I am the goal, the fruit of action; the upholder, the nourisher; the lord, the master; the witness of what living beings have done and left undone; the dwelling, that in which living beings dwell; the refuge of the afflicted, the remover of the distress of those who take shelter; the friend, one who does good without looking for return; the arising, the origination, of the world; the dissolution, that in which it dissolves; the resting-place, that in which it stands; the treasure-store, the deposit which living beings are to enjoy at a later time; the seed, the cause of sprouting, of things that sprout; the imperishable, imperishable because it lasts as long as transmigration lasts. For nothing seedless sprouts, and since sprouting is seen to be perpetual, it is understood that the succession of seeds does not pass away. Further.

'Gati' is that which is gone to, the place to be reached here and there. The upholder is the sustainer; the lord, the governor; the witness, the direct seer; the dwelling, the dwelling-place, the house and the rest; the refuge is the conscious being to be resorted to as the bringer-about of what is wished and the warder-off of what is unwished, and that is I myself; the friend, the well-wisher; the place of arising and dissolution, that place which, of whatever, wherever, is the place of arising and of dissolution, that is I myself; the treasure, that which is laid up, the thing to be produced and to be withdrawn, is I myself. This is the meaning. The imperishable seed, the cause here and there free of decay, that is I myself.

'Goal' (gati) is what is reached by the seekers of release. So the Vasishtha branch of the Samaveda says, 'why is He called the goal? because Brahman alone is the goal, for that is reached by those freed of sin'. He is 'the witness' (sakshin) because He sees directly; so the Bashkala branch says, 'He directly saw this; that He saw, that is the witness-hood of the witness'. 'Refuge' (sharana) is the resort of one who fears transmigration; 'the supreme, the supreme resort' and the like are said, and 'Narayana, the great object of knowledge, the self of all, the supreme resort' (Mahanarayana Upanishad 9.3). He is 'the resting-place' (nidhana) because at the time of dissolution the world is laid down here by prakriti. So the supplementary hymns of the Rigveda say, 'I saw, at the dissolution, by maya, in the all-maker, that world laid down, with bright eye'.