Is it possible to know something which can lead to the knowledge of all things at the same time Generally, such a thing is not possible. If you know one thing, you will know only that thing. It appears to be a supernatural question raised by sage Saunaka. But it turned out to be a simple question for sage Angiras, leading to an answer which is the entire Upanishad.
1. Basic Spiritual Primer 9
(From Mundaka Upanishad of Atharva Veda)
Introduction
Among the 108 Upanishads, the Mundaka Upanishad is regarded as one the
most important and it is also one among the thirteen principal Upanishads.
It throws a flood of light on the Jnana Marga (the path of Knowledge) and leads the
aspirant to the highest rung in the ladder of Jnana (Knowledge).
The truth that this Supreme Knowledge is to be had through inspirational
initiation direct from a realized teacher is brought out very clearly in this
Upanishad.
At the onset itself, the Upanishad throws out a challenge to all finite (and
therefore imperfect) sciences. Real Knowledge does not consist in the mastery
of mere verbiage, but in the immediate experience of the Self. Without this Self-
Knowledge, it is futile to try to know anything else! Knowledge of the Self
instantly means true knowledge of everything.
How is this Knowledge to be attained? While yet engaged in the performance of
his daily duties, the aspirant should carefully and minutely analyze the nature of
the world, and grasp the transience of all objects. If everything is transient,
what, then, is Eternal and, therefore, worth aspiring for?
This question cannot be answered by the aspirants’ intellect, for the intellect itself is
a finite and frail instrument and one amongst the transient objects in this
evanescent world. But the emergence in the aspirants’ mind of such a query
is itself the signal that the heart-strands that bound him to Samsara
(Objective World) have got loosened, and that with the sword of Jnana
(Knowledge) he can easily cut them asunder.
This sword is in the Guru’s (Realized Teacher) sheath and has to be
acquired by direct personal initiation. In the Guru’s holy presence, the
disciple’s intellect ceases to function. Divine Wisdom floods the heart of the aspirant
and he realises that in essence he is that Knowledge Itself! That is the Supreme
Knowledge in which the distinction between knowledge, the knower and
the known vanishes.
The Upanishad gives graphic descriptions of the effects of desire-prompted
actions and shows how the wrong performance of these actions brings on evil
consequences and even the correct performance, while conferring temporary
affluence and happiness, terminates in the reincarnation of the Jiva in even lower
births. Desire is condemned in unequivocal terms.
Practice of truth, penance, brahmacharya (celibacy) and the acquirement
of correct knowledge are the means that bestow strength on the aspirant—
2. physical, mental, moral, intellectual and spiritual strength; and an aspirant
endowed with this strength alone can reach the Goal—not a weakling, says
the Upanishad.
These are all preparatory practices. These are excellent aids for self-
purification. But these ‘actions’ cannot by themselves achieve That which is
not the product of any action—the Supreme Brahman. Utter annihilation of
the ego is called for; and the Upanishad again and again stresses the Truth that the
Atman is all-pervading and is the Self of all. Failure to perceive this Truth alone
results in egocentric personality. The Upanishad forbids one from talking of
anything other than this all-pervading Self.
Just reflect for a moment. If you really and sincerely recognize the
presence of the Atman in every being, no contemptuous expression would
escape from your lips, no falsehood will be uttered by you; your speech would be
sweet, truthful and loving. Universal love will reside in your heart; and cosmic love
is synonymous with supreme self-sacrifice, or ego-lessness.
The Upanishad has given very apt and illuminating illustrations to make
clear the subtle Truth propounded in it.
Mundaka Upanishad
Chapter 1, Section 1
Two Kinds of Knowledge – The Higher and the Lower
I-i-2: The Knowledge of Brahman that Brahma imparted to Atharva, Atharva
transmitted to Angir in days of yore. He (Angir) passed it on to Satyavaha
of the line of Bharadvaja. He of the line of Bharadvaja handed down to
Angiras this knowledge that had been received in succession from the
higher by the lower ones.
Lord Brahma taught the science of Brahman, which is the origin, the
support, and the foundation of every other learning, every other
knowledge or science or art – to his eldest son Atharva, a great sage.
Atharva taught this Knowledge to another sage, called Angir. Angir gave this
Knowledge to Bharadvaja, another great sage. Bharadvaja, also known as
Satyavaha, taught this once again to Angiras. This is the line of the descent of this
Knowledge.
This Knowledge includes everything that is here and also everything that is
not here. The highest Reality as it is in itself and also the reality manifest in the
form of creation. This Brahman Vidya is the Knowledge and study of this
great Reality which appears as Para (Transcendental Knowledge) and Avara or
Apara (Material Knowledge), the high and the low at the same time.
3. I-i-3: Saunaka, well known as a great householder, having approached Angiras
duly, asked, ‘O adorable sir, (which is that thing) which having been
known, all this becomes known?’
Saunaka, the great sage, stood up in the assembly and queried the great
sage Angiras, who received this Supreme Knowledge through a descending line of
teaching commencing from Lord Brahma himself. Humbly, respectfully, in a
traditional manner, he approached Angiras, the great master who was in the
audience. He put a question, ‘What is that, by knowing which, one can know
everything else also?’
Is it possible to know something which can lead to the knowledge of all
things at the same time? Generally, such a thing is not possible. If you know one
thing, you will know only that thing. It appears to be a supernatural question raised
by sage Saunaka. But it turned out to be a simple question for sage Angiras,
leading to an answer which is the entire Upanishad.
I-i-4: To him he said, ‘"There are two kinds of knowledge to be acquired – the
higher and the lower"; this is what, as tradition runs, the knowers of the
import of the Vedas say.’
Sage Angiras replied, ‘Two kinds of knowledge are to be acquired – the
higher and the lower.’ We have to know what higher knowledge is, and we also
have to know lower knowledge. This is what we hear from the great knowers of
Brahman.
Lower knowledge is important, though lower knowledge is not the same as higher
knowledge. The lower knowledge is not going to take us to Brahman, but it
is necessary as feet are necessary for us.
All knowledge is the graduated training of the mind in the process of
enlightenment. From the perceptible, visible, gross, tangible and acceptable
reality, we gradually move the mind to that which is not easily acceptable and
cannot be understood as quickly as we can understand that which is seen with the
eyes directly. So, we are first told what lower knowledge is.
I-i-5: Of these, the lower comprises the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda,
Atharva-Veda, and the science of pronunciation etc., the code of rituals,
grammar, etymology, meter and astrology. Then there is the higher
(knowledge) by which is attained that Imperishable.
It gives a blow to the very root of our imagination that the Vedas are the
highest knowledge. The Rig-Veda Samhitas, and everything connected to the
4. Rig-Veda – the Brahmanas, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, Atharva-Veda and all the
auxiliary sciences (shastras) – are all lower knowledge only.
There are four Vedas. The Rig-Veda consists of hymns, prayers, mantras. The
Yajur-Veda consists of certain invocations necessary for the performance of
sacrifice. The Sama-Veda is Rig verses set in music. The Atharva-Veda contains
such material as may be regarded as a sequel or an appendix to the tri, or
the threefold Vedas – Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda and Sama-Veda.
