“Arjuna! You still do not understand. The Ātma is extremely subtle; it is very hard to know. You know the five elements, surely: earth, water, fire, air and ākāśa! If you examine them from the first, each is lighter than the one before. That is, water is lighter than earth, fire than water, air than fire, and ākāśa than air; and not only lighter, but vaster too. That is, earth has five guṇas: sound, touch, form, taste and smell. In water, the second, smell has dropped away; in fire, smell and taste have dropped away; in air, form, taste and smell have dropped away. So air moves about lighter still than earth, water and fire, and more pervasive. And the fifth, ākāśa, has no touch, form, taste or smell; it has only the one, sound. When ākāśa, with a single guṇa, is so subtle, you cannot think how much subtler still the nirguṇa Ātma must be! It is because it is so subtle that you cannot know it by looking outward. It is very near only to those who are turned inward,” said Kṛṣṇa.