The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

by Swami Krishnananda

Chapter IV

Third Brahmana: The Self in Dream and Deep Sleep

So, we see that there is a constant movement of the mind from one state to another, within the trammels of time, due to the actions of certain qualities of the mind itself. The structure of the mind is dependent upon the stuff of which it is made. As is usually said, the mind is something like a fabric which is constituted of the threads of impressions of previous experiences. Just as a cloth is woven out of threads—warp and woof, lengthwise and breadthwise—there being no cloth independent of the thread—so is the mind not independent of the impulses out of which it is made. Just as you may have various coloured threads in a cloth—they may be red, may be blue, or may be any other colour which woven together give a chequered colour to the entire fabric and create various patterns or colours visible on the cloth, even so, the mind actually is made up of various kinds of impressions. It is not made up of one, similar, uniform type of impression. If that were the case, it will be having only one kind of experience throughout the day and throughout life. On the contrary, we pass through various vicissitudes, ups and downs. Pleasures and sorrows come and go at different periods of time on account of various types of impulses acting and reacting among themselves within the mind, just like the rumbling, rolling and splashing of waves in the ocean which is made up of these very waves.

The waking, dream and sleep conditions are of the mind only. It is the consciousness aspect of the mind which is very important. The impulses and the various impressions of previous experiences are animated by a consciousness that makes us a type of complex substance. We are a kind of many-chequered fabric, a complex, a structure which is formed out of many and varied elements in our mental make up, yet capable of uniting these various types of elements into a single whole, on account of the animation of these parts by a uniform consciousness. So, in spite of there being various impressions in the mind, one impression even contradicting others sometimes, yet all of these can be accommodated within a single mind of a single person, due to the presence of a single consciousness. This consciousness which is hidden behind the mind gets identified with the mind, resulting in a kind of mixture of the psychic aspect and the conscious aspect in every individual. This peculiar blend of consciousness with the psychological function is in fact the human individual. This is what they call in Sanskrit as the 'Jīva'. So, it is the Jīva that goes from one condition to another for the purpose of experience, through which it exhausts its various mental impulses or Vāsanās. The Upaniṣhad continues.

16. sa vā eṣa etasmin svapne ratvā caritvā dṛṣṭvaiva puṇyaṁ ca pāpaṁ ca, punaḥ, pratinyāyam pratiyony ādravati buddhāntāyaiva sa yat tatra kiṁ cit paśyati, ananvāgatas tena bhavati: asaṅgo hy ayam, puruṣa iti. evam evaitat, yājñavalkya. so'ham bhagavate sahasraṁ dadāmi, ata ūrdhvam vimokṣāyaiva brūhīti.

When the dream is over, there is waking up because of a stronger impulse coming to the surface of the mind. The stronger impulses wake up the individual into physical activity, and such physical activity which is carried on in the waking life for a protracted period exhausts the person. The fatigue drives the mind back to the dream condition, and then to sleep. The experience of these three states, waking, dream and sleep, one not identical with the other, each differing from the other in every respect, would be impossible unless there be a uniform feeling of identity of personality, which passes through all these states. This is proof enough of the independence of consciousness from the psychophysical personality. Consciousness is neither the mind nor the body. It is something independent. It is on account of the independence of this consciousness that there can be a memory of the three states by a single person, despite the fact that there is a difference in the constitution of the three states, and a difference in the impulses of the mind which pass through these three states.

17. sa vā eṣa etasmin buddhānte ratvā caritvā dṛṣṭvaiva puṇyaṁ ca pāpaṁ ca, punaḥ pratinyāyam pratiyony ādravati svapnāntāyaiva.
18. tad yathā mahāmatsya ubhe kūle anusaṁcarati, pūrvaṁ cāparaṁ ca, evam evāyam puruṣa etāv ubhāv antāv anusaṁcarati, svapnāntaṁ ca buddhāntaṁ ca.

