The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 12.208.26

12.208.26

vayotīto jarāmṛtyū jitvā brahma sanātanam |
amṛtaṃ tadavāpnoti yattadakṣaramavyayam || 26 ||

The Ignorance which has Knowledge for its resting ground, extends its influence over all the three states (of waking, dreaming and dreamless slumber). The [paragraph continues] Knowledge, again, that follows the Understanding, is assailed by Ignorance. The evil-hearted person fails to obtain a knowledge of the Soul in consequence of taking it as united with the three states although in reality it transcends them all. When, however, he succeeds in apprehending the limits under which the two, viz., union with the three states and separation from them, are manifested, it is then that he becomes divested of attachment and attains to Emancipation. When such an apprehension has been attained, one transcends the effects of age, rises superior to the consequences of decrepitude and death, and obtains Brahma which is eternal, deathless, immutable, undeteriorating.'"