These four Vedas are not easy to understand. Their language is difficult, their
grammar is very hard, and the implications of what they say are so deep that
without proper introductory learning, one cannot know what the Vedas speak at all.
This introductory training consists of what is called the Vedanga, a six fold
education.
The anga or the limb of the Veda is six fold, and we cannot approach the
Veda unless we are proficient in these six accessories called the Vedanga.
This six fold education or the six auxiliary shastras or sciences are:
1) Siksha is the science of phonetics, the art of intonation and modulation
of the voice in the recitation of a Veda mantra. It has a way of
pronunciation, an articulation, a modulation, and a raising of the voice or a
bringing down of the voice, or keeping the voice in a harmonious manner
without raising it or bringing it down. These are called the sciences of giving a
special meaning to the mantra.
Veda mantras are composed in such a way that different intonations
give them different suggestions. A special kind of technique has been
adopted by the science of Siksha, which instructs us in the art of the correct
intonation and pronunciation of a Veda mantra.
2) Kalpa means the performance of a ritual connected with a specific
injunction of the Veda, especially of the Brahmanas. The Kalpa Sutras or
the codes of rituals are of four types: Shrauta Sutras, Grhya Sutras, Dharma
Sutras and Sulba Sutras.
The Shrauta Sutra is a text which describes the manner of the performance
of sacrifices according to Vedic injunctions. The Grhya Sutras is connected
with sacrifices and performances to be undertaken in one’s own house. The
Dharma Sutra is that Kalpa which gives us the rules and regulations of social
and ethical life. The Sulba Sutras are appendices to the Vedas which give
rules for constructing altars. This is Vedic mathematics.
3) Vyakarana is grammar. There are two types of grammar – classical
grammar and Vedic grammar. Vedic grammar is studied only in advance
stages. Students of Sanskrit usually study only classical works and the well-
known Vyakarana. Unless we know the technology of the method by
which words have been used in the Veda mantras, we will not make
5. any sense out of them, and so Vyakarana, the study of grammar, is
necessary.
4) Nirukta is the etymology of the word, how the word has been formed.
As every word in a language has a root from which it is derived, Vedic words
also have a root from where they arise.
5) Chhanda is the science of poetic meter, in the Vedas there are eleven
Chhandas such as Gayatri, Usnik, Anustup, Brihati, Pankti, Jagati, Atichhanda,
Atyasthi, Atijagati, and Ativirath and other metered hymns. Every verse,
every mantra of the Rig-Veda Samhita particularly, varies in its meter.
It is long or short; it is Gayatri Chhandas (24 syllables) or Tristubh (44
syllables), and so on, and accordingly the intonation also changes. So, meter
is the Chhandas.
6) Jyotisha is the astronomical science which tells us at what particular time
of the conjunction of the stars or the planets we have to undertake a particular
ritual or a sacrifice.
We cannot go to the Veda directly and understand anything out of it unless
we are proficient in these six auxiliary shastras or sciences.
All these together with the original Vedas – Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda and
Atharva-Veda – should be considered as ways of lower knowledge. Therefore,
mere reading, learning, and or recitation of Scriptures and the auxiliary
sciences are lower knowledge and will not lead us to Supreme Knowledge
of Brahman.
They purify our mind, and enlighten us into the mysteries of the whole of
creation. They will purify our mind because of the power that is embedded in the
mantras, the blessing that we receive from the sages who composed the mantra,
and also the special power that is generated by the meter.
All these put together create a religious atmosphere in the person who
takes to the study of the Vedas or any other Scripture. It is great and grand,
worth studying. It will inculcate in us the values that are not merely physical but
super physical.
Yet, it is not enough. What is that greater knowledge, the higher
knowledge with which alone can we reach the imperishable Reality.
Learning is different from wisdom; scholarship is not the same as insight. One may
be a learned Vedic scholar and very proficient in the performance of sacrifices and
the invocation of gods in the heavens, but eternity is different from temporality.
All these glories of the Vedas are in the region of time, and the eternal is
timeless. What is that timeless thing, that which is called Imperishable?
Scriptures give description of Reality but that Reality is not in them.
6. I-i-6: (By the higher knowledge) the wise realize everywhere that which cannot
be perceived and grasped, which is without source, features, eyes, and
ears, which has neither hands nor feet, which is eternal, multi-formed, all-
pervasive, extremely subtle, and un-diminishing and which is the source of
all.
That great Reality is to be encountered in direct experience; that Reality
which is not capable of perception through the eyes; that which cannot be grasped
with a hand; that which has no origin; that which has no shape or form; which has
no sense organs like us; no limbs such as feet, hands etc; permanent, eternal, all-
pervading, subtler than the subtlest; imperishable; the origin of all beings; and
only the wise who are on the path of the spirit will behold that great
Reality within their own selves.
I-i-7: As a spider spreads out and withdraws (its thread), as on the earth grow
the herbs (and trees), and as from a living man issues out hair (on the
head and body), so out of the Imperishable does the Universe emerge here
(in this phenomenal creation).
This Reality is now further explained through three wonderful illustrations.
The first analogy is that of the spider weaving its web to illustrate that from this
Eternal Being, this world, this universe, has emanated. The second analogy of the
herbs and trees growing on earth illustrates that God is also the support of His
creation. And the third analogy of hair growing on head and body illustrates that
inanimate things issue from animate and God is the creator of both inanimate and
animate life.
We have seen a spider spitting threads from its own body. From its saliva, as
it were, threads come out, and it weaves a web around itself. Or we have seen
trees spontaneously growing from under the earth, or we have seen hair growing
on the head. In some such way is the manner of the creation of this world.
These analogies have some significance of their own. The spider does not
create the web from external material. The instrumental cause is the same as the
material cause in the case of the spider weaving a web.
In the case of the potter making a pot, the instrumental cause is not the
same as the material cause; and so is the case with the carpenter making
the furniture. That is to say, the potter does not make the pot out of a substance
coming from his body, and so is the case with the carpenter.
But in the case of the spider, the creation of the web materially emanates
from the very body of the spider, and so here the material cause is identical
with the instrumental cause; they are not two different things. God does not
create the world as a carpenter or a potter does; the substance of God is
7. verily present in the creation. That illustration is brought out by this analogy of
a spider creating a web.
Trees grow from the earth; they draw sustenance from the earth. The
original support of all the trees is the substance of the earth. This analogy tells
us that the world is sustained by God, and all the values of the world come
from God only, and He is the soul of all that He creates.
There is also the analogy of hair growing. When we behold rocks, stones,
inanimate matter existing in this world, we sometimes have difficulty connecting
inanimate things with animate consciousness. How can animate, conscious God
create inanimate stuff?
This analogy brings out the possibility of inanimate things coming from
animate consciousness, as hair grows from animate skin and becomes inanimate
so that we can shave it off, or dead nails projecting themselves forth from animate
roots, and the like. From consciousness, apparently unconscious things can
also emanate.
These difficulties are solved by analogies of this kind – namely, a spider’s
web, the trees growing from the earth, and the hair growing from the
body. Like that, we have to understand that eternity produces temporality. So, out
of the Imperishable, this perishable Universe has emerged.
