deluded, considering sacrifices and charitable works as the highest, do not understand anything beyond. After experiencing the results of their good deeds in heaven, they return to this inferior world.

Those who, with austerity and faith, live in the forest, peaceful and wise, practicing the way of alms, proceed through the solar path, free from impurities, to the place where the immortal, immutable beings resides.

After examining the worlds created by actions, a Brahmin becomes dispassionate, realizing that the eternal cannot be achieved through actions. To gain this knowledge, he should indeed approach the guru, who is both learned and established in Brahman, carrying sacrificial fuel.

The learned one taught him, who approached properly with a tranquil mind and was endowed with peace, the knowledge of Brahman by which he truly knows the imperishable Purusha as truth.

That and this - is the truth.

As from a blazing fire, sparks of a similar form arise in thousands, so, dear one, from the imperishable, various beings are born, and there indeed they merge.

The divine being is formless and transcends both the external and internal realms. He is unborn, without breath or mind, pure, and exists beyond the imperishable, as the supreme entity.

From this arise life-breath, mind, all senses, space, air, light, water, and earth, who wears the universe.

Fire is the head; the eyes are the moon and the sun; the directions are the ears; speech manifests as the Vedas. Air is the life-force; the heart is the universe; the earth is by the feet; indeed, this is the inner Ātman of all beings.

From that wood arise fire, similarly from the sun and the moon comes rain and herbs on earth. A man deposits seed in a woman, and many offspring are born from the being.

From that, all the Vedic hymns, chants, sacrificial formulas, initiations, sacrifices, rituals, and gifts originate. It encompasses the year, the sacrificer, the worlds, and the realms where Soma flows and the Sun shines.

From that, various entities such as gods, accomplished beings, humans, animals, birds, the processes of inhalation and exhalation, grains like rice and barley, as well as concepts like austerity, faith, truth, celibacy, and rituals were born.

From that arise the seven vital energies (life-breaths), the seven flames (mental modifications), the seven fuel sticks (thoughts, desires, and emotions—that are "offered" into the inner fire), and the seven oblations (relationships between senses and sense objects). These are the multiple spheres where the vital energies move, driven by the intellect inspired by the one in the cave (heart), seven by seven.

From THIS, all oceans and mountains emerge, and rivers of every form flow. Similarly, all herbs and juices originate, by whom indeed the inner Ātmān dwells within beings.

This Puruṣaḥa, the universal person, is truly the universe, action, austerity, Brahman, and the supreme without death. Whoever knows THIS hidden in the heart's cave breaks the knot of ignorance here, dear one.

That which manifests is completely placed together in the dwelling of the heart cave and is named the great abode. Here, to this, is offered everything, from which the life force vibrates every moment.

Understand this as the most excellent reality beyond mastered-knowledge, supreme among beings, radiant and subtler than minute particles, in which all worlds and their inhabitants reside.

That imperishable essence is Brahman, encompassing life-force, speech, and mind. It is immortal, the ultimate truth, something to be realized, the dear one.

Take the bow of the Upanishads, and place upon it the great weapon, the sharp arrow of meditation. Stretch the bow with your mind completely absorbed in that target; and know that target to be none other than the only imperishable, the dear one.

"Om is the bow, oneself is indeed the arrow, and Brahman is the target," it is said. With vigilance, one should aim to pierce it, like an arrow, and one should become absorbed in that.

Into which heaven, earth, and sky are woven, along with the mind, life-breath and all, know that one alone as the one-self, the being; abandon other utterances as this-one is the bridge towards immortality.

Like spokes in the hub of a chariot, where the channels are joined, he moves within, manifesting in many ways.

By meditating on 'Om' as the Ātmān, may you attain well-being that transcends darkness (tamasaḥ).

The omniscient and all-knowing one, to whom this glory belongs on earth, is indeed established as the Ātmān in the divine city of Brahman in the sky.

The leader of the life-force and body, consisting of mind, is established in food, and resides in the heart. Through that knowledge, the wise perceive the form of bliss, the immortal essence that shines forth.

When one perceives the Lord of higher and lower realms, the knot of the heart is pierced, all doubts are cut, and all his negative imprints are destroyed.

In the supreme golden sheath lies the stainless and indivisible Brahman, the pure light of all lights, known by the knowers of the Ātmān.

