You are He whom the Shrutis proclaim as the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Light, the Supreme Sanctifier. Thus the Shrutis assert: ‘From whom all these beings are born, by whom, when born, they live and unto whom they go when they perish—desire to know that well. This is Brahman’ (Tai.U., 3.1.1); ‘He who knows Brahman attains the Highest’ (Ibid., 2.1.1); and ‘He who knows the Supreme Brahman becomes the Brahman’ (Mun.U., 3.2.9). Likewise He is the Supreme Light. The term ‘Dhaman’ connotes light. He is the Supreme Light as taught (in the Upanishads): ‘Now, the light which shines higher than this heaven....’ (Cha.U., 3.13.7); ‘Attaining the Supreme Light. He appears with His own form’ (Ibid., 8.12.2); ‘The gods worship Him as the Light of lights’ (Br.U., 4.4.16). So also He is the Supreme Sanctifier: He makes the meditator bereft of all the impurities, and also destroys them without any trace. The Shruti declares: ‘As water clings not to the leaf of a lotus-flower, so evil deeds cling not to him who knows thus’ (Cha.U., 4.14.3): ‘Just as the fibre of Ishika reed (reed-cotton) laid on a fire is burnt up, so also all his sins are burnt up’ (Ibid., 5.24.3); and ‘Narayana is Supreme Brahman, Narayana is Supreme Light, Narayana is Supreme Self’ (Ma.Na., 9.4). Sages are those who know in reality the higher truth (the Supreme Brahman), and the lower truth (individual selves); they speak of You as the eternal Divine Person, Primal Lord, the unborn and all-pervading. So also divine sage Narada, Asita, Devala and Vyasa declare: ‘This Narayana, Lord of Shri, the resident of the Milk Ocean, has come to the city of Mathura abandoning his Serpent-couch.’ ‘Where Madhusudana is, there is the blessed Dvaravati. He is the Lord Himself, the ancient One and Eternal Dharma (Ma.Bh.Vana 88.24-25). Those who know the Vedas and those who know the self declare the great-minded Krishna to be the eternal Dharma. Of all sanctifiers, Govinda is said to be the most sanctifying, the most auspicious among the auspicious. The lotus-eyed God of gods, the eternal, abides as the three worlds... Hari who is beyond thought, abides thus. Madhusudana is there alone’ (Ma.Bha.Vana., 88.24-28). Similarly it is stated: ‘O Arjuna, where the divine, the eternal Narayana the Supreme Self is, there the entire universe, the sacred water and the holy shrines are to be found. That is sacred, that is Supreme Brahman, that is sacred waters, that is the austerity grove....there dwell the divine sages, the Siddhas and all those rich in austerities where the Primal Lord, the great Yogin Madhusudana dwells. It is the most sacred among the sacred. For you, let there be no doubt about this’ (Ibid., 90.28-32); ‘Krishna Himself is the origin and dissolution of all beings. For, this universe, consisting of sentient and non-sentient entities, was generated for the sake of KrṢna’ (Ma.Bha.Sabha., 38.23). And you yourself say so in the passage beginning with ‘Earth, water, fire, ether, mind, intellect and Ahankara—this Prakrti, which is divided eightfold, is Mine’ (7.4) and ending with ‘I am the origin of all; from Me proceed everything’ (10.8).