I-i-8: Through knowledge Brahman increases in size. From that is born food (the
Unmanifested). From food evolves Prana (Hiranyagarbha); (thence the
cosmic) mind; (thence) the five elements; (thence) the worlds; (thence)
the immortality that is in karmas.
In one verse the whole of creation is described. Brahman, the Supreme Absolute,
distends, swells – becomes large, as it were – by tapas. Tapa means concentration.
Brahman’s concentration is the will to create. It becomes extended in the
form of the contemplated shape of creation, as it were.
When we think something, the mind takes the form of that thing which we
think. Now the Supreme Absolute thinks, wills, concentrates itself upon the shape
which creation has to take, and that is the swelling or the extending or the
becoming large of Brahman in tapas. The swelling or the extension of being in
tapas also means the increase in the potentiality of the one that
concentrates. In the case of Brahman, it would mean the contemplation of the
form of the world which has to be created in the future. In the case of people
like us, tapas would mean the intensity of heat generated inside by the
concentration of the mind and the prana.
When Brahman concentrates itself in tapas, anna is created. From the point
of view of ordinary linguistic exposition, anna means food, anything that is eaten.
8. But in the Upanishads, anna does not mean just what we eat. It is something
more than that. The material content of consciousness is called anna. The content
of the consciousness which takes the shape of the content in the act of
concentration creates an anna for it. The object of thought is the food of
thought. Anything that we think is the diet of the psychic process.
The implementation of the ideation of the Absolute is the food, the content,
the shape or the form of this tapa. Anna is produced in this manner. Cosmic
potentiality is created by the concentrating act of Brahman as tapas. When this
potential in the form of a concrete substantiality of will wields itself, it immediately
vibrates into the form of the future shape in a more distinct form, with creation as
space.
Then there is prana, the vibration. Here the word ‘prana’ indicates the cosmic
prana, or Hiranyagarbha Tattva. Hiranyagarbha is prana, the cosmic vibration
of the energy of Brahman through the manifested stuff called anna or
potentiality.
Then there is a further diversification of this concentrated universal prana
in the form of thinking. We may compare this manas, or thinking, of Brahman to
Virat Svarupa (Cosmic Form), which has emanated from the outline of the creative
process available in Hiranyagarbha. In the cosmic mind, which is Virat, everything
is clear.
Satya is the law and order of the universe that come together with the
manifestation of these gods, Hiranyagarbha and Virat. The law and order of
the universe are also created simultaneously. The unified integration of the cosmic
prana, Hiranyagarbha or Virat, is the principle behind the law and order that has to
operate in the manifested universe.
Then the world is created – lokas – the fourteen worlds, which are made
up of the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether. Then action
proceeds there. That is to say, individuals emerge from this cosmic manifestation of
the five elements – earth, water, fire, air and ether; and then the fruit of actions.
To sum it up, there are eight steps or degrees in the process of creation:
1. First there is the Supreme Absolute.
2. Then there is anna, or the potential for the future manifestation in the form of
tapas.
3. Then there is Hiranyagarbha, the vibratory cosmic prana, as the potential
energy of Brahman through the manifested stuff anna.
4. Then there is thinking, which is the cosmic thought identifiable with Virat.
5. Then there is law and order.
6. Then there is the manifestation of the fourteen worlds.
7. Then there is individuality, the individuals or jivas, who are propelled towards
action and karma.
8. And finally there is fruit of action.
9. I-i-9: From Him, who is omniscient in general and all-knowing in detail and whose
austerity is constituted by knowledge, evolve this (derivative) Brahman,
name, colour and food.
God knows everything in general and also in particular. He has direct
knowledge of even the minutest details of even an atom. A great cosmic order is in
His mind. This is the generality of the knowledge of God. But the particularity is
every little detail, even to counting the number of hairs of a person or the
breaths that he breathes. That also is known to Him.
Can we imagine what kind of knowledge God must have? How many
creatures are there in this creation: gods, human beings, demons, subhuman
creatures, insects, and what not? How many leaves on the tree? He will count
them. Unimaginable power of comprehension! So, God knows everything in
general as well as in particular.
His wisdom, His knowledge, His consciousness, His intention, His purpose,
His awareness – that is tapas. The greatest tapa is the concentration of
knowledge, and every other tapa is secondary.
From this great being, Brahman, Absolute, emanates the secondary
Brahman known as prakriti. This derivative Brahman does not mean Supreme
Brahman but prakriti, the matrix of things. Then name and form manifest
themselves. The inward characteristic of an object is called nama and its
outward characteristic is called rupa.
The indication, the determining factor of a particular shape that an
individual has to take is called linga sharira in our case, and the subtle
body is called the sukshma sharira. Here, nama does not simply mean a name
of a person; it is the indicative linga, or the specific character, of the would-be
individual in the form of a body. Rupa is the actual physical form.
Thus, the subtle and the physical shapes emanate as nama and rupa from
this derivative Brahman, Mula Prakriti. The field of action is created. Here food
or anna means the actual matter, which is the field of particular individual action for
the jivas to reap their fruits according to their deeds. These nine verses
constitute one section of the Upanishad.
Chapter 1, Section 2
Fruits of Action – Lower Knowledge
The object of the lower Vidya is connected with the doer, the instrument of
doing, the action, and the result thereof. The path of the lower Vidya is one of
Samsara (Objective World), whose beginning and end cannot be known. It is of the
form of pain and, therefore, it has to be rejected by all intelligent beings.
10. The experience of Samsara is continuous like the flow of waters in a river.
The cessation of this flow is called emancipation which is the object of the higher
Knowledge, which is beginning-less and endless, decay-less, deathless, immortal,
fearless, pure and calm, of the nature of establishment in the Self, non-dual and
Supreme Bliss. The experience of Samsara is not a constant or steady
experience but a constant movement or a free flow of mental experiences.
It is not existence, but change.
Change is another name for Samsara. This change is the involuntary urge
caused by the sense of imperfection and desire for perfection. It is this great
discontent present in life that never allows anything to be what it is for more than a
moment. Everything has to transform itself, for nothing is perfect.
Whatever is in space or in time comes under the law of causation and,
therefore, is bound to be imperfect.
This section of the Upanishad has thirteen verses and deals with the nature
of lower Vidya and its criticism is intended to make one conscious of the
imperfect state and then go beyond it.
I-ii-8: Remaining within the fold of ignorance and thinking, ‘We are ourselves
wise and learned’, the fools, while being buffeted very much, ramble
about like the blind led by the blind alone.
I-ii-9: Continuing diversely in the midst of ignorance, the unenlightened take
airs by thinking, ‘We have attained the goal.’ Since the men, engaged in
karma, do not understand (the truth) under the influence of attachment,
thereby they become afflicted with sorrow and are deprived of heaven on
the exhaustion of the results of karma.
I-ii-10: The deluded fools, believing the rites inculcated by the Vedas and the
Smritis to be the highest, do not understand the other thing (that leads
to) liberation. They, having enjoyed (the fruits of actions) in the abode of
pleasure on the heights of heaven, enter this world or an inferior one.
I-ii-11: Those who live in the forest, while begging for alms – viz. those (forest-
dwellers and hermits) who resort to the duties of their respective stages
of life as well as to meditation – and the learned (householders) who have
their senses under control – (they) after becoming freed from dirt, go by
the path of the sun to where lives that Purusha, immortal and un-
decaying by nature.
