Essence, Brahma.

"Many," said the Holy One, "are my births, and I know them; many too,
are thine, but thou knowest them not. I am born from age to age for the
defence of the virtuous and the undoing of the wicked. He who believes
in my divine birth and work has no second birth, but enters me and
abides with me for ever. Know me as the creator of the cates, know me
also as the Eternal one that creates nothing. Faith brings with it
knowledge, and knowledge contentment. Without knowledge and faith the
soul is lost."

Arguna asked, "How fares it with the man who is not able to suppress his
lower instincts and to undergo the discipline of Yogis? Is he for this,
to be undone for ever?"

"No," replied the Holy One, "neither in this world nor in the next is he
lost. The virtuous man does not enter an evil state. He reaches that
heaven provided for all the good, and is born thereafter with higher
moral capacities, with which, and by means of the knowledge gained in
his previous existence, he rises to greater perfection; so that after
many births he reaches absolute perfection and is united for ever with
Brahma. But learn thou my higher nature; what thou seest is my lower,
for I am divine and human. All the world came forth from me, and I will
at the last destroy it. Higher than I does not exist. I am taste, light,
moon, sun; I am the mystic OM; I am the mystic seed from which all
things grow. He that offers sacrifice to inferior gods goes after death
to those gods, but they that worship me come to me."

"What," asked Arguna, "is Brahma, the supreme spirit, the supreme
sacrifice?"

The Holy One answered, "He is the Supreme, the Indestructible One; I am
the Supreme Sacrifice in my present body.

"Hear now, Son of Pritha," said the Holy One. "If thy heart be fixed on
me, and thou seekest refuge in me, thou shalt know me fully, and I shall
reveal to thee the perfect knowledge of God and man. There are countless
myriads of men in this world, but few there are who seek after
perfection, and fewer still there are who obtain it."

_OTHER PARTS OF THE MAHABHARATA_

Though the husband die unhappy on account of his wife's ill-treatment
and disobedience, yet if she consign herself to the flames after his
death she is deserving of great praise. How much more should a woman be
venerated who flings herself of her own accord into the flames after the
death of a husband whom she has treated with affection and submission!

Let gi