"For this consummation, one has to be purified by virtues. Then the known can be experienced and realisation reached. I shall, therefore, first tell you about this. Virtue first, then victory. What a splendid path. To seek Brahmam without first ensuring a moral and virtuous life is like desiring a flame without lamp or wick or oil! Acquire all these three, then you light it and get light. So it is with the light of Brahmajnana, or realisation of Brahmam."

There is one point here which Sadhakas have to note carefully. The lamp, the wick and the oil must be proportionate. If the wick is too big for the lamp or too small, if the oil is too much or too little for the wick, if the lamp is too small or too huge for the oil or the wick, the flame will not burn brightly and give light. Clear steady light can be secured only when all three are in proper proportion. The three Gunas too must be in equilibrium to yield maximum result, the result of liberation. The three Gunas are bonds; man is bound by them, like a cow whose forelegs are tied together, whose hind legs too are bound and whose neck and horns are bound by a third bond. The threefold Gunas are such threefold bonds. How can the poor beast move freely when it is bound so? The Sathwaguna is a golden rope, the Rajoguna a copper rope and the Thamoguna, an iron rope; all three bind effectively in spite of the difference in the cost of material. As bonds, all three are obstacles to freedom of movement.

Arjuna asked, "O Lord! You said that twenty virtues are essential for becoming entitled to Jnana. Which are they? Please describe them to me in some detail." Krishna said, "Arjuna! I am delighted at your earnestness. Listen."

"The first virtue is A-maanithwam, pridelessness, humility. So long as you have Maanam or pride, you cannot earn Jnanam. Man's behaviour should be like the behaviour of water; whatever colour you pour into water, it absorbs it and it never asserts its own colour. It is humble without conceit. But the behaviour of man is quite contrary. When he does the smallest service or donates the slightest amount, he is anxious that people should know about it. For this, he himself goes about prattling or arranges to get it published. The absence of such pride and ambition is what is recommended as A-maanithwam."