I-ii-12: A Brahmana should resort to renunciation after examining the worlds
acquired through karma, with the help of this maxim: ‘There is nothing
(here) that is not the result of karma; so what is the need of (performing)
karma?’ For knowing that Reality he should go, with sacrificial
faggots in hand, only to a teacher versed in the Vedas and
absorbed in Brahman.
11. I-ii-13: To him who has approached duly, whose heart is calm and whose outer
organs are under control, that man of enlightenment should
adequately impart that knowledge of Brahman by which one
realizes the true and imperishable Purusha.
The seeker of Truth, who has been blessed to understand the transient
nature of this Samsara and reflects upon the inner contemplative message of the
Vedas or other Scriptures, should immediately seek a fully realized teacher in
order to realize the true and imperishable Brahman.
Chapter 2, Section 1
Higher Knowledge
In this Section of the Upanishad, all experiences are traced back to their
ultimate cause from which they proceed, in which they subsist and into
which they return. The knowledge of this ultimate Cause means the knowledge of
everything that exists. This ultimate Cause is the object of higher Knowledge, Para
Vidya or Brahman Vidya, which is the subject matter of the following Mantras or
Verses.
II-i-1: That thing that is such is true. As from a fire fully ablaze, fly off sparks in
their thousands that are akin to the fire, similarly O good-looking one,
from the Imperishable originate different kinds of creatures and into It
again they merge.
As from a large conflagration of fire thousands of sparks emanate in all
directions, in a similar manner, varieties of individualities – species of beings and
things – emerge from this imperishable Reality and return to it, as sparks of fire
that rise from the conflagration shoot up and then go back to their source,
which is the fire itself. Thus is the world coming from its cause, which is the
imperishable Brahman. It comes, it is sustained, and it returns.
The illustration of the fire and sparks is to indicate that there is some
quality in us which will enable us to reach God. If the effect is totally
disconnected from the cause – if there is nothing in the effect which can be called
similar to the essence of the cause – there will be no relationship between them.
This is to indicate that in spite of our separation from God, our fall from
Brahman, as it were, we are still endowed with that potential for returning to
Brahman because the seat of Brahman is planted in our own heart. This
illustration makes out that basically we are verily that which we are
seeking. If we are entirely dissociated from that, there will be no possibility of our
returning to it. The Atman is Brahman basically.
12. II-i-2: The Purusha is transcendental, since He is formless. And since He is
coextensive with all that is external and internal and since He is birth-
less, therefore He is without vital force and without mind; He is pure and
superior to the (other) superior imperishable (Maya).
II-i-3: From Him originates the vital force as well as the mind, all the senses,
space, air, fire, water, and earth that supports everything.
II-i-4: The indwelling Self of all is surely He of whom the heaven is the head, the
moon and sun are the two eyes, the directions are the two ears, the
revealed Vedas are the speech, air is the vital force, the whole Universe is
the heart, and (It is He) from whose two feet emerged the earth.
II-i-5: From Him emerges the fire (i.e. heaven) of which the fuel is the sun.
From the moon emerges cloud, and (from cloud) the herbs and corns on
the earth. A man sheds the semen into a woman. From the Purusha have
originated many creatures.
II-i-6: From Him (emerge) the Rik, Sama and Yajur mantras, initiation, all the
sacrifices – whether with or without the sacrificial stake – offerings to
Brahmanas, the year, the sacrificer, and the worlds where the moon
sacrifices (all) and where the sun (shines).
From this Being, everything proceeds. Our past, our present, as well as our
future are all in the hands of God. The condition into which we are born into
this world, the community in which we find ourselves, the length of life for which
we will be living in this world, the experiences which we will pass through are
all written down while we are still in our mother’s womb.
II-i-7: And from Him duly emerged the gods in various groups, human beings,
beasts, birds, life, rice and barley, as well as austerity, faith, truth,
continence and dutifulness.
II-i-8: From Him emerge the seven sense-organs, the seven flames, the seven
kinds of fuel, the seven oblations, and these seven seats where move the
sense-organs that sleep in the cavity, (and) have been deposited (by
God) in groups of seven.
There are five sense organs (ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin) and five
motor organs (speech, manipulation by hands, locomotion by legs, sex by genital
organs, and excretion by rectal organ). Of these, the two sense organs (eyes
with eighty-three percent input and ears with fourteen percent input) are the most
active and provide fuel for the five motor organs. Seven cavities are on the face
itself comprising two each of ears, eyes, and nose respectively and one of
mouth.
13. These senses and their powers of cognition and the capacity involved in
them to perform their function and the particular objects to which they are
directed, as also the knowledge that such objects are the requisites for the function
of a specific sense organ, and the physical locations of these senses are all steps
of a Yajna or sacrifice that take place in the creative process of expansion
from the One to the one-thousand shining lights at the astral level and
subsequently their permutation and combination that supports the variety in the
lower physical and sub-astral worlds.
Seven functions of the sense organs mentioned, and the flaming anguish of these
senses to grab that particular food or object are known as seven flames. Our
desires are like flames. They rush forth like burning heat in the direction of
their objects. And the objects themselves are called samit (an offering), which is
offered into the sacrifice. The sacrifice (homa) is the consumption of the object.
Homa is a ritual in which making offerings into a consecrated fire is the primary
action.
Sacrifice is to give up the lower for the higher. But in the expansive
creative process it is the reverse. In order to create the Objective World, God
hid Himself at every creative step but it is His power working at the back of
everything that He created but His creation does not know Him.
In the external sacrifice, we require a solid base or field on which we place a
container in which the fire is burned and some material is poured in the fire with
the chanting of mantras to fulfill our objective. The similar sacrificial process
takes place in our body.
For example our body is the field and the two cavities of the eyes are the
container into which the images of the Objective World are continuously poured
and our desires to possess the objects of our liking are the flames and in this
sacrifice the intention or the will to possess the desired object (lower) is the
firming up of the desire or mantra and the objective is achieved at the cost of
creative power as consciousness (higher) working in us. In the external sacrifice
we give up the higher for the lower and that is the reason we are unable to
know our Creator.
But in order to know our Creator, we shall have to perform an internal
sacrifice, in which the eyes are closed to the external Objective World and they are
directed inward towards its presiding deity Sun and our faith firms up the desire to
know the deity and the appearance of Light within signifies the completion of the
sacrifice. We give up the lower for the higher. We do not stop at the Sun and
aspire to go higher to know the cause behind Sun and then ultimately to
the Absolute Cause, Brahman.
Similar internal sacrifice has to be performed simultaneously at the
cavities of ears so as to withdraw our consciousness from the external captivating
sounds and direct our ears inward to hear the Creative Word of God. The command
Be It is the Creative Word of God and through It came Light. This Creative Word
14. is the support of the entire creation and it is reverberating in all inanimate
and animate life.
The next in line is the cavity of mouth which has to be closed to all good or
bad spoken words and directed inward to invoke the deity of Agni (Fire) from
which it derives its power to speak. Agni is the deity presiding at the navel center
which is also the support for the two lower physical and sub-astral worlds. When
Agni is invoked, it increases our will power to restrain the senses and also helps us
to maintain the hold on the applied restraint.
