17. Tell me sir, the truth concerning the profusion of living souls, and though I have a partial knowledge of it, I require it to be more fully and clearly explained by you.
18. Vasishtha replied:—There being but one living soul of the universe, you can not call it a multitude. Your question therefore is quite out of place, as the query about the horns of hares (which do not exist in nature).
19. There are no detached living souls, O Ráma, nor are they to be found in multitudes any where, nor was there a mountainous heap of souls known to have existed at any time.
20. Living soul is but a fictitious word, and it is heaped with many fictions, all of which, you must know for certain, do not apply to the soul.
21. There is but one pure and immaculate Brahma, who is mere Intellect (chinmátram) and all pervasive. He assumes to himself all attributes by his almighty power. (Here Brahma is represented not only as Omniscient and Omnipotent; but as saguna also by his assumption of all attributes).
22. The living soul is viewed by many to evolve itself from the intellect into many visible and invisible forms (múrta-mútam); just as a plant is seen to develope itself into its fruits and flowers.
23. They add to their knowledge of the soul the attributes of the living principle, understanding, action, motion, mind and unity and duality, as if these appertain to its nature.
24. But all this is caused by ignorance, while right understanding assigns them to Brahma. The ignorant are bewildered by these distinct views (of the soul), and will not be awakened to sense.
25. These different believers are lost (in their various views), as the light is lost under darkness. They will never come to the knowledge of truth as it is the case with the ignorant.
26. Know Brahma himself as the living soul without any divisibility or distinction. He is without beginning or end. He is omnipotent, and is of the form of the great Intellect which forms his essence.