A person, O king,
will attain to the highest end by the help of such knowledge and by
framing his conduct accordingly. Amongst all living creatures man is said
to be the foremost.
Among men, those that are regenerate have been called the foremost; and
amongst the regenerate, they that are conversant with the Vedas. These
last are regarded as the souls of all living creatures. Indeed, those
Brahmanas that are conversant with the Vedas are regarded as all-seeing
and omniscient. They are persons who have become conversant with Brahma.
As a blind man, without a guide, encounters many difficulties on a road,
so has a person destitute of knowledge to encounter many obstacles in the
world. For this reason, those that are possessed of knowledge are
regarded as superior to the rest. Those that are desirous of acquiring
virtue practise diverse kinds of rites according to the dictates of the
scriptures. They do not, however, succeed in attaining to Emancipation,
all that they gain being those good qualities of which I shall presently
speak.[748] Purity of speech, of body, and of mind, forgiveness, truth,
steadiness, and intelligence,--these good qualities are displayed by
righteous persons observant of both kinds of religion. That which is
called Brahmacharya (religion of abstention or yoga) is regarded as the
means of attaining to Brahma. That is the foremost of all religions. It
is by the practice of that religion that one obtains the highest end
(viz.
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