Now the Upaniṣhad gives an example. Like a huge fish in a river moving alternately towards either bank, now touching one bank and now touching the other, even so, this individual experiencer drives himself in different directions, sometimes to the dream side, sometimes to the waking side, for the purpose of the exhaustion of the impulses in the mind which are the causes of these different experiences.

19. tad yathāsminn ākāśe śyena vā suparṇo vā viparipatya śrāntaḥ  saṁhatya pakṣau saṁlayāyaiva dhriyate, evam evāyaṁ puruṣa etasmā antāya dhāvati yatra na kaṁ cana kāmaṁ kāmayate, na kaṁ cana svapnaṁ paśyati.
20. tā vā asyaitā hitā nāma nāḍyaḥ, yathā keśaḥ sahasradhā bhinnaḥ, tāvatāṇimnā tiṣṭhanti, śuklasya, nīlasya, piṅgalasya, haritasya, lohitasya pūrṇāḥ; atha yatrainaṁ ghnatīva, jinantīva, hastīva vicchāyayati, gartam iva patati, yad eva jāgrad bhayaṁ paśyati, tad atrāvidyayā manyate, atha yatra deva iva rājeva; aham evedam, sarvo'smīti manyate; so'sya paramo lokaḥ.

Now, as was described earlier, there are various nerve currents within the subtle body and the physical body. These are called Hitā Nādis and they are very fine in structure, finer than even the thousandth part of a hair. Through these very fine, subtle nerve currents pass the serum of the essence of the human individual, which is of various colours. The Upaniṣhad says it can be of various hues like white, red, blue, yellow, brown, green, etc. according to the intensity of the humours of the body and the strength of the impulses of the mind. Due to their action or the effects of these serums that pass through the nerve currents and the connection of the mind with these serums, there are differences in dream experiences. Hence, one may be suddenly elated or suddenly depressed in dream.

Dreams are occasioned by many causes, by various types of impulses, which are the motive powers behind dream experience. It is not possible to trace back all dreams to a single type of cause. Though it is generally said that a memory of waking life is the cause for the experience in dream, it is only a general statement. It does not mean every kind of dream is caused by memories. Dreams are also caused by other reasons, other factors than what can be merely comprehended by the term 'previous experience'. Someone may be thinking of you very strongly in some distant place. You can have a vision of that person in dream. This is something very strange. If I very strongly think of you, for some reason or the other, you may experience it in your dream, and if the thoughts are intense enough, you may have the same thoughts that I have in my mind at that time. This is because of the intensity of the thought concerned. If the thought of the other person is extremely intense, you may feel that thought even in the waking state, not merely in dream. If the thoughts are powerful enough, even in your waking life you can feel the thoughts of somebody else. These thoughts are communicated to you because of the strength of the thoughts. Generally, such influences are felt more in dream than in waking, because in waking life we have an egoism which is active and which prevents the entry of other thoughts. Your personality is so strong in the waking state, your consciousness of your own self is so intense and your own thoughts influence you to such an extent, that others' thoughts cannot noticeably enter your mind in the waking life, usually. But their entry is easier in dream when the ego is not so active, and their effect is much more in sleep because of the complete withdrawal of the ego in the sleeping condition. Sometimes, other invisible forces may work in your dream if your thoughts during waking in relation to these forces were intense enough. A person who has done protracted Japa of a Mantra, for instance, has done deep meditation for days and days together, offered worship, prayers, etc., may dream of the deity who was worshipped, the deity who is representative of the Mantra. Even the Grace of God can be felt in dream through various visions, perceptions of deities, etc. So also the Guru's grace can work in dream, and it can become the cause of certain visions, instructions, etc. to the disciple. And it is said that one's strong Prārabdha Karmas which would cause great pain if worked out normally in waking life can be mellowed down and worked out in one's dream by the Grace of God and the blessings of the Guru, so that only minor suffering is caused. The suffering through which one may have to pass in waking due to one's Prarabdha may likely be experienced in a much milder form in the dream condition, and thus be wiped out because of the strength of our Sadhana, the blessings of the Guru, or the Grace of God. So, there can be various causes behind dreams. Whatever be the causes, the pattern of experience is the same in all dreams. They are brought about by a joint action of the nerve currents, or Nādis carrying Prāṇa, and the impulses of the mind which pass through them, on account of which there are pleasurable or painful experiences in dream, experiences of exaltation, joy and sometimes of depression, sorrow, pain, etc.