The cavity of mouth performs another function that of intake of food. The
pure and sattvic food should be taken with a prayer of thanks to God. All outward
thoughts should be driven away by repeating the Name of the Lord while taking
food so that the effect is credited to the deities within. If we fail to thank the
Lord and consume our food with the thoughts of the Objective World, the
effect will be credited to the demons and our natural orientation for
outward expansion will gain more strength.
The preparation for the internal sacrifice will be complete once we provide
a solid base to the body in the form of asana; the cross-legged posture so that
locomotion is kept in check. We sacrifice locomotion (lower) which is possible at the
cost of Fire element to know the higher cause working behind the Fire element.
Life is a prayer. The sense organs, in their greed for their objects, are
actually craving for relief from the agony or the involvement in this grizzly
action of their longings for things. There is a deity operating inside the ear as a
point of consciousness at the back of the nervous system and the eardrum and that
is the cause of the sounds that we hear. So is the case with all other sense organs.
If we ignore the presence of these conscious points called divinities, we
would be paying disrespect to them, and the Agnihotra - internal sacrifice
would not then be performed.
II-i-9: From Him emerge all the oceans and all the mountains. From Him, flow
out the rivers of various forms. And from Him issue all the corns as well
as the juice, by virtue of which the internal self verily exists in the midst
of the elements.
Even the oceans are created by Him. The mountains, oceans and rivers cannot
be there but for the will of That. The rivers flow in a particular direction only, and
not in another direction. The sun rises only in one direction, and not elsewhere.
The stars scintillate and maintain their positions not in any other manner,
all because of the operation of the law of Brahman.
All the trees and plants grow only because of the will of That. There cannot
be a breeze moving, wafting through the leaves of trees in the thick of the forest
15. without the operation of His law. Do you believe that such a thing is possible,
that even an atom cannot vibrate and act in the manner it does unless the
central will is there operating at the nucleus of that atom?
II-i-10: The Purusha alone is all this – (comprising) karma and knowledge. He
who knows this supreme, immortal Brahman, existing in the heart,
destroys here the knot of ignorance, O good-looking one!
The whole universe is the Purusha alone. Actions and penances also are this
Immortal Supreme alone. One who knows this which is seated within the secret
cave, breaks open the knot of ignorance?
Because all is the Purusha alone, it follows that differences are unreal.
Hence, modification is described as merely a play of speech consisting only in name
and, therefore, false. What is true is the Purusha alone. Other than this Purusha,
there is nothing. This is the reply given by the preceptor to the disciple’s
question regarding that the knowledge of which means the knowledge of
everything.
When the Purusha is known, all is known. In fact there is no such thing as all,
except this one Purusha. The Knowledge of the Purusha, therefore, means the
absence of duality which is the same as the destruction of ignorance and
attainment of Immortality and Absoluteness.
However, this realization is possible only under the guidance of a living
realized teacher when we ourselves practice complete withdrawal of
consciousness from the Objective World while living yet in human body and
when we actually see the creation from the other side of the mirror of the Inner
Mind at the forehead. Only then the knot of ignorance which has caused us to
believe that we are here as isolated individuals and the world is outside
will be destroyed.
Chapter 2, Section 2
Realization of Supreme Being
Armed with the lower and higher knowledge in the preceding sections, the
disciple now moves on towards actual realization of the Supreme Being.
II-ii-1: (It is) effulgent, near at hand, and well known as moving in the heart,
and (It is) the great goal. On It are fixed all these that move, breathe,
and wink or do not wink. Know this One which comprises the gross and
the subtle, which is beyond the ordinary knowledge of creatures, and
which is the most desirable and the highest of all.
16. II-ii-2: That which is bright and is subtler than the subtle, and that on which are
fixed all the worlds as well as the dwellers of the worlds, is this
immutable Brahman; It is this vital force; It, again, is speech and mind.
This Entity, that is such, is true. It is immortal. It is to be penetrated, O
good-looking one, shoot (at It).
II-ii-3: Taking hold of the bow, the great weapon familiar in the Upanishads, one
should fix on it an arrow sharpened with meditation. Drawing the string,
O good-looking one, hit that very target that is the Imperishable, with
the mind absorbed in Its thought.
II-ii-4: Om is the bow; the soul is the arrow; and Brahman is called its target. It
is to be hit by an unerring man. One should become one with It just like
an arrow.
Constant meditation on Om allows the individual consciousness to take the
form of Om itself which is unlimited in its nature. The meditator becomes
ultimately the object of meditation itself. Om is the symbol of Brahman and,
therefore, meditation on Om leads to the realisation of Brahman. When one
meditates on Om, the mind gets purified. It is freed from its distractive
nature and, consequently, it rests in the tranquil condition of the Absolute
Om.
But this mantra of Om should be given as the spoken word by a living
realized teacher to the disciple for it to be effective. Mere recitation of Om
without a living teacher who has realized Brahman within will not produce any
result. This is also the message in ‘The Law of Liberation – Garuda Purana –
Chapter 16.’
Meditation should be practised not with heedlessness and non-discrimination, but
with the power consequent upon complete renunciation of all objects and
states, giving rise to absolute passionless-ness thorough concentration of mind.
One thing can become identical with another thing only when that one
thing partakes of the nature of the other thing.
Desires of all kinds, potential or manifested, are detrimental to the consciousness
of oneness and, hence, the realisation of Oneness, or Brahman, follows the practice
of absolute desire-less-ness. All the factors that go to make up one’s
individual existence have to be cast off through meditation on the
universal Being, which transcends all planes of phenomenal existence.
II-ii-5: Know that Self alone that is one without a second, on which are strung
heaven, the earth and the inter-space, the mind and the vital forces
together with all the other organs; and give up all other talks. This is the
bridge leading to immortality.
17. This Atman should be known not as any kind of object of knowledge, but as the
substance of one’s own Self as well as the Self of everybody else. As a
subject can never become an object at any time, the Self cannot be known through
any means related to objective knowledge. But it is known in the form of Self-
awareness freed from the objective faculties pertaining to the five material sheaths.
This is achieved through a total abstraction of oneself, i.e., refusal to abide
by the laws of relative thinking and understanding. This, again, is possible
only after sense-abstraction, which is signified by discipline and control of speech.
Speech is a means of relating oneself to external objects by means of
spending energy. This energy is initially spent out through thinking. Every
thought sends out energy to the object that is thought. In this process, the
mind gets transformed. As this transformation is a change of the mind itself,
there is absence of equilibrium in the mind. This disturbed state of the mind
transmits its transformation to the senses, which connect themselves accordingly
with the forms of objects determined by this previous transformation.
The cessation of speech means the stoppage of connections with persons
external to oneself, though subtle connections are kept up by the mind,
independent of the senses. Therefore, the gross and subtle relationships are
stopped respectively through cessation of sense-functions and of mental
modifications.
This practice is reinforced by continuous meditation on the nature of the
Atman. The Atman is figuratively described as the bridge to Immortality, meaning,
thereby, that its experience is Immortal.
