We may currently enjoy the most prosperous circumstances, but a time inevitably arrives when we lose everything and are thrown into a desperate state beyond all human succor: death. As death approaches, our physical and mental faculties fail. Friends and family cannot save us, our limbs grow motionless, and we are left uncertain of what awaits our departure.
To prepare, we must seek a competent teacher before such an eventuality arises. A true preceptor imparts direct Knowledge, guiding us in the practice of aligning our thoughts with the nature of Pure Beingness-Consciousness. We habitually anchor our minds to finite names and forms, chasing transient worldly objects and scattered thoughts. These are mere particulars.
Spiritual practice requires us to recognize the Universal, learning to see It hidden within the particulars. By bringing this underlying Reality to the foreground, the world of forms recedes into the background. As the mind rests on the Universal, our finite sense of individual identity dissolves into formlessness; the individual soul (*jīva*) turns into the Inner Self, and the external world resolves into Space. We remain as Pure Consciousness—with the cosmos as Its manifestation. This auspicious realization of Beingness-Consciousness is the path to Immortality.
With these instructions, the episode of Śvetaketu concludes, and the *Chāndogya Upanishad* transitions to the story of Sage Nārada in the Seventh Chapter of the Upanishad.
Nārada approaches Maharshi Sanatkumāra, seeking freedom from sorrow. He explains that he has heard from enlightened seers that whoever knows the Self transcends all misery:
तरति शोकमात्मवित् | — 7.1.3, chAndogya upa.
[Meaning: The Knower of AtmA transcends sorrow.]
Though Nārada has mastered numerous sciences and arts—living up to his name as “one who bestows knowledge” (नारं ददाति इति नारदः)—he admits to an inner lack of peace. His vast erudition remains purely intellectual, lacking direct Self-realization:
सोऽहं भगवो मन्त्रविदेवास्मि नात्मवित् | — 7.1.3, chAndogya upa.
[Meaning: I know only the mantras; but I do not know the nature of AtmA.]
Nārada’s experience highlights a crucial Vedantic truth: formal chanting, ritualistic actions, and scholarship cannot confer lasting peace. Sanatkumāra notes that a mantra aids the seeker through sustained reflection:
मननात् त्रायते इति मन्त्रः |
[Meaning: Mantra is that which protects on constant reflection (in mind) on it.]
Yet, mantra practice remains an activity of the mind. So long as the mind is active, it cannot grasp the Self. Mental activity deals inherently with particulars—with changing names and forms—rather than the immutable Root Cause. Because anything subject to change leads ultimately to mortality, relying on the mental iteration of a mantra cannot grant Immortality. Every mantra, by its nature, has a boundary and an end.
Even *AUM* dissolves in sequence: *A* merges into *U*, *U* into *M*, and *AUM* itself culminates in silence. Hence, as a finite sound, it undergoes its own “death.” As the prashna Upanishad observes:
तिस्रो मात्रा मृत्युमत्यः प्रयुक्ता … | — 5.6, prashna upa.
[Meaning: When the three mAtra-s, each of which leads to death by itself … (Translation: S. Sitarama Sastri).]
*AUM* cannot confer Immortality if treated merely as an auditory, temporal object. However, it frees us when recognized as a sacred symbol of the Supreme. If we cling only to the sound, we mistake name and form for the Ultimate Reality. Names and forms are real only when seen as expressions of Beingness-Consciousness; viewed merely as isolated particulars, they are unreal.
Consciousness (cit) in Its Absolute state is Pure Knowledge (jñAna); perceived as a specific form, It appears as a mantra. Beingness (sat) in Its Absolute state is formless Space; perceived through form, It appears as the world. Lord Śiva is formless Space, and Śakti is His luminous shine. When we “see” (recognize + realize) everything as this divine shine, thoughts naturally quiet down; when we see objects as formless Space, they dissolve.
Plurality arises only when we define objects by mutable names and forms (e.g., “this is a tree,” “I am the body”). While forms perish, Beingness is immutable. As Beingness, “I” endure even when the physical body dies.
The core teaching of the chAndogya Upanishad* is to realize our identity as this absolute Beingness:
सदेव सोम्येदमग्र आसीदेकमेवाद्वितीयम् । — mantra 6.2.1, chAndogya Upanishad.
[Meaning: In the beginning, my dear, this was Being only, one, without a second.]
To help us abide as That, the text outlines a progressive methodology:
सोम्यान्नेन शुङ्गेनापो मूलमन्विच्छद्भिः सोम्य शुङ्गेन तेजो मूलमन्विच्छ तेजसा सोम्य शुङ्गेन सन्मूलमन्विच्छ सन्मूलाः सोम्येमाः सर्वाः प्रजाः सदायतनाः सत्प्रतिष्ठाः ॥ — 6.8.4, chAndogya upa.
[Meaning: Somya! With food as the shoot, look for water as the root; with water as the shoot, dear boy, look for fire as the root; with fire as the shoot, dear boy, look for Being as the root. All these creatures, dear boy, have Being as their root, have Being as their abode, and have Being as their support. (Translation: Swami Swahananda).]
While a rare, advanced seeker may attain direct realization, most require a step-by-step approach. In Vedantic inquiry, the source substance is the cause, and its manifestations are effects—just as clay is the cause for various effects like cups, jars, and pots. To find the source of existence, the seeker must travel backward, reversing the outward unfoldment of the world that leads to sorrow.
The Bhagavad-Gita describes this creation using the imagery of an inverted tree:
ऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम् । — verse 1, Ch 15, Bhagavad-Gita.
[Meaning: They speak of the indestructible Sacred Fig (asvattha) tree having its root above and branches below … (asvattha is also known as Peepul (Ficus religiosa).]
अश्वत्थमेनं सुविरूढमूलमसङ्गशस्त्रेण दृढेन छित्त्वा ॥ — verse 3, Ch 15, Bhagavad-Gita.
[Meaning: Having cut asunder this firmly rooted asvattha with the strong sword of dispassion.]
ततः पदं तत्परिमार्गितव्यं …| — verse 4, Ch 15, Bhagavad-Gita.
[Meaning: Then That Goal should be sought for.]
Since world evolution proceeds from top to bottom (from Cause to effect), spiritual practice requires us to trace our steps from bottom to top.
We begin with the gross physical earth and body, seeking to transcend them. The chAndogya Upanishad explains that the earth is an effect derived from its cause, water (associated with the vital sheath). Water is derived from fire (the mental sheath). Fire dissolves into air (the intellectual sheath), and air resolves into space (the bliss sheath). Air represents movement and action; stabilizing this movement leads us back to its source, Space.
By progressively dissolving each grosser layer into its subtle cause, we ultimately abide as Pure Consciousness—the sole source out of which creation arises, by which it is sustained, and into which it resolves. Hence, the Upanishad reveals: “You are That.”
(To Continue … Part – 38 (chAn 5))