[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Purāṇas](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana) › [Vishnupurana](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu) › 1.22.48 # Vishnupurana 1.22.48 Viṣṇupurāṇa 1.22.48 - **Language:** Sanskrit ### [1.22.48](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu.1.22.48) nirvyāpāram anākhyeyaṃ vyāptimātram anaupamam ātmasaṃbodhaviṣayaṃ sattāmātram alakṣaṇam // > PARÁŚARA.--That, Maitreya, which is the cause of a thing is called the means of effecting it; and that which it is the desire of the soul to accomplish is the thing to be effected. The operations of the Yogi who is desirous of liberation, as suppression of breath and the like, are his means: the end is the supreme Brahma, whence he returns to the world no more. Essentially connected with, and dependant upon, the means employed for emancipation by the Yogi, is discriminative knowledge; and this is the first variety of the condition of Brahma. The second sort is the knowledge that is to be acquired by the Yogi whose end is escape from suffering, or eternal felicity. The third kind is the ascertainment of the identity of the end and the means, the rejection of the notion of duality. The last kind is the removal of whatever differences may have been conceived by the three first varieties of knowledge, and the consequent contemplation of the true essence of soul. The supreme condition of Vishńu, who is one with wisdom, is the knowledge of truth; which requires no exercise; which is not to be taught; which is internally diffused; which is unequalled; the object of which is self-illumination; which is simply existent, and is not to be defined; which is tranquil, fearless, pure; which is not the theme of reasoning; which stands in need of no support. Those Yogis who, by the annihilation of ignorance, are resolved into this fourfold Brahma, lose the seminal property, and can no longer germinate in the ploughed field of worldly existence. This is the supreme condition, that is called Vishńu, perfect, perpetual, universal, undecaying, entire, and uniform: and the Yogi who attains this supreme spirit (Brahma) returns not to life again; for there he is freed from the distinction of virtue and vice, from suffering, and from soil. > — Horace Hayman Wilson 1840, The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition - [Previous: 1.22.47](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu.1.22.47) - [Next: 1.22.49](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu.1.22.49) - [Up: 1.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu.1.22) ## Translations (2) - [The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu~en-wilson.1.22.5) — Horace Hayman Wilson 1840, English - [A Prose English Translation of Vishnupuranam](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu~en-dutt.1.22.p3) — Manmatha Nath Dutt 1896, English ## Other recensions (1) - [Viṣṇupurāṇa (vulgate)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu*vulgate.1.22.50) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu.1.22.48](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu.1.22.48) · Pramāṇa