The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 12.199.9

12.199.9

mahaddhi paramaṃ bhūtaṃ yuktāḥ paśyanti yoginaḥ |
abudhāstaṃ na paśyanti hyātmasthā guṇabuddhayaḥ || 9 ||

"Manu said, 'When the fivefold attributes are united with the five senses and the mind, then is Brahma seen by the individual like a thread passing through a gem. As a thread, again, may lie within gold or pearl or a coral or any object made of earth, even so one's soul, in consequence of one's own acts, may live within a cow, a horse, a man, an elephant, or any other animal, or within a worm or an insect. The good deeds an individual performs in a particular body produce rewards that the individual enjoys in that particular body. A soil, apparently drenched with one particular kind of liquid, supplies to each different kind of herb or plant that grows on it the sort of juice it requires for itself. After the same manner, the Understanding, whose course is witnessed by the soul, is obliged to follow the path marked out by the acts of previous lives. From knowledge springs desire. From desire springs resolution. From resolution flows action. From action proceed fruits (i.e., consequences, good and bad). Fruits, therefore, are dependent on actions as their cause. Actions have the understanding for their cause. The understanding has knowledge for its cause; and knowledge has the Soul for its cause. That excellent result which is achieved in consequence of the destruction of knowledge, of fruits, of the understanding, and of acts, is called Knowledge of Brahma. Great and high is that self-existent Essence, which yogins behold.

They that are devoid of wisdom, and whose understandings are devoted to worldly possessions never behold that which exists in the Soul itself. Water is superior to the Earth in extension; Light is superior to Water; Wind is superior to Light; Space is superior to Wind; Mind is superior to Space; Understanding is superior to Mind; Time is superior to Understanding. The divine Vishnu, whose is this universe, is superior to Time. That god is without beginning, middle, and end. In consequence of his being without beginning, middle, and end, he is Unchangeable. He transcends all sorrow, for sorrow has limits. That Vishnu hath been called the Supreme Brahma. He is the refuge or object of what is called the Highest. Knowing Him, they that are wise, freed from everything that owns the power of Time, attain to what is called Emancipation. All these (that we perceive) are displayed in attributes. That which is called Brahma, being without attributes, is superior to these. Abstention from acts is the highest religion. That religion is sure to lead to deathlessness (Emancipation). The Richs, the Yajuses, and the Samans, have for their refuge the body. They flow from the end of the tongue. They cannot be acquired without effort and are subject to destruction. Brahma, however, cannot be acquired in this way, for (without depending upon the body) it depends upon that (i.e., the knower or Soul) which has the body for its refuge.