Yatrainaṁ ghnatīva, jinantīva, hastīva vicchāyayati, gartam iva patati, yad eva jāgrad bhayaṁ paśyati, tad atrāvidyayā manyate: There are dreams caused by wrong actions and dreams caused by righteous actions. Sorrowful experiences are supposed to be the results of erroneous actions performed in waking life, in this birth or previous births. Dreams of falling from a tree, being pursued by animals, falling into a pit, breaking one's leg, etc. are some examples of such dreams resulting from erroneous actions. Such experiences in dream are the process of exhaustion of Karma which is of an unfavourable nature. There can be other dreams where the causes may be of a diviner or a more purified character. One can feel oneself raised to paradise or the region of the celestials; one can have visions of gods in heaven or similar experiences of an exalting type. If a person is highly evolved in the spiritual field, he may even have the very same experience in dream which one has in the condition of meditation. What do you feel in meditation? Your identity with the Supreme Being. That is the essence of meditation. Your all-pervasive character and your attunement with the Absolute, this is what you affirm in your meditation. If the meditation is strong, the very same feeling of unity with the Absolute may be felt even in dream. You will feel that you are one with all things, that you are commensurate with every being, that everything is included in your own self, and you are in harmony with the whole of creation. Even in dream, such experiences can be had—atha yatra deva iva rājeva; aham evedam, sarvo'smīti manyate; so'sya paramo lokaḥ. So, when the waking mind becomes intensively charged with a thought, it carries with it the same impression in dream, and that impression can be of any type. It may be a spiritual one or an unspiritual one.

21. tad vā asyaitad aticchando'pahatapāpmābhyaṁ rūpam. tad yathā priyayā striyā sampariṣvakto na bāhyaṁ kiṁ cana veda nāntaram, evam evāyam puruṣaḥ prājñenātmanā sampariṣvakto na bāhyaṁ kiṁ cana veda nāntaram. tad vā asyaitad āpta-kāmam, ātma-kāmam, a-kāmaṁ rūpaṁ śokāntaram.

The Upaniṣhad takes us now to the state of sleep. What happens there? In the Upaniṣhads, there is often a description of sleep, comparable with the state of liberation, or Mokṣha. Especially here, the sections that we are now going to study in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣhad contain descriptions that are applicable to both the state of sleep and to the state of liberation. There is some similarity between the state of ultimate freedom, or Moksha, and the state of sleep, though obviously there is a lot of difference between the two. The similarity is that all impulse for objectivity is obliterated completely in both conditions. There is a withdrawal of the mind and consciousness into their source, so that there is a feeling of homogeneity in one's experience. The heterogeneity that one feels in waking life is wiped out due to the uniformity of feeling and experience in sleep. One does not know what one is in sleep. It is something very peculiar, incomparable indeed. It is an experience which is totally impersonal. It is impersonal in the sense that you do not know that you are a person. Your experience is independent of your personality. It is no doubt an 'experience', because you pass through it. Afterwards you have a memory of it. You experience a great joy there. It is your experience; yet, not yours in the sense of a person, because in the state of sleep you are not a person, not even a human individual. It is doubtful if the sleep of a human being is different in quality from the sleep of an animal or an ant. It is said that the sleep condition is uniform in all created beings. Everyone has the same experience. One does not know whether one is a man or a woman, tall or short, black or white, learned or otherwise during sleep. Even pains are forgotten. Even the worst of sorrows become absent in sleep, and even the greatest of joys are forgotten, and there is only a uniform state of unconscious bliss. Whether you are highly placed or lowly placed, it becomes immaterial in sleep. There is a levelling of all personality into a single homogeneity of character. In this sense the sleep state is similar to the state of absolute liberation. There too, something like this happens. The personality is withdrawn and merges in the Absolute, as rivers go into the ocean, where their personality gets merged into the oceanic expanse. The individualities of the rivers cease due to their getting absorbed into the bosom of the ocean. So do personalities become one due to the homogeneity into which they enter in the Absolute, and all desires cease on account of an utter fulfilment thereof.

