The mode of the introduction of the mind of the student from Paroksha-Jnana to Aparoksha-Jnana is indicated in the sixth chapter of the Chhandogya Upanishad, while Uddalaka Aruni instructs the student Svetaketu. While the indirect knowledge of Brahman is declared in such statements of the Upanishad as ‘Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam Brahma,’ - Truth-Knowledge-Infinity is Brahman, the direct knowledge of it is the theme of the sixth chapter of the Chhandogya Upanishad, which expatiates upon the great sentence, ‘Tat-Tvam-Asi’ - ‘That Thou Art’. The demonstrative pronouns, ‘That’ and ‘‘Thou’, refer to a remote object and an immediate object respectively, as is well known. In this sentence, ‘That’ indicates Isvara, or God, and the word ‘Thou’ indicates Jiva, or the individual. The separative connotation of these two indicative words may appear to prevent the identification of Isvara and Jiva, since, at least from the point of view of the Jiva, Isvara is a remote object who existed even before creation, and the Jiva is a subsequent manifestation posterior to creation. But the inseparability of the cause and its effect requires the recognition of an identical substance present both in God, the Creator, and the individual, the created embodiment. The usual illustration offered to explain this basic identity of this Supreme Cause with the individual effect is the way in which we recognize the identity of a person here and now with the very same person seen somewhere else at a different time. In the identification of the single person in this manner, the associations of the person with a different place and a different time from the place and the time in which he is recognised now, are ignored, and only the person concerned is taken into consideration, for instance, when we say ‘This is that Devadatta’, indicating thereby that this Devadatta who is in this place at this moment is the same Devadatta who was seen at some other time earlier in some other place. In a similar manner, the identity of the basic Substance in God and the individual is established by a separation of this Substance from the limiting adjuncts of remoteness and immediacy associated with God and the individual - Isvara and the Jiva.

It is the appearance of space and time in the creational process that causes this apparent distinction between the cosmic and the individual, projecting the appearance of externality in the world and an immediacy of selfhood in the individual perceiver thereof. We say that God is Omniscient, Sarvajna, and the individual is of little knowledge, Alpajna; God is Omnipresent, Sarvantaryami, and the individual is localised, Aikadesika; God is Omnipotent, Sarvasaktiman, and the individual is impotent, Alpasaktiman. These well-known distinctions which appear to be absolutely real, are in fact apparitions caused by the projective activity of the interfering principles of space, time and causality. In this sense, we may say that what we call the world and world-experience is only a space-time complex outwardly cognised by the finite consciousness of the individual.

The process of the negation of the space-time attributes and the taking in of the main Substance involved, in the illustration cited, is a local procedure known as Bhagatyaga-Lakshana, or Jahad-Ajahad-Lakshana, in the language of the Vedanta philosophy, meaning thereby, ‘Defining by division and separation’ and ‘Defining by rejecting and taking in’, as detailed. The relationship between the individual and the Absolute, thus, is neither one of contact of two things or of an attribute qualifying a substantive, but one of homogeneous identity. What appears to be the individual is in fact a configuration of Brahman-Consciousness itself deflected through the ramifying media of space and time. When such knowledge arises in the individual, it at once ceases to be the individual that it appeared to be and enters into its essential nature, which is universality of being. Here, the indirect knowledge that Brahman exists, becomes a direct experience as ‘I am the Absolute’, even as the space within a jar may realise that it is the same as the all-pervading space. The immediacy of Jiva-consciousness and the remoteness of the concept of Isvara, vanish at once in such a realisation, and experience becomes a total indivisible whole. What direct experience actually means is to be known by us by the substantiveness of such an experience we have every day in the form of ‘I am’ or ‘I exist’.

In the perception of an object, the mind modifies itself into the form of that object, but the modification itself is not self-conscious, or rather, conscious of anything at all. The consciousness of the object arises on account of the modification of the mind being attended by the consciousness of Chidabhasa, or the reflection of the Kutastha-Chaitanya in the Buddhi, or the intellect. But in the case of the knowledge of Brahman by a universalised form of the mental modification known as Brahmakara-Vritti, consciousness need not attend the mental modification, because Brahman is not outside in space, and any movement of consciousness towards it is inapplicable. The modification of the mind into the form of the object is called Vritti-Vyapti, and the illumination of this mental modification by consciousness is called Phala-Vyapti, in the language of the Vedanta. The latter instance is exemplified in the illumination of the mental modifications internally, when a person is aware that he is thinking, wherein the thoughts are the objects, not existing outside but inseparably from themselves, thus not needing the movement of consciousness externally and endowing of mental modifications with a sort of self-luminosity. Thus are distinguished the processes of external perception and internal cognition.