II-ii-6: Within that (heart) in which are fixed the nerves like the spokes on the
hub of a chariot wheel, moves this aforesaid Self by becoming multiform.
Meditate on the Self thus with the help of Om. May you be free from
hindrances in going to the other shore beyond darkness?
When a person appears to have a certain quality, it must be understood
that this quality is of the mind and not of the Atman. When it is said that a
person is happy or sorry, pleased or displeased, it means that the mind of the
person has taken certain forms. As all forms are changes felt within, they
cannot belong to the nature of the Atman.
Every experience is a fluctuation of the mind, good, bad or otherwise, in
relation to the individual. Because of the intimate relationship that is between
the Atman and the mind, it appears as though the whole person changes when the
mind changes itself. This is the reason why a person says, “I am happy”, “I am
sorry”, etc., though in essence these conditions do not belong to the person at all.
This Atman, which is distinct from the functions of the mind, should be
meditated upon through the symbol of Om. The meditators are those who have
18. withdrawn themselves from the impulse for desire and action through an intense
yearning for the attainment of Absolute Knowledge, so that obstacles may not
impede the free progress of the disciple. The preceptor blesses them with
auspiciousness for the sake of reaching the other shore of darkness, i.e.,
the attainment of the light of the Self.
II-ii-7: That Self which is omniscient in general and all-knowing in detail and
which has such glory in this world – that Self, which is of this kind – is
seated in the space within the luminous city of Brahman. It is conditioned
by the mind, It is the carrier of the vital forces and the body, It is seated
in food by placing the intellect (in the cavity of the heart). Through their
knowledge, the discriminating people realize that Self as existing in Its
fullness everywhere – the Self that shines surpassingly as blissfulness
and immortality.
In thinking individuals, Brahman manifests as existence and consciousness, but in
inanimate beings only the aspect of existence is revealed. Bliss, however, is
experienced in addition to the experience of existence and consciousness
only in the higher class of beings in whom the quality of Sattva is
predominant. In Tamas, Rajas and Sattva respectively, existence, consciousness
and bliss are experienced in succession, the succeeding one including the preceding
natures of reality.
Therefore, all individuals belonging to all degrees of manifestation reflect
in different degrees the reality of the Self. It is felt as existence by the
individual through the mind which defines one’s personality. Because it is the mind
that reflects the Atman, the presence of the Atman is felt only where the mind
manifests itself. There is neither going nor coming nor establishment in
space with reference to the Atman, it is everywhere and it permeates the
entire space.
II-ii-8: When that Self, which is both the high and the low, is realized, the knot
of the heart is broken, all doubts are cleared, and all one’s actions
become dissipated.
The knots of the heart are Avidya, Kama and Karma, or ignorance, desire
and action. Avidya is the cause, Kama is the medium and Karma is the
effect. These three binding factors confine experience to an individual personality.
Because ignorance is the cause of all troubles, Knowledge, which is the opposite of
ignorance, is able to break open the fort of ignorance, desire and action.
Doubts which trouble the minds of the individuals are ultimately cleared
when Brahman is realized. Doubt is a function of the mind, which is an effect of
19. nescience. When its cause is removed, it is itself removed. When the mind, the
cause of actions, is refined by the removal of ignorance, all actions perish.
Actions are threefold in nature: Sanchita, Prarabdha, and Agami:
• Sanchita Karma is the store of the effects or the impressions of all the actions
performed by an individual in his countless previous births. All these effects of
actions have to be experienced by the individual in different bodies.
• A set of actions out of the Sanchita Karma, which can be experienced only
under some particular conditions, is allotted to a particular body for the sake of
experience in those conditions and this allotted portion is called Prarabdha,
which forms the basis for current life.
• The Agami Karma consists of actions performed by the individual through a
particular body or the mind which will bear fruit in future.
II-ii-9: In the supreme, bright sheath is Brahman, free from taints and without
parts. It is pure, and is the Light of lights. It is that which the knowers of
the Self realize.
The intellect is the seed of the highest empirical knowledge and, therefore,
it is nearest to the consciousness of Brahman. It is characterised by Sattva-
Guna and, therefore, its colour is said to be golden. Because of this Sattva present
in it, the human being has consciousness in him, even in his individualized
condition.
But the intellect is also characterised by Rajas; and hence its
consciousness is always objective. Objectivity belongs to the Rajas in the
intellect, and the consciousness in it belongs to Brahman which is behind the
intellect. However, the intellect is the pointer to the existence of Brahman.
Meditation is practised through the aid of the function of the intellect. Meditation
is made possible because of the consciousness or Sattva that is in it, and
meditation is made necessary because of the Rajas (activity) that is in it
which dissipates energy and impedes real knowledge. The Atman is realised
through the intellect by transcending the intellect. Hence, Brahman is said to be
manifest in the intellect.
This Atman is known by those who follow the course of the natural
essential consciousness within through the withdrawal of the senses and
the mind. But, those who follow the course of the mind and the senses enter into
the world of sorrow. The mind and the senses constitute the world of darkness
which is illuminated by the light of the Atman.
20. The whole universe appears to have consciousness and light because the
universe which is truly the region of darkness reflects the consciousness
and the light of Brahman. Even the greatest light of the universe and the
greatest consciousness manifest in it are only a borrowed reflection of Brahman.
Brahman is not known by them who are busy with the universe of darkness
in which roam the mind and the senses.
II-ii-10: There the sun does not shine, nor the moon or the stars; nor do these
flashes of lightning shine there. How can this fire do so? Everything
shines according as He does so; by His light all this shines diversely.
II-ii-11: All this that is in front is but Brahman, the immortal. Brahman is at the
back, as also on the right and the left. It is extended above and below,
too. This world is nothing but Brahman, the highest.
In truth, that which appears as various names and forms is only Brahman,
which is without names and forms. All are in It but It is not in them in its
completeness, as It is not fully manifest in any name or form. True Knowledge is
therefore division-less, without reference to the knower or the known or the
relation between the two. The Upanishads conclude that Brahman alone is the
Absolute Reality.
Chapter 3, Section 1
Knower of Self
III-i-1: Two birds that are ever associated and have similar names cling to the
same tree. Of these, one eats the fruit of divergent tastes and the other
looks on without eating.
The two birds are the Jiva and Isvara, both existing in an individual
compared to a tree. They exist together as the reflection and the original. They
both manifest themselves in different ways in every individual. Both the Jiva and
Isvara have a common substratum which is Brahman and which is the reality of
both.
Isvara is the inner teacher or the innate grace. Isvara is the untouched and
unblemished and most pure aspect of beginning-less undifferentiated universal
seed consciousness which is unaffected by obscuration (klesha), karmic residues
or and the seed germs that result from ordinary actions based on the kleshas (lack
of vision, the egoist mindset, craving, antipathy, and attachment to solidity).
Jiva is the embodied soul, the immortal essence of a living organism
(human, animal, bird, fish or plant etc.) which survives physical death. At
21. the point of physical death the jiva takes a new physical body depending on
the karma and the individual desires and necessities of the particular jiva in
question.
The body is compared to a tree because it can be cut down like a tree. This
tree is also called the Kshetra or the field of manifestation and action of the
Kshetrajna or the knower of the field. The body is the field of action and
experience and it is the fruit of actions done already.