In that place, the sun does not shine, nor do the moon and stars; these lightnings do not shine, so how can this fire? Everything shines following that shining one; by his light, everything here shines.

Brahman is the immortal essence present everywhere: in front, behind, to the south, to the north, below, and above. This entire universe is indeed the Brahman; this Brahman is indeed supreme.

Two beautiful-winged friends, together, embraced the same tree. Of them, one eats the sweet fruit; the other looks on without eating.

On the same tree, the person is immersed, grieves due to helplessness, bewildered. When he sees another being, the adored, the Lord, and realizes the glory of this, he becomes free from sorrow.

When the seer sees the golden-coloured creator, the lord, the person, the source of the universe, then the wise one, shaking off undesired positive and negative merits, untainted, attains supreme equanimity.

The life-force, prāṇa, indeed shines through all beings. The wise, knowing this, do not become overly talkative. Rejoicing and delighting in the 'Ātman', the one who engages in action is the greatest among those who know Brahman.

The Ātmān is realized through truthfulness, austerity, proper knowledge, and constant celibacy. Indeed, it is perceived within the body as full of light and pure by ascetics whose faults have diminished.

Truth alone triumphs, not falsehood. By truth is laid out the path of the divine, on which sages, having fulfilled their desires, advance to the supreme abode of truth.

The great, divine, and inconceivable form, subtler than the subtle, shines from afar and very far, yet it is also here, near, and seen as hidden in the cave.

He cannot be grasped by the eyes, nor by speech, nor by other gods, nor by penance or action. It is only through the grace of knowledge that the pure being sees Him while meditating, the one who has a body without parts (unlike ordinary mortals).

This subtle Ātmān should be realized by the mind, into which the life force has entered in five forms. The mind of all beings is interwoven with the life-forces, and in its pure state, this Ātmān becomes manifest.

Whichever world a pure-minded person desires with his mind, and whichever desires he wishes, he conquers that world and those desires. Therefore, one desirous of prosperity should indeed worship the knower of the Ātmān.

He knows this supreme abode of Brahman, where the entire universe is placed and shines in its purity. Those wise and courageous ones who worship the Purusha without desires, they transcend and reach the bright one. Lord Vishnu is addressed as 'śukram' i.e. the bright one, substantiated through a testimonial from the Varaha Purana.

Desiring desires, thinking, he is born with desires there and there. For one who is content and who is self-controlled, here indeed all desires dissolve.

The Ātmān cannot be attained through discourse, intelligence, or extensive hearing. It is attained by the one whom the Ātmān chooses; to such a person, the Ātmān reveals its own body, i.e. its true nature.

The Ātmān cannot be attained by the weak, nor by heedlessness, nor even by austerity without proper conduct. However, the self of the wise who strives by these means indeed enters the abode of Brahman.

Having attained this state, the sages - fulfilled with knowledge, self-realized, free from passions, and tranquil, liberated from all constraints, the wise liberated souls having attained the all-pervading one - indeed attain everything.

Those who have firmly ascertained the meaning of Vedanta through knowledge, who are ascetics practicing the yoga of renunciation and who possess pure sattva qualities, they all having lived in the world of Lord Brahma, at the end of time, are liberated into the transcendent immortality.

The fifteen arts, abodes, all gods in their respective deities, actions, and the being with its knowledge - all come together in the supreme imperishable.

The deities, representing the fifteen parts starting with prāṇa, along with others, merge into their respective divine counterparts, into their reflections, and into all beings, each into each. Actions and the individual soul, which is composed of knowledge, enter into the Supreme Soul.

Just as rivers flow towards the ocean and lose their names and forms upon reaching it, so does the wise person, freed from names and forms, attain the supreme divine being.

He who truly knows the supreme Brahman becomes situated in Brahman; in his lineage, there is no one ignorant of Brahman. He transcends sorrow and sin and is liberated from the knots of ignorance, attaining immortality.

Hence, this verse:

"The active ones, learned in the Vedas and established in Brahman, who themselves perform sacrifices with faith, are the ones to whom this knowledge of Brahman should be imparted, as they have performed the vow of the head according to the prescribed rules."

The sage Angiras once declared this truth: it is not to be studied without observing the vow.
"Om, salutations to the supreme sages, to the supreme sages".