The chAndogya Upanishad expresses the conclusion (at the end of the previous part) in an elegantly generalized form as follows:
वाचारम्भणं विकारो नामधेयं मृत्तिकेत्येव सत्यम् ॥ — mantra 6.1.4, chAndogya Upanishad.
[Meaning: All products being just words, a mere name; the clay alone is real.]
In other words, ‘form’ lacks independent reality. While the substance is only one, the forms in which it presents itself could be many.
The world we perceive is an ensemble of forms. Earth is one form, water another; the same applies to fire, air, and space. Together, these constitute the five fundamental elements. Every object—animate creatures, inanimate items, rocks, mountains, and rivers—is a derived form of these primary elements.
For earthenware such as pots, pans, cups, and jars, the underlying root substance is clay. Similarly, gold is the root substance for ornaments like rings, bangles, bracelets, and necklaces; water is the root substance for waves, foam, spume, and spray. Each set of objects appears to have its own distinct material foundation.
However, the ultimate root substance underlying all five fundamental elements is One without a second. It permeates every space, object, and creature in existence. This singular, absolute root substance is Beingness-Consciousness.
Just as clay, gold, and water act as the substrate for their respective modifications, these elements themselves are merely forms derived from the primary substrate: Beingness-Consciousness. Consequently, every entity in the world—whether animate or inanimate, stationary or moving, sentient or inert—is a form of Beingness-Consciousness.
The Chandogya Upanishad teaches that this primary substrate, Beingness-Consciousness, is the Atman (Self) of all. Thus, anything and everything perceived is nothing but Beingness-Consciousness. The underlying substrate is the absolute Truth (satya), whereas the perceived appearance is not. Shankara explains that this appearance is simultaneously real and unreal depending on perspective:
सर्वं च नामरूपादि सदात्मनैव सत्यं विकारजातम्, स्वतस्त्वनृतमेव, ‘वाचारम्भणं विकारो नामधेयम्’ (6.1.4, ch. Upa.) इत्युक्तत्वात् । — Shankara’s commentary on Mantra 6.3.2, chAndogya Upanishad.
[Meaning: All modifications—Name and Form—are real in so far as they share the nature of ‘Being.’ In themselves, they are unreal, as declared by the passage: ‘All modification is a mere product of words, a mere name.’]
What we perceive in the world is strictly name and form (nAma-rUpa). Everything that “IS” derives its reality solely from its intrinsic substrate; viewed apart from that substrate, it is unreal. Any object considered in isolation lacks reality. Yet, that same object is Real when viewed as the absolute root substance that permeates it. This insight is the cornerstone of Advaita Vedanta—a distinction that other philosophical schools, including Buddhism, failed to apprehend fully.
To illustrate: consider a pot. We assert, “There is a pot.” But let us examine whether the pot truly exists as such. Cognition begins as an instantaneous flash revealing the “beingness” of the object. Following this, perception occurs as a thought-wave (vritti) taking the shape of a pot. We continue to perceive the pot only as long as we hold that specific thought-form. The moment our mental attachment to that thought dissolves, the pot as an independent concept disappears.
An object’s existence begins with a flash of cognizance. When we proceed to describe its conditional existence—attributing size, color, shape, and identity—those descriptive parameters are unreal. Its core Beingness, however, is real, because that Beingness is the root substance. Every object can be understood as an extrusion of Beingness.
When we observe a door, what strikes us instantly is its immediate “Is-ness.” We also experience the door’s form, but the form itself possesses no inherent, permanent Is-ness. The form is transient, as all names and forms are subject to change.
Before the door was crafted, wood existed. When the door eventually decays, the door ceases to be, yet the degraded wood remains. In contrast, its intrinsic “Is-ness” remains unchanging and eternal. Beingness is formless, and formlessness is immutable.
Whatever undergoes change is subject to destruction. Once a thing perishes, it can no longer be perceived. Everything we perceive in the world is in flux—the individual dies, the world shifts, and even inert matter breaks down. The core problem for living beings is this vulnerability to change and death.
An embryo develops into an infant, grows, and continuously ages. These ongoing modifications bring suffering: our bodies decay, our minds fluctuate, environments shift, and experiences remain in constant turmoil. We fall ill, and even after recovery, health remains precarious until death ultimately claims the physical frame.
As long as we cling to form, change and its attending distress are inevitable, signaling that we have yet to grasp the unchanging substrate. Once we align with the root substance, we transcend change, death, and suffering.
Most seekers have yet to realize this substrate fully. We tend to cling to the perceived object rather than the underlying Consciousness that enables perception in the first place. Keeping this distinction at the forefront of awareness is essential for every genuine seeker.
From birth to death, we perceive internal thoughts and external objects, starting with the baseline error of identifying ourselves with the physical body. Yet the body is merely a transient form—a temporary costume.
An earnest seeker must learn to differentiate between the percept (that which is perceived) and the initial flash of cognizance. We typically fixate on the object of cognition—identifying the Self with the body, breath, senses, or mind. However, all of these are merely percepts. The key is to attend to the flash of pure cognizance prior to the objectified thought.
Where does this cognizance reside? It shares the exact locus of the percept itself. Without the underlying cognizance of the body, for instance, the body could not be experienced. Though we may not consciously attend to it, cognizance exists hand-in-hand with every perception.
We are unable to notice the cognizance because the percept veils the cognizance. It is like being unable to notice the screen when the movie is running. Everyone may be able to see the screen when there is no movie playing. That is of no significance. Though we know that the image cannot be present without the screen, we cannot notice the screen when the image is on.
Let us take another example. We see the reflected images in a mirror, but remain unaware of the reflecting surface itself. The perfectly clean surface of the mirror is invisible to us because the image appears to cover it.
Cognizance is Reality. The percept is the costume in which the Cognizance appears. In fact, Cognizance is that which illuminates the percept. In the absence of illumination from the Reality, no object could be seen. If an object is seen as Reality, then that Itself is Reality. But if we see it as an object (in the form of a finite entity), it is a fallacious appearance (AbhAsa). As AbhAsa, it is unreal because, AbhAsa keeps changing.
Our parents, spouses, children, assets, wealth, knowledge and so on are not without change. Eventually all of them die. They can’t be with us forever. We cannot abide ourselves with either living or non-living entities because all of them change. We never know when they may end. There is no security for us in either individuals or worldly objects. In other words, there is no security for us as long as our attention is focused on the ‘form.’
We cannot escape misery as long as we consider ourselves (“me”) or what belongs to us (“mine”) with a name and form. Everything having a nametag or a form is subject to change and death.
(To Continue … Part – 36 (chAn 3))