4.4.9 to 4.4.15 The seekers of Brahman talk about many paths of knowledge. It is not correct. There is only one path of knowledge. A person should practice karma yoga and upasana yoga to become qualified for the path of knowledge. The Upanishad criticises those who perform different rites and rituals for material benefits. They are unwise and ignorant, live in darkness, and go from death to death. Sooner or later, a person should do a course correction and set knowledge of Brahman as the highest goal. All other goals should be subservient to it and finally, the only goal should be Brahman- knowledge.
In the vision of a knower of Brahman, everything is Brahman. The innermost Self is the supreme Self and is creator of the world form out of Itself in the sense that the world rests in It in potential form. A knower of Brahman transcends suffering, grief and sorrow. He becomes immortal. Others are trapped in sufferings. A fortunate man meets a true teacher and gains knowledge from him and becomes a jnani. He does not see diversity as he has established identity with Brahman who is the lord of past, present and future.
4.4.16 Brahman is beyond time and space. It is not affected by day and night. As the sun is ever shining and from its standpoint, there is no day and night, Brahman is ever-shining. Everything perishes with time, not Brahman. It is symbol of longevity. The gods meditate on Brahman as longevity.
4.4.17/18 Brahman is the substratum of the whole creation, such as, celestial minstrels, manes, gods, demons, ether. Knowing such Brahman, one becomes immortal. Knowers of Brahman know that Brahman is the vital force of vital forces, eye of the eye, ear of ear, and so on, and the mind of mind. In other words, Brahman is pure consciousness and is the ultimate subject and is not an object of perception.
4.4.19-21 Brahman is realized by the mind because any knowledge has to take place in the mind. Realization is an event in the mind. The hitherto mind becomes a wise mind. For this, the mind should be pure and focussed to receive the knowledge. It is realized as undifferentiated and non-dual, eternal, beyond known and unknown. One who sees diversity goes from death to death.
“The intelligent aspirant after Brahman, knowing about this kind of Self alone, from the instructions of a teacher and from the scriptures, should attain intuitive knowledge of what has been taught by the teacher and the scriptures, so as to put an end to all questioning- i.e. practise the means of this knowledge, viz. renunciation, calmness, self-control, withdrawal of the senses, fortitude and concentration. (He) should not think of too many words. This restriction on too· many words implies that a few words dealing exclusively with the unity of the Self are permissible. The Mundaka Upanishad has it: ‘Meditate upon the Self with the help of the syllable Om’ (II. ii. 6), and ‘Give up all other speech’ (II. ii. 5). For it, this thinking of too many words, is particularly fatiguing to the organ of speech.” [ Brihadarnakya Upanishad Commentary of Shankaracharya Translated by Swami Gambhirananda, Advaita Ashrama]
4.4.22 and 4.4.23 The supreme Self resides within the body. Hence one need not search it outside. It can be realized by study of scriptures under the guidance of a teacher. Before that one should purify the mind by doing virtuous deeds, like charity, sacrifices, austerity. Furthermore, realization of the Self should be the highest goal, nay, the only goal. The sages in the past renounced all material desires including wealth, children and pleasures of higher worlds and became the true aspirant.
Why should realizing Brahman be the only goal? It is not a goal in conventional sense. It is unique. It exists in present because the true nature of the aspirant is Brahman. Realizing Brahman is claiming that I am Brahman. What type of Brahman? It is imperceptible, non -decaying, free from sufferings. By claiming Brahman as I, I become Brahman and I am free from the vicissitudes of life. A knower of Brahman is not overtaken by thoughts of omissions and commissions. He conquers both of them. He is birthless, eternal, non-changing, neither increases nor decreases, is not touched by evil.
4.4.24 That the supreme Self resides in all beings is figuratively said as eater of all food and giver of all wealth, i.e. results of deeds done. A knower of supreme Self is also endowed with these features. He is the Self of all beings and gives the fruits of actions. A man may mediate on Brahman endowed with these features if he wants visible results.
4.4.25 “That great, birthless Self is non-decaying, immortal, undying, fearless. Brahman. He who knows It is fearless. The ideas of projection, maintenance, dissolution, action, its factors and its results are superimposed on the Self in the interim. Finally, by elimination of the superimposed attributes through a process of ‘Not this, not this’ -the truth is known.
In order to explain the nature of numbers from one up to a hundred thousand billion, a man superimposes them on certain lines (digits), calling one of them one, another ten, another hundred, yet another thousand, and so on. In doing so, he only expounds the nature of numbers but does not at any stage consider the lines as numbers. In order to teach the alphabet, he uses a combination of leaf, ink, lines, etc., and through them explains the nature of the letters, but he does not identify the letters with the leaf, ink, lines, etc. Likewise, exposition of Brahman is achieved through various means such as the projection and so on and later by elimination the differences created by those hypothetical means, ‘Not this, not this’, the truth is known.
Concluded