But, there is a significant difference between what happens in the Absolute to the state of desires, and what happens to them in sleep. Notwithstanding the fact that desires are absent in sleep as well as in the Absolute, they are absent in two different senses. The unconsciousness of the presence of desires is the condition of sleep. The consciousness of the absence of desires is the condition of the Absolute. This is the great difference. The presence of a thing is not known, and therefore you are not feeling the pain of its adverse juxtaposition with you. That is one thing, but if it is not there at all on account of something that has happened, that is a different matter altogether. However, there is freedom from desires for the time being, says the Upaniṣhad. Aticchanda is the state of freedom from all desires, and there is no consciousness of virtue or sin. It is a destruction of all these characters. Apahatapāpmābhayaṁ rūpam: Even the worst of fears are withdrawn there, and one knows not what is inside, what is outside, due to the immensity of pleasure.

What the Upaniṣhad tries to make out is that we are really in contact with the Absolute in sleep, but that contact is something like the contact of a blindfolded person with a rich treasure of a high position in society. He cannot understand what has happened to him, but he is in contact with it. If you are blindfolded and placed on the throne of an emperor, you will not be aware as to what has happened to you, because you have not been allowed to perceive what has happened. Likewise is this placement of the individual in the Absolute in sleep where the occurrence does not materially affect the condition of the Jīva, or the individual, due to the absence of consciousness. The being has not merged in Absolute Consciousness. They have been kept separate on account of the presence of a thick veil of ignorance which is the form taken by the unfulfilled impulses, desires, etc. It is true, as the Upaniṣhad will point out, that sleep is identical with the freedom of liberation but for presence of desires lying latent in sleep. Like the uniform covering of the sky by clouds which spread themselves in a thick layer preventing the light of the sun from penetrating through them, even so, desires become a homogeneous stuff, as it were, in sleep and cover the entire firmament of consciousness, so that the blaze of the sun of consciousness is not allowed to penetrate this thick layer in the form of the homogeneity of desires still present. In short, unfulfilled desires are the cause of our not knowing what is happening to us in sleep, even as they are the cause for our waking up after sleep.

If you can be conscious in the state of sleep, that would be liberation from bondage. But that consciousness is not possible because of the presence of certain impulses for satisfaction, desires as you call them, which spread themselves as a thick layer separating the Jīva from consciousness. And so, though you are virtually on the borderland of eternity and have temporarily transcended empirical experience in sleep, you are not conscious of it. So you come back merely with the impact of that contact, that impact being felt in the form of an intense satisfaction of delight, a happiness, a revival of spirit, a resurgence of energy and a feeling of fulfilment. The satisfaction, the joy, the fulfilment, the revived spirit that we feel after sleep is due to the contact with the Supreme Being there in sleep. But when you wake up, you are again the same individual as before, with all your desires, because you were not actually aware of the event that took place in sleep, irrespective of the pleasure, irrespective of the strength and energy that you gained.

But liberation is different. In this condition there is a fulfilment of all desires and a full awareness. There is a shift of emphasis here in the Upaniṣhad, from sleep to the state of ultimate liberation. The Upaniṣhad wants also to tell us what happens in the state of liberation, together with its explanation of the state of deep sleep, so that we are given two informations at the same time. In the state of liberation, all desires are fulfilled. You have no desires left afterwards because of the fact that there is only one desire there—the desire for the Self. It is actually not desire for the Self even, because there is no such thing as 'for' or 'of' there in the state of liberation, due to the universality of that experience. It is A-kāmaṁ. It is not merely Ātmā-kāmaṁ, but actually A-kāmaṁ. The desire for the Self is identical with absence of all desires. That Self which we are speaking of in the state of liberation is not an individual self, and so the desire we speak of is not desire of an individual self, but desire of the Universal Self. 'Desire' of the Universal Self is a self-contradictory term. It cannot be there; therefore it is A-kāmaṁ. It is freedom from all desires, and Śokāntaram—freedom from all sorrow.