Indirect knowledge received by means of instruction from the preceptor requires to be deepened into experience by reflection and deep meditation. Indirect knowledge influences the conscious level of the student, but it has to percolate into the recesses of his being, which is possible only by the absorption of indirect knowledge into the very being of the spiritual seeker, because, ultimately, knowledge is inseparable from being. Existence is the same as consciousness, and consciousness is existence. A knowledge or consciousness which has its object external to it is indirect and inadequate, though it has its own value in acting as a secondary means for achieving the primary purpose of direct realisation. This realisation is impossible for those whose minds are not calm through the restraint of the senses and freedom from mortal desires. More than anything else, an intense longing for liberation is to be considered as the supreme qualification of a seeker.

Even during meditation one may have to face many difficulties, such as the inability to reconcile apparently contradictory statements occurring in the scriptures, the persistent feeling that the world and the body are real, and, finally a sense of hopelessness and a feeling of impossibility in regard to the achievement of the supreme purpose of life. These three obstacles, known as Samsaya-Bhavana, Viparita-Bhavana, and Asambhavana, are met with and overcome through the processes of Sravana, or listening to the wisdom imparted by the preceptor, Manana, or deep reflection on the truths so received, and Nididhyasana, or profound meditation. The difficulty in understanding the true meaning of the scriptures arises on account of dullness of intellect, doubt regarding the Supreme Reality of Brahman alone, and a feeling of the reality of the world due to impressions of many lives lived wrongly in earlier forms of existence, and a sense of impossibility of achievement due to the heavy operation of clouding (Tamasika), and distracting (Rajasika) Karmas (actions performed with a feeling of the agency of the self) in past lives. Unselfish service (Karma-Yoga), devout worship of God, Isvara (Upasana), and an analytic understanding of the all-comprehensiveness of the Absolute (Jnana) are the ways to Self-realisation. Mala (dirt), Vikshepa (distraction) and Avarana (veiling) are the hindrances to right thinking, which act as impulses arising from the mind contrary to the concentration necessary for fixing oneself in Brahman-Consciousness. The supreme method, of course, is known as Brahma-Abhyasa (practice of the presence of Brahman) which consists in thinking of Brahman alone, talking about That alone, mutually discoursing on That alone, and depending for one’s sole sustenance on That alone in a whole-souled surrender and dedication of one’s being to the Universal Reality. As days pass and one becomes mature in thinking and understanding, too much of study and discussion should be avoided and one must resort to internal analysis and meditation more and more. Herein we are reminded of the great proclamation of the Bhagavadgita that God looks to the welfare and protection of those who undividedly think of Him, feel His Presence everywhere and entirely depend on Him by a surrender of their being to the Supreme Being. Such meditations burn up all the dross of psychological impediments and enable the inner light to shine brighter than ever. Meditation should be conducted with freedom from unnecessary effort and fatigue, for it is the spontaneity of the feeling for God that is to be taken as the final criterion of success in this endeavour. While the sense objects appear outside to the mind, the object enters into the being of the meditator’s consciousness in deep absorption, thereby the distinction between the subject and the object, the knower and the known, becomes narrower as meditation advances, finally to be abolished altogether in a coalescence of the subject with the object, and vice versa. The essential point to be remembered in all meditation is that there should be no thought except that of the chosen object or the ideal of meditation. The hardship involved in the control of the mind is pointed out by ancient masters by such analogies as drinking the ocean, shaking the Meru mountain, swallowing blazing fire, and the like, to illustrate the difficulty in the practice of self-restraint. Those who cannot directly carry on meditation in this way are advised to listen to the glories of God through epics (Itihasas) and legends (Puranas) and even by easier means as dramatic presentations of the majesty of God and His Creation.

Nididhyasana is profound absorption in the thought that the world and the individual are not outside Isvara, that Isvara, the world and the individual are an apparently triple manifestation of Brahman, and that, thus, there is no distinction between the knower and the known, and there is no such thing as an external world or an extra-cosmic creator. For one who is established in such deep meditation, the world and the individuals around are not any more a hindrance in any way. When the mind is affected by distraction in the midst of meditation, repeated efforts should be put forth by drawing the mind away from relationship to externals and concentrating it on the glorious ideal of meditation. Here, study of sacred scriptures and such other occupations by which the mind is made to wean itself away from things, have to be adopted. Even if the consciousness of the supreme object of meditation is sometimes lost and forgotten during the day, there is no harm since it will return later due to the force of the earlier meditation. Momentary forgetfulness is not so dangerous as an erroneous conviction that the world is external and material in nature or that persons and things are really cut off from one another as they are totally independent in themselves. It is advisable to engage oneself during spare hours in the study of such subjects as are conducive to entertaining the thought of the object of meditation. All engagements, religious or secular, in which one will be occupied should be dexterously transformed into processes of a spiritual movement towards the Absolute. It has to be remembered constantly that engagement in any kind of work or occupation is a resultant of actions performed earlier in previous births and is not to be thought as means of enjoyment in this life, and no sense of doership in any matter whatsoever should be attributed to oneself in such occupations, since, otherwise, there is the possibility of accumulating more impressions of action which may lead to further rebirths.