That which distinguishes the Jiva from Isvara is the mind only. In fact, the
mind itself constitutes the Jiva. It is the Jiva that is affected by Avidya (Ignorance),
Kama (Desire) and Karma (Action). Because of the conjunction of
consciousness with these limiting factors, it has to experience the results
of its actions; but Isvara, who is not limited to any adjunct, has no actions
whatsoever to perform, and so, no experience of the results of actions.
The fruits enjoyed by the Jiva are of the nature of pleasure and pain, i.e.,
they are all relative experiences born of non-discrimination. The experience
of Isvara is eternal and is of the nature of purity, knowledge and freedom.
Relative experience is the effect of the presence of Rajas, but the character
of Isvara is Sattva and, hence, there is no phenomenal experience for Him.
He is in fact the director of both the agent of actions and the results of actions.
Isvara’s activity consists in His mere existence. The value of His existence is
greater than that of the activity of the whole universe. It is His existence that
actuates the whole universe of manifestation.
III-i-2: On the same tree, the individual soul remains drowned (i.e. stuck), as it
were; and so it moans, being worried by its impotence. When it sees
thus the other, the adored Lord, and His glory, then it becomes liberated
from sorrow.
The grief of the Jiva is the result of its inability to live in conformity with
the forms of the effects of unwise actions done in the past. Such thoughtless
actions, no doubt, lead to their corresponding results and as they are not in tune
with the law of Truth, they torment the individual in the form of unpleasant
experiences. Without a relative experience the individual cannot live, and
with every relative experience produced by ignorance, fresh misery is
added to the pre-existing lot.
Because of its confinement to the forms of its desires and actions, the Jiva
feels itself to be impotent, confused and helpless. It is even made to feel that
a particular experience to which it is connected is alone real and that there is no
reality beyond it. Due to this, it is now and then connected with and separated from
the objects of its desire. It is born and it dies, passing through several kinds
of wombs in accordance with the kinds of its actions.
22. The freedom of the individual consists in the vision of the Lord Supreme
who is co-existent with it, in fact inseparable from it as its very Self. The
realisation of Isvara is the same as the raising of the individual consciousness to
the consciousness of Isvara. The Jiva ceases to exist the moment it realises
Isvara. The glory of the real essence of the individual is known only when the veil
covering it is removed. This is achieved in the realisation of God. The ultimate
realisation is in the form of the identity of the Self with the Supreme Being.
Here, the whole universe is realised to be the same as the essence of the spiritual
infinite. This realisation puts an end to all kinds of imperfections and sorrows.
III-i-3: When the knowing individual has the vision of the intelligent creator, the
Lord, the Purusha, the Brahman which is the source of all, then it shakes
off both merit and demerit, and having become taintless, attains to
supreme equality with the Lord.
Divine knowledge is free from the conception of good and bad, because
this knowledge is non-relative. It is an all-consuming wisdom in which relative
natures or conceptions can have no value. Distinctions like virtue, vice, good,
bad, high, low, etc., are made only as long as the all-comprehensive
knowledge, which underlies all these distinctions, is not realised.
The effects of merit and demerit are burnt up by the fire of knowledge,
because these effects are only conceptual and not spiritual. They exist only
as long as the mind exists. When the mind is transcended, they too are
transcended. The whole universe stands transfigured in the Absolute.
The Jiva becomes free from blemishes, attachments and sorrows, and gets unified
with the Supreme Being. Equality with the Infinite is the same as identity
with the Infinite, which is of the nature of non-duality, limitless and
unsurpassable.
III-i-4: In all beings this one supreme life manifests itself. Knowing this, the
wise one does not speak of anything else. Having his sport in the Self,
bliss in the Self, and action in the Self, he is the best among the
knowers of Brahman.
One, who realises this Supreme Being as one’s own Self, ceases from his
natural sense-functions and puts an end to all speech unconnected with
the Self. Rather, he does not speak at all. Speech is a manner of connecting one
thing with another thing. In Self-realisation, the relationship of the subject
with the object is transcended and all things become the Self Itself.
Whenever there is a perception of duality, speech has got a value, but in
non-duality all such relationships lose their value. Instead of the experiences
23. of the external relationships, the knower has the experience of Self-identity. This
experience of the Self is described in the form of finding everything that is
found externally, in one’s own Self Itself.
The statement regarding sporting in the Self or finding all bliss in the Self make it
clear that the highest form of happiness is realised without any contact with any
object or any condition. Real bliss is not the effect of either mental or
physical contact, but is the result of the absence of all contacts. In short,
bliss consists in the resolution of the very sense of objectivity into the conscious
subject.
The action of the knower consists in the knowledge of the Self. Self-delight
itself is action for him. It is a simple mass of bliss that he experiences, unhampered
by any function alien to the nature of the Self. The action of the knower is of
the nature of renunciation, meditation and wisdom.
III-i-5: The bright and pure Self within the body, that the monks with (habitual
effort and) attenuated blemishes see, is attainable verily through truth,
penance (tapa), correct knowledge, and continence – brahmacharya
(self-control), practised constantly.
Truth is adherence to fact, whether absolute or relative. It is proceeding
along the way of the unity of existence. Relatively, it takes the form of acting in
conformity with facts that are experienced through the process of individual
knowledge. Absolutely, it is living in the light of the fact that Existence is absolute
and indivisible. Truth is the way of disintegrating the individual personality
through presentation of the good and not the pleasant.
Tapas, or penance, in its true sense, consist in the withdrawal of senses
and concentration of the mind. Austerity, or penance, is only a means to the
end and not the end itself. By Tapas what is meant is not merely bodily
mortification, because bondage does not consist in the body but the mind that
animates the body. The cause of bondage is the mind alone and, therefore,
the discipline of the mind is Tapas.
Proper knowledge is equal vision, or perception of the one Atman in all.
This is a function deeper than that of speaking truth or practicing Tapas. It is a
function of the spirit which realises itself in every form of existence.
Brahmacharya (celibacy) is the method of the abstraction of sense-energy
from the externals and the conservation of the same for the sake of
steadying the mind and giving it the energy necessary for the practice of
concentration and meditation, though the popular meaning of Brahmacharya is
continence (restraint of the desires and passions, chastity). It really means
leading a life befitting the nature of Brahman; or moving or conducting oneself
in accordance with the law of Brahman, which is the unity of existence.
24. Such control is not merely the abandonment of objects but is the absence
of the taste for objects. Bondage is not caused by the existence of objects but by
the connection of the mind with those objects. In short, self-control is absence
of sense-experience, giving rise to mental equilibrium, light, consciousness
and joy.
These observances should be practised continuously without exceptions
until the realisation of the Self, because the stoppage of such practices may lead to
the assertion of individuality and impede the process of Self-realisation. The
Upanishad has said that “the Atman is attained by those in whom there is
no crookedness, no falsehood and no play of tricks”.
This Atman is realised within oneself and not outside oneself. This Atman is
realised in one’s own heart, in the form of splendid effulgence, perfectly pure and
limitless in its nature, only by those who are free from attachments and sins,
desires and all kinds of greed.