22. atra pitā'pitā bhavati, mātā'mātā, lokāḥ alokāḥ, devā adevāḥ, vedā avedāḥ; atra steno'steno bhavati bhrūṇahābhrūṇahā, cāṇḍālo'cāṇḍālaḥ paulkaso' paulkasaḥ, śramaṇo'śramaṇaḥ, tāpaso'tāpasāḥ, ananvāgataṁ puṇyena, ananvāgatataṁ ananvāgataṁ pāpena, tīrṇo hi tadā sarvān śokān hṛdayasya bhavati.

In this state, all social relationships also get engulfed. All feelings which are associated with the human personality are transcended once and for all. All the values that you regard as worthwhile in life are superseded at one stroke. You have feelings for father, mother, brother, sister, high, low, etc. in waking life in this individual state, but when you reach the Absolute you have no such relationships. All relationships are completely overcome in the unity of that Being. There is neither father nor mother. Atra pitā'pitā bhavati, mātā'mātā, lokāḥ alokāḥ: The father becomes no father; the mother becomes no mother; and the worlds cease to be worlds. Though these worlds, these universes are present there, no doubt, they are no more called worlds; they become the very substance of that experience of liberation. Lokāḥ alokāḥ, devā adevāḥ, vedā avedāḥ; atra steno'steno bhavati bhrūṇahābhrūṇahā, cāṇḍālo'cāṇḍālaḥ paulkaso' paulkasaḥ, śramaṇo'śramaṇaḥ: All these are terms representing different strata of beings, all of whom shed their differences in the state of liberation. Neither do you have the awareness of differences outside you in that condition, nor is there a difference of an internal nature. It is free from internal differences and outward distinctions. It is absolutely non-attached to any principle of externality such as space, time, etc. The knots of the heart are liberated here only, and the knots of the heart are nothing but the knots of desire. They are called the Granthis – Brahma-Granthi, Vishnu-Granthi, Rudra-Granthi, etc. These are the knots of desire – Avidyā, Kāma, Karma-desire propelled by ignorance and moving in the direction of action. Avidyā, Kāma, Karma is a complex which is called the Hṛdaye-Granthi, or the knots of the heart, which are broken open at once by the realisation of the Self.

In one place it was said, in the context of the conversation between Yājñavalkya and Maitreyī, that when there is a transcendence of personality there is no 'consciousness' whatsoever. This confounded the mind of Maitreyī and she immediately queried as to how it was possible for consciousness to be absent in the state of liberation. Not so, it is not that there is no consciousness. Consciousness is there, but it is not a consciousness of anything particular; it is a general consciousness. Here you have a very beautiful passage, very poetic also in its nature, which tells us that while apparently it is a non-knowing of all particulars, it is a knowing of all things.

23. yad vai tan na paśyati, paśyan vai tan na paśyati; na hi draṣṭur dṛṣṭer viparilopo vidyate, avināśitvāt; na tu tad dvitīyam asti, tato'nyad vibhaktam yat paśyet.
24. yad vai tan na jighrati, jighran vai tan na jighrati: na hi ghrātur ghrāter viparilopo vidyate, avināśitvāt; na tu tad dvitīyam asti, tato'nyad vibhaktam yaj jighret.
    
