Verse 24

²⁴Who here, alas, whose birth and dissolving come later, knows the one who went first, from whom the sage rose up, and after him the two hosts of gods? At that time there was not what is, nor what is not, nor both, nor the rush of time, nor anything at all there, when he lies down, having drawn the teaching back. ²⁵Those who hold in mind and teach that what is not is born, that what is dies, that there is a division in the self, and that trafficking is real, do so with things that have been put on. The division that says the Person is made of the three strands is made by not knowing; it is not in you; and so he would not be beyond that, in you, who are the taste of knowing.

²⁶The threefold mind shows in you as though it were real, though it is unreal, from the ancestor of men onward. Those who know the self touch all this as real, as their own self. For men do not throw away what is worked out of gold, since it is gold; so this, entered by you who made it, is settled as the self. ²⁷Those who go about you, since you are the dwelling of every being, tread with their foot on the head of ruin and count it as nothing. You bind up even the wise with a word, as beasts are bound; and those who have made friendship with you make others clean, but not those who are turned away. ²⁸You have no instruments; you shine of yourself; you hold the power of every agent. The unblinking ones carry your tribute and eat together with the unborn one, as the lords of provinces do for the lord of the whole earth. The makers of the world do their work where they are set to it, appointed by you and afraid of you.