III-i-6: Truth alone wins, and not untruth. By truth is laid the path called
Devayana, by which the desire-less seers ascend to where exist the
supreme treasure attainable through truth.
The sages got a vision of this Truth because they were absolutely free from
such defects as deceit, delusion, fraud, pride, vanity and falsehood. They
found the consummation of their desires and aspirations in this Absolute Truth.
They became first desire-less and then sought the Truth. Desire breeds
falsehood, and desire-lessness gives rise to Truth. Truth enables one to attain the
Supreme Treasure which is the Absolute Truth.
III-i-7: It is great and self-effulgent; and Its form is unthinkable. It is subtler
than the subtle. It shines diversely. It is farther away than the far-off,
and It is near at hand in this body. Among sentient beings It is
(perceived as) seated in this very body, in the cavity of the heart.
III-i-8: It is not comprehended through the eye, or through speech, or through
the other senses; nor is It attained through austerity or karma. He, who
meditates upon it with absolute purity (Sattva) of mind, as the part-less
Being, beholds it through the serenity attained in knowledge.
The serenity of knowledge is that state where nothing is experienced other
than simple awareness.
In ordinary human beings, this knowledge is not manifest, since he is not
connected with the tranquility of mind and also since he is polluted by the defects
of love and hatred for external things.
25. As a mirror covered over by dust is not able to reflect an object,
knowledge, though it is present within, is not experienced, as the mind is
disturbed by objectivity. When the dirt of the mind consisting of infatuation with
the sense-objects is removed and the mind is rendered calm, pure and peaceful,
then one is said to have attained the serenity of knowledge in which condition alone
one becomes fit for the experience of Brahman.
III-i-9: This subtle Atman should be known with the purified mind into which
the Prana with its fivefold aspect has entered. The mind is pervaded
completely by the functions of the Pranas together with the powers of
the senses. In this purified mind this Atman is revealed.
III-i-10: The man of pure mind wins those worlds which he mentally wishes for
and those enjoyable things which he covets. Therefore one, desirous of
prosperity, should adore the knower of the Self.
Because of the omniscience and omnipotence of the knower of Self,
whoever worships him becomes prosperous. The resolve (sankalpa) of the
Knower is rooted in Satya or Truth, and his influence upon those who adore and
worship him, is great. Wherever this Knower of the Self moves, there he
exercises his influence automatically. Whoever comes in contact with him
gets completely transformed.
Chapter 3, Section 2
Reasserting the Importance of a Living and Fully Realized Teacher
III-ii-1: Him who knows this Supreme Abode of Brahman in which the whole
universe is situated and which is brilliantly shining, those heroes who
adore and worship, without any desire in their minds, transcend this
seed of birth.
III-ii-2: He who contemplates on objects of desire, having a desire for them, is
born here and there due to those desires; but for him whose desires are
all fulfilled, whose Self is perfectly contented due to the sense of
perfection, all desires dissolve themselves here itself.
An individual is born in that condition of mental experience in which it will
be possible for him to fulfill the desires cherished previously. Desires goad
an individual towards virtue and vice, and the performance of actions which lead to
birth and death. Birth and death cannot be negated until all desires are
fulfilled or destroyed. In fact, there is no such thing as complete fulfillment of
phenomenal desires as long as one exists as a phenomenal being having desires for
objects of phenomena.
26. Desires are never fulfilled through acquisition of objects, but they find
their fulfillment, which is the same as their destruction, in the source of
Consciousness itself, in the knowledge of which they vanish altogether.
All the different individuals have their cloaks made up of their own varying
desires through which alone they have objective experience which is called
birth, life and death. Such experiences cease when these cloaks are cast off and
the Absolute Self is realised under the guidance of a teacher who has realised that
Brahman within.
III-ii-3: This Self (Atman) is not to be attained through discourses, through
intellect, or through much of hearing. That which one seeks, by that
alone it is attained. To such a one this Self reveals its true nature.
The Self cannot be realised through an external process of speaking, thinking or
hearing. Whom one wishes to attain, i.e., the Self or the Atman, by him alone is It
attained. The realisation of the Self is actually attained not by the mind, but
by consciousness which belongs to the Self and which in fact is the Self
Itself. Our consciousness is diffused, scattered in the Objective World. It has to be
withdrawn from there and concentrated within as advised by the realized teacher.
III-ii-4: This Self (Atman) cannot be attained by one who is devoid of strength,
not through heedlessness, not even through penance which is devoid of
its proper insignia. That wise one who strives hard with these methods,
his self enters into the state of Brahman (or the Absolute).
Strength here stands for mental and moral power, or inner toughness, without
which concentration is impossible. One should not expect to know the Self through
such heedless practices as attachments to worldly objects and relations, nor
through works done for the sake of personal gain. Even austerity practised
improperly as a sort of mortification without its insignia, viz., inner renunciation,
will not help in the realisation of the Self.
But a wise one who strives hard with strength, carefulness and knowledge
connected with inner renunciation, one who aspires to attain the Supreme
Being becomes a Knower of the Self, and his Self enters into the essence of the
Absolute.
III-ii-5: Having attained this, the seers become contented with their knowledge,
established in the Self, freed from attachment, and composed. Having
realized the all-pervasive One everywhere, these discriminating people,
ever merged in contemplation, enter into the All.
27. III-ii-6: Those, to whom the entity presented by the Vedanta knowledge has
become fully ascertained, who are assiduous and have become pure in
mind through the Yoga of monasticism – all of them, at the supreme
moment of final departure, become identified with the supreme
Immortality in the worlds that are Brahman, and they become freed on
every side.
III-ii-7: To their sources repair the fifteen constituents (of the body) and to their
respective gods go all the gods (of the senses). Actions, the self
consisting of intelligence—all these become unified in the Supreme
Imperishable.
III-ii-8: As rivers flowing into the ocean lose themselves in the ocean, casting off
name and form, so the knower, freed from name and form, attains the
Divine Purusha who is higher than the high.
III-ii-9: Anyone who knows that Supreme Brahman becomes Brahman indeed.
In his line is not born anyone who does not know Brahman. He
overcomes grief, and rises above aberrations; and becoming freed from
the knots of the heart, he attains immortality.
III-ii-10: Those who have performed their duties well, who are learned in
scriptures, who intensely aspire for Brahman, who faithfully worship the
sacred fire called Ekarshi, who have undergone the vow of the head, to
them alone this Brahma-Vidya should be told.
To them alone should one expound this knowledge of Brahman who are
engaged in the practice of purificatory disciplines, versed in the Vedas, and
devoted to Brahman, who personally sacrifice to the fire called Ekarshi with faith,
and by whom has been duly accomplished the vow of holding fire on the head.
In the Atharva Veda there is a form of sacred fire called “Ekarshi,” but in
this verse the reference is to “the sole fire”–the “fire” that is Brahman. And
the vow of holding or carrying the holy fire in the head means one who has
established the Divine Fire of Brahman-realization within himself, who ever
carries Brahman in his “head”–his consciousness.
III-ii-11: This highest truth was declared in ancient days by the Rishi Angiras.
This Vidya should not be studied by one who has not followed the
prescribed rules. Prostration to the great Rishis! Prostration to the great
Rishis!
Om Peace, Peace, Peace.