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Among the letters of the alphabets, the letter 'A' I am and the dual among the compounds. I am verily the inexhaustible or everlasting time; I am the dispenser (of the fruits of actions) having faces in all directions.

Among letters I am the letter a, and among compounds, the pairing compound. I alone am unending time; I am the sustainer whose faces turn everywhere.

Krishna turns to language. Among the letters of the alphabet he is a, the first sound, which in Sanskrit grammar is thought to be present in every other letter. Among compound words he is the dvandva, the compound that joins two equal terms side by side, such as pairs of opposites. Then the verse widens suddenly: he is time that never runs out, and the dhātṛ, the one who upholds or ordains, facing in every direction. The movement from a single letter to endless time captures the chapter's method, finding the vast within the small.