[889] Unto a
person who thinks he has a body, this consciousness of duality, fraught
again with that of pairs of opposites, is born only of acts in which he
is engaged. (That consciousness of duality ceases during dreamless
slumber or when Emancipation has been attained). That person, however,
who has attained to Emancipation, aided by his knowledge, forcibly drives
off that consciousness of duality. Two Brahmas should be known, viz., the
Brahma represented by sound (i.e., the Vedas), and secondly that which is
beyond the Vedas and is supreme. One that is conversant with Brahma
represented by sound succeeds in attaining to Brahma that is Supreme. The
slaughter of animals is the sacrifice laid down for the Kshatriyas. The
growing of corn is the sacrifice laid down for the Vaisyas. Serving the
three other orders is the sacrifice laid down for the Sudras. Penances
(or worship of Brahma) is the sacrifice laid down for the Brahmanas. In
the Krita age the performance of sacrifices was not necessary. Such
performance became necessary in the Treta age. In the Dwapara, sacrifices
have begun to fall off. In the Kali, the same is the case with them. In
Krita age, men, worshipping only one Brahma, looked upon the Richs, the
Samans, the Yajuses and the rites and sacrifices that are performed from
motives of advantage, as all different from the object of their worship,
and practised only Yoga, by means of penances. In the Treta age, many
mighty men appeared that swayed all mobile and immobile objects.
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