25. yad vai tan na rasayati, rasayan vai tan na rasayati na hi rasayitū rasayater viparilopo vidyate, avināśitvāt; na tu tad dvitīyam asti, tato'nyad vibhaktam yad rasayet.
26. yad vai tan na vadati, vadan vai tan na vadati, na hi vaktur vakter viparilopo vidyate, avināśitvāt; na tu tad dvitīyam asti, tato'nyad vibhaktam yad vadet.
27. yad vai tan na śṛṇoti, śṛṇvan vai tan na śṛṇoti; na hi śrotuḥ śruter viparilopo vidyate, avināśitvāt; na tu tad dvitīyam asti, tato'nyad vibhaktam yat śṛṇuyāt.
28. yad vai tan na manute, manvāno vai tan na manute, na hi mantur mater viparilopo vidyate, avināśitvāt; na tu tad dvitīyam asti, tato'nyad vibhaktam yan manvīta.
29. yad vai tan na spṛśati, spṛśan vai tan na spṛśati, na hi spraṣṭuḥ spṛṣṭer viparilopo vidyate, avināśitvāt, na tu tad dvitīyam asti, tato'nyad vibhaktam yat spṛśet.
30. yad vai tan na vijānāti, vijānan vai tan na vijānāti, na hi vijñātur vijñāter viparilopo vidyate, avināśitvāt; na tu tad dvitīyam asti, tato'nyad vibhaktam yad vijānīyāt.

These passages are very beautiful. Yājñavalkya says: "While one does not see anything there, one sees everything there"—yad vai tan na paśyati, paśyan vai tan na paśyati. Seeing, one sees not. It is enigmatic no doubt, very difficult to understand how it is that seeing, one sees not. One sees all and yet sees not anything as a particularised entity. It is a single comprehension and not a perception in succession. It is not looking at things, seeing objects one after another in a linear series. It is a total, instantaneous awareness of all things. You cannot say that anything is being seen there, because anything that is to be seen has become a part of the Seer himself. Inasmuch as the Seer has absorbed into his being all that is to be seen, you may say that one sees nothing except one's own Self. Because there is no such thing as 'seeing' one's own Self, you may say that there is no seeing at all. Yet, one sees all because the Self cannot be oblivious of its own existence. It is non-seeing of anything because of the fact that everything is one with the Self that sees. It is non-seeing because there is no such thing as the Self seeing Self, because the Self is not an object of Itself. Yet it is not non-seeing because the Self is conscious of Itself, Its very nature being Consciousness. So it is a highly transcendent exposition of a supernormal experience which is eternity and infinity come together in a fraternal embrace of timelessness and spacelessness.

Na hi draṣṭur dṛṣṭer viparilopo vidyate: How can you have any desire to perceive anything there, inasmuch as what you want to perceive has become you? How can there be a necessity for the mind to move towards an object, inasmuch as it, the object, has already moved towards the very source of the mind? The mountain has come to Mohammad, as they say; Mohammad did not have to go to the mountain. The object has come to the Self. Why should the Self go to the object? And, inasmuch as there has never been any real difference between the Self and its object, the two have come together as two lost brothers uniting themselves, as it were, in an intense feeling of joy. Much more than that, indeed, is the union of being. In that condition there is an eternal awareness of unity, and so there is no question of a transitory movement of the mind from the individual self's location to the location of an object outside for the purpose of a sensory contact. Such a thing does not exist there, and so there is no sensory perception. It is Universal Awareness.

The perceptional process through the senses is not permanent because it is a transition and a movement, something like a chain made up of different links, a momentary activity of the mind with discrete jumps like the movement of a reel of film in a cinema, one picture being different from the other, looking like a series, yet one different from the other. So there is a temporary appearance of a continuity of perception of our awareness of objects outside, yet it is not a continuity, really. It is made up of little bits of movements of the mind, looking like a continuity on account of the animation of consciousness from inside. The continuity of the picture in a cinema is due to the presence of a screen behind it. If the screen were not to be there, you would not be able to see the picture. The screen behind, here, in this perceptional activity, is the consciousness which is universal. But if that consciousness is withdrawn, there would be a sudden dropping down of all these transitory processes of mental activity. Avināśitvāt: Here there is eternal knowledge and not merely a temporary activity of the mind in the form of perception of objects.

