1. Brahman is formless and unmoving. The Self is of the nature of change and movement. It is what is called God by all.
2. The location of God is not fixed in one place, and God cannot be known to be in a fixed location. The one God cannot be considered to be the many gods.
3. Therefore, investigate and give thoughtful consideration to the concept of God, and discover him for yourself. Don’t become confused by the existence of the many various gods.
4. Some image of God is seen at various pilgrimage places and one makes another image like it for the purpose of worship. This is a common practice that takes place on the earth.
5. The one God alone is the root of the many idols found at places of pilgrimage. You can see this and find out for yourself after searching for God at many pilgrimage places.
6. The image of God in the pilgrimage place is made out of stone. By investigating the connection of God to the image, one arrives at the root of it, and finds that the image is of an incarnation of God.
7. There have been many incarnations of God who have held a physical body, that have lived and passed away. Considered to be superior to the many incarnations of God, are Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
8. The power behind these three gods is the seer who is the Inner-Self that is alone the actual doer and enjoyer of everything.
9. In age after age, and in all of the three worlds, it is He alone that does everything. The firm conviction of this is gained through discrimination, and confirmation of this can be found in the Vedas and other ancient scriptures.
10. The Self resides in the body and functions through it. He is God in the form of the consciousness in the body that functions in daily activity with discernment.
11. People miss the inner God, and run around to various pilgrimage places looking for him. These poor beings go to a lot of trouble because they do not know God.
12. Then, when they arrive at such places, they find only stones and water and ask themselves, "What has been achieved by unnecessarily going around to these places?"
13. One who has given some thought to this understands and holds to keeping the company of saints. Many people have found God by keeping the company of saints.
14. These are the matters to be carefully considered. Those who are thoughtful and discerning will surely understand correctly. However, those who lack discrimination remain deluded and confused without having any correct understanding.
15. The one who searches inwardly gains inner understanding, while the one who looks outwardly does not understand anything. Therefore, the wise and discerning person looks inwardly.
16. The belief or conviction that is held without the use of proper discrimination is only an opinion or a supposition. It is said that an idol is the God of a fool.
17. Through continued observation one gains understanding and arrives at the correct conclusion. Only one who utilizes the power of discrimination and sets aside the elements realizes the invisible Reality.
18. Everything that becomes manifest gets destroyed. Understand that Parabrahman, the Absolute Reality, is different from all of the commotion and chaos in the manifest universe.
19. God is movement, and Brahman is still. There is no delusion or whirling of activity in that supreme Parabrahman. With the experience and knowledge of Reality, one gets out of Illusion.
20. Whatever is foolishly done without actual experience is entirely useless. Thus, living beings die in misery being entangled in foolish activity.
21. If one does not become free of action and rituals, what is the purpose of worshipping God? Those who use proper discernment understand this effortlessly, while the foolish do not understand.
22. Through thoughtful consideration and investigation one arrives at the conclusion that only the one God exists in the universe. Through the worship of God with attributes one can realize God without attributes.
23. By looking to the root of God with attributes one easily reaches the attributeless. By giving up attachment to appearances, one becomes liberated, and becomes the true form of Reality itself.
24. Through the continuous connection with the Supreme Lord one becomes completely pure. It is chiefly through Knowledge (Jnana) that one obtains the "Supreme Knowledge" (Vijnana), which is Self-Knowledge.
25. Such is the explanation of proper discernment that should be seen clearly in the inner-mind. By listening to the explanation of the utilization of discrimination between the Eternal and the ephemeral there is upliftment among the people in the world.