Whom does the Upanishad call _The chief among the knowers of Brahma?_ [Footnote: Brahmavidāmvaristhah.] He is defined as _He whose joy is in Brahma, whose play is in Brahma, the active one._ [Footnote: Ātmakrīrha ātmaratih kriyāvān.] Joy without the play of joy is no joy at all--play without activity is no play. Activity is the play of joy. He whose joy is in Brahma, how can he live in inaction? For must he not by his activity provide that in which the joy of Brahma is to take form and manifest itself? That is why he who knows Brahma, who has his joy in Brahma, must also have all his activity in Brahma--his eating and drinking, his earning of livelihood and his beneficence. Just as the joy of the poet in his poem, of the artist in his art, of the brave man in the output of his courage, of the wise man in his discernment of truths, ever seeks expression in their several activities, so the joy of the knower of Brahma, in the whole of his everyday work, little and big, in truth, in beauty, in orderliness and in beneficence, seeks to give expression to the infinite.
Brahma himself gives expression to his joy in just the same way. _By his many-sided activity, which radiates in all directions, does he fulfil the inherent want of his different creatures._ [Footnote: Bahudhā çakti yogāt varņānanekān nihitārtho dadhāti.] That inherent want is he himself, and so he is in so many ways, in so many forms, giving himself. He works, for without working how could he give himself. His joy is ever dedicating itself in the dedication which is his creation.
In this very thing does our own true meaning lie, in this is our likeness to our father. We must also give up ourselves in many-sided variously aimed activity. In the Vedas he is called _the giver of himself, the giver of strength._ [Footnote: Ātmadā baladā.] He is not content with giving us himself, but he gives us strength that we may likewise give ourselves. That is why the seer of the Upanishad prays to him who is thus fulfilling our wants, _May he grant us the beneficent mind_ [Footnote: Sa no buddhya çubhayā samyunaktu.], may he fulfil that uttermost want of ours by granting us the beneficent mind. That is to say, it is not enough he should alone work to remove our want, but he should give us the desire and the strength to work with him in his activity and in the exercise of the goodness. Then, indeed, will our union with him alone be accomplished. The beneficent mind is that which shows us the want (_swārtha_) of another self to be the inherent want (_nihitārtha_) of our own self; that which shows that our joy consists in the varied aiming of our many-sided powers in the work of humanity. When we work under the guidance of this beneficent mind, then our activity is regulated, but does not become mechanical; it is action not goaded on by want, but stimulated by the satisfaction of the soul. Such activity ceases to be a blind imitation of that of the multitude, a cowardly following of the dictates of fashion. Therein we begin to see that _He is in the beginning and in the end of the universe_ [Footnote: Vichaiti chāntē viçvamādau.], and likewise see that of our own work is he the fount and the inspiration, and at the end thereof is he, and therefore that all our activity is pervaded by peace and good and joy.