Na tu tad dvitīyam asti, tato'nyad vibhaktam yat paśyet: Why should there be a movement of the mind towards an object? Where is the need for it when the object has entered the heart of the seer and become the being of the seer? The being of the object has become the being of the Self which sees and which has to see. Inasmuch as there is a total transcendence of duality, a complete abolition of the distinction between one and the other, the desire to perceive ceases. And so, there is a 'non-seeing' of anything, and yet a seeing eternally of everything.

So is the case with every other sensation, a description of which is given in the succeeding passages of the Upaniṣhad, viz., smelling, tasting, speaking, hearing, touching, thinking, understanding. Inasmuch as there is such an eternity of experience coming to consciousness in the state of freedom, there is no perception of 'outside' objects. Likewise, there is no smelling, there is no tasting, no speaking, no hearing, no thinking, no touching and no understanding of anything outside, because the content of understanding has become one with the process of understanding, and the process of understanding has become one with the source of understanding. There is a reversal, Pratipathva, of the whole activity of knowledge. Instead of the self projecting itself through a moving process towards an object of knowledge, the object traces back its steps to the Self itself, so that the object has become the Self, in which condition you do not know whether it is the object that knows or the subject that knows. Such is the glory of ultimate freedom, the supreme liberation of the spirit.

31. yatra vānyad iva syāt, tatrānyo'nyat paśyet, anyo'nyaj jighret, anyo'nyad rasayet, anyo'nyad vadet, anyo'nyat śṛṇuyāt, anyo'nyan manvīta, anyo'nyat spṛśet, anyo'nyad vijānīyāt.

Yājñavalkya speaks to King Janaka: "My dear friend; if there is something outside you, you can see that; if there is something outside you, you can taste that; if there is something outside you, you can hear, that; if there is something outside you, you can speak to that."

32. salila eko draṣṭādvaito bhavati, eṣa brahma-lokaḥ, samrāḍ iti. hainam anuśaśāsa yājñavalkyaḥ; eṣāsya paramā gatiḥ, eṣāsya paramā sampat, eṣo'sya paramo lokaḥ, eṣo'sya parama ānandaḥ; estasyaivānandasyānyāni bhūtāni mātrām upajīvanti.

But where there is only an ocean of experience in which all the bubbles of objects have immersed themselves in their unity with the body of the ocean—salila eko draṣṭā, where it is like a vast expanse of consciousness merely, single in its nature, Seer alone without a duality, where only the Experiencer exists without an object that is experienced, there what would one speak about and to what one would speak and what is there to be seen, what is there to be touched, what is there to be sensed? Yājñavalkya thus teaches King Janaka: "Please listen to me. You have reached the state of the Absolute." If your mind can be fixed in this Awareness, you are liberated today at this very moment. If you can station your consciousness in this feeling of unity with things, if you can fix yourself in this identity and free yourself from the trammels of desire for external objects, you are in Brahma-loka just now. Brahma-loka is not the distant world of Brahma. It is the world which itself is Brahman, the Absolute—eṣa brahma-lokaḥ. The two, the world and Brahman, become one. The universe itself is the Absolute, and vice versa. Salila eko draṣṭādvaito bhavati, eṣa brahma—lokaḥ, samrāḍ iti. hainam anuśaśāsa yājñavalkyaḥ: "Your Highness, this is the ultimate teaching for you. What else do you want to learn? Eṣāsya paramā gatiḥ: This is the goal of everyone. Eṣāsya paramā sampat: This is the highest blessing to everyone. Eṣo'sya paramo lokaḥ: This is the highest abode which anyone would like to reach. Eṣo'sya parama ānandaḥ: This is the highest bliss that you can expect anywhere. Estasyaivānandasyānyāni bhūtāni mātrām upajīvanti: All the joys of the entire cosmos put together would be only a small drop of the bliss of this Supreme Being." Whatever little satisfaction we have, whatever pleasures we have, whatever joys we are experiencing, whatever be the happiness of life—all this is but a little reflection, a fractional, distorted form, a drop, as it were, from this ocean of the Absolute.

Continued