3) One, perchance, in thousands of men, strives for perfection; and one perchance, among the blessed ones, striving thus, knows Me in reality.
4) Bhumi (earth, Ap (water), Anala (fire), Vayu (air), Kha (ether), intellect, and egoism: thus is My Prakriti divided eightfold.
5) This is the lower (Prakriti). But different from it, know, O mighty-armed, My higher Prakriti–the principle of self-consciousness, by which this universe is sustained.
6) Know that these (two Prakritis) are the womb of all beings, I am the origin and dissolution of the whole universe.
7) Beyond Me, O Dhananjaya, there is naught. All this is strung in Me, as a row of jewels on a thread.
8) I am the sapidity in water, O son of Kunti; I, the radiance in the moon and the sun; I am the Om in all the Vedas, sound in Akasha, and manhood in men.
9) I am the sweet fragrance in earth, and the brilliance in fire am I; the life in all beings, and the austerity am I in ascetics.
10) Know me, O son of Pritha, as the eternal seed of all beings. I am the intellect of the intelligent, and the heroism of the heroic.
11) Of the strong, I am the strength devoid of desire and attachment. I am, O bull among the Bharatas, desire in beings, unopposed to dharma.
12) And whatever states pertaining to sattwa, and those pertaining to rajas, and to tamas, know them to proceed from Me alone; still I am not in them, but they are in Me.