1Arjuna.     Yes! Thou art Parabrahm! The High Abode!     The Great Purification! Thou art God     Eternal, All-creating, Holy, First,     Without beginning! Lord of Lords and Gods!     Declared by all the Saints--by Narada,     Vyasa Asita, and Devalas;     And here Thyself declaring unto me!     What Thou hast said now know I to be truth,     O Kesava! that neither gods nor men     Nor demons comprehend Thy mystery     Made manifest, Divinest! Thou Thyself     Thyself alone dost know, Maker Supreme!     Master of all the living! Lord of Gods!     King of the Universe! To Thee alone     Belongs to tell the heavenly excellence     Of those perfections wherewith Thou dost fill     These worlds of Thine; Pervading, Immanent!     How shall I learn, Supremest Mystery!     To know Thee, though I muse continually?     Under what form of Thine unnumbered forms     Mayst Thou be grasped? Ah! yet again recount,     Clear and complete, Thy great appearances,     The secrets of Thy Majesty and Might,     Thou High Delight of Men! Never enough     Can mine ears drink the Amrit of such words!

2Krishna.     Hanta! So be it! Kuru Prince! I will to thee unfold     Some portions of My Majesty, whose powers are manifold!     I am the Spirit seated deep in every creature's heart;     From Me they come; by Me they live; at My word they depart!     Vishnu of the Adityas I am, those Lords of Light;     Maritchi of the Maruts, the Kings of Storm and Blight;     By day I gleam, the golden Sun of burning cloudless Noon;     By Night, amid the asterisms I glide, the dappled Moon!     Of Vedas I am Sama-Ved, of gods in Indra's Heaven     Vasava; of the faculties to living beings given     The mind which apprehends and thinks; of Rudras Sankara;     Of Yakshas and of Rakshasas, Vittesh; and Pavaka     Of Vasus, and of mountain-peaks Meru; Vrihaspati     Know Me 'mid planetary Powers; 'mid Warriors heavenly     Skanda; of all the water-floods the Sea which drinketh each,     And Bhrigu of the holy Saints, and OM of sacred speech;     Of prayers the prayer ye whisper; of hills Himala's snow,     And Aswattha, the fig-tree, of all the trees that grow;     Of the Devarshis, Narada; and Chitrarath of them     That sing in Heaven, and Kapila of Munis, and the gem     Of flying steeds, Uchchaisravas, from Amrit-wave which burst;     Of elephants Airavata; of males the Best and First;     Of weapons Heav'n's hot thunderbolt; of cows white Kamadhuk,     From whose great milky udder-teats all hearts' desires are strook;     Vasuki of the serpent-tribes, round Mandara entwined;     And thousand-fanged Ananta, on whose broad coils reclined     Leans Vishnu; and of water-things Varuna; Aryam     Of Pitris, and, of those that judge, Yama the Judge I am;     Of Daityas dread Prahlada; of what metes days and years,     Time's self I am; of woodland-beasts-buffaloes, deers, and bears-     The lordly-painted tiger; of birds the vast Garud,     The whirlwind 'mid the winds; 'mid chiefs Rama with blood imbrued,     Makar 'mid fishes of the sea, and Ganges 'mid the streams;     Yea! First, and Last, and Centre of all which is or seems     I am, Arjuna! Wisdom Supreme of what is wise,     Words on the uttering lips I am, and eyesight of the eyes,     And "A" of written characters, Dwandwa of knitted speech,     And Endless Life, and boundless Love, whose power sustaineth each;     And bitter Death which seizes all, and joyous sudden Birth,     Which brings to light all beings that are to be on earth;     And of the viewless virtues, Fame, Fortune, Song am I,     And Memory, and Patience; and Craft, and Constancy:     Of Vedic hymns the Vrihatsam, of metres Gayatri,     Of months the Margasirsha, of all the seasons three     The flower-wreathed Spring; in dicer's-play the conquering     Double-Eight;     The splendour of the splendid, and the greatness of the great,     Victory I am, and Action! and the goodness of the good,     And Vasudev of Vrishni's race, and of this Pandu brood     Thyself!--Yea, my Arjuna! thyself; for thou art Mine!     Of poets Usana, of saints Vyasa, sage divine;     The policy of conquerors, the potency of kings,     The great unbroken silence in learning's secret things;     The lore of all the learned, the seed of all which springs.     Living or lifeless, still or stirred, whatever beings be,     None of them is in all the worlds, but it exists by Me!     Nor tongue can tell, Arjuna! nor end of telling come     Of these My boundless glories, whereof I teach thee some;     For wheresoe'er is wondrous work, and majesty, and might,     From Me hath all proceeded. Receive thou this aright!     Yet how shouldst thou receive, O Prince! the vastness of this word?     I, who am all, and made it all, abide its separate Lord!