This Upanishad is the kernel of Vedantha; it is the most
profound among all the Upanishads; it is also the chiefest, having
the distinction of being recommended as, by itself, enough to lead
man to salvation. It is very brief, consisting of just a dozen
manthras! They are divided into four sections, Agama, Vaithathya,
Adwaitha and Alathasanthi. In the Agamaprakarana, the secret
doctrine of Pranava which is the key to self-realisation is
expounded. In the second Prakatana, the doctrine of Dualism, the
great obstacle to liberation is discussed and rebutted. In the
third, the A-dwaitha or non-dual Unity is propounded. The last
Prakarana describes certain mutually contradictory non-Vedic
doctrines and rejects them.
No sound is beyond the ken of Om; all sounds are permutations
and products of Om. Brahmam too is Om, identified by It and with
It. The Brahmam, which is beyond Vision, is manifest for the
vision as Atma.
The distinctions of Viswa, Taijasa and Prajna are but
appearances imposed on the Atma; that is to say the Atma continues
the same, unaffected by the waking, the dreaming and the
deep-sleep stages of man's existence. This Atma and the Atma which
one refers to as 'I' are both the same. The 'I' or the Atma swims
like a fish in the river, paying no regard to this bank or that,
though the waters are limited and guided by them. In deep sleep,
all the vasanas or impulses are suspended and though they still
persist, they are not manifest or active. In dream, man follows
the impulses and wins satisfaction in the process. All the
manifold pulls and attractions of the sensory world, which impel
man towards the objects around him, are born during the waking and
the dream stages. The mind is full of agitations and these are the
fertile fields where the vasanas grow, multiply and strike root.
As a matter of fact, it is the agitating mind that causes
Creation, that is behind all Srishti.
There is however a Fourth stage, distinct from these three: it
is named Thuriya! This stage cannot be described by words or even
imagined by the mind, for it is beyond both Buddhi and Manas. The
experience is inadequately described as Santham, Sivam, Adwaitham;
that is all. It is Peace. It is Grace. It is One-ness. The mental
agitations are stilled and so there is no more mind. It is the
conquest of the mind, its negation, the A-manaska stage. What a
victory it is! For, in deep sleep the Mind is latent; in dream,
the Mind is restless with agitations; in the waking stage, it is
active and motivating. In all the three stages, Truth remains
unknown. The objective world is but a delusion of the agitated
mind, the super-imposition on the rope of a non-existent snake.
The world is not born, nor does it die; it is born when you are
ignorant; it dies when you become wise.
The AUM of the Omkara, representing the Viswa, Taijasa and
Prajna aspects of the waking, dreaming and deep sleep stages of
existence, have each a particular role in Sadhana. Upasana which A
emphasises more, makes one realise all desires; if U is
concentrated upon, then Jnana increases and if M is specially
dwelt upon in the Upasana, the final merging of the Soul in the
Supreme is effected. The Upasaka of Pranava will also earn the
knowledge of the Truth of the world and Creation. The Upasaka,
therefore, of the Pranava draws unto himself the reverence of all.
The A, U and M proceed from one to the other in the Pranava and
finally merge in an A-manthra, a letterless resonance which thins
out into silence. That is the symbol of the Santham, the Sivam and
the Adwaitham, the merging of the individualised soul in the
Universal, after the shedding of the limiting particulars of name
and form. This is not all. The Karikas 24-29 of this Upanishad
praise Pranava as the cause of Creation. It is extolled as
quenching all grief. Why? He who ruminates on he Om, ever aware of
its significance can steadily move on to an Awareness of the Real
behind all this unreal Appearance, of the Paramatmathathwa Itself.
In the first section, the A-dwaithic uniqueness of the Atma is
established in a general way; in the second, as has been said, the
positing of two entities, God and the World, is shown as mistaken,
impermanent. In the section called specifically Adwaitha, the
doctrine is established by arguments and affirmations. At first,
the world was latent and un-manifest; Brahma is Himself an effect;
and so, reflection on the effect will not lead man to the source
of all things. The Brahma revealed in this Upanishad is not the
Effect; It is the Primal Cause. It is not born, nor limited; it is
not broken into all this many.
The Atma is like Akasa or Ether, all-pervasive. It may seem
enclosed in certain limits, like a pot or a room and may be spoken
of as so individualised. But in that limitation, there is no
truth. The body too is like the pot, which limits the sky enclosed
in it, for all appearances. There is no basic distinction between
the sky in the pot and the Sky outside; take away the limiting
factor, and they are One. When the body is destroyed, the Jivi
merges with the Universal or the Paramatman. It is in the
limitation that appears to qualify the Atma, otherwise it is the
Paramatma itself. The Jivi can never be considered a limb or an
avayava, an adaptation or Vikara of the Paramatman.
The birth and death of the Jivi as wanderings in space and from
one Loka to another, are all unreal. It is appearance, not
reality. Go deeply into the matter you will find that Dwaitha is
not opposed to A-Dwaitha. The opposition is between various
Dwaithic religions and schools of thought. For the A-Dwaithin, all
is Parabrahmam and so he knows no opposition. For the Dwaithin,
there is always the atmosphere of attachment and pride and hate
for where there are two there is always fear and attachment and
all the consequent passions. A-dwaitha is the Highest Truth;
Dwaitha is a certain mental attitude. So, dualism can move you
only so long as the mind is active. In sleep or in Samadhi, there
is no cognition of "Two". When Avidya prevails, difference is
rampant; when Vidya is established, Unity is experienced. So,
there is no opposition or quarrel between Dwaitha and A-Dwaitha.
The rope is the Cause of all the Illusion and Delusion; Brahmam is
the Cause of all this Illusion and Delusion connoted by the word,
World, or Jagath.
It is not correct to say that the Paramatma is born as Jagath,
for, how can one's essential quality, the Svabhava be changed?
Manifold-ness is not the characteristic of Paramatmathathwa. The
Sruthis declare this in many contexts. Why, they even condemn
those who see It as many. The Witness of all the phases of the
mind, of even its annihilation, can never be known by the Mind.
That witness alone is eternal, unaffected by Time and Space. That
is the Atma-chaithanyam, the Sathyam. The rest is all un-real.
Turn the mind away from the sensory world through the practice
of discrimination and non-attachment; then, you attain the
A-manobhava, the no-mind experience. Well, you have to remember
another thing: trying to control the mind without a clear
understanding of the nature of the sensory world is a vain
valueless effort, the attachment will not end, the agitation will
not cease so easily.
They will sprout at the first chance. What has to be done is to
develop the inertness of the mind during the deep sleep stage into
a stage of permanent ineffectiveness. When the conviction that all
sensory experiences are unreal is well and truly stabilised, the
mind will no longer function as a distracting agency; it will lie
powerless, as a defunct limb. However hungry a man may be, he will
not certainly crave for excreta, will he?
To know that the Atma, which is the goal of realistion, is
devoid of sleep, birth, name, form and so on, that It is eternally
Self-effulgent, Nithyaswayamprakasa, to know this is to transcend
all Vikaras or agitations of the Mind. Attempting to curb the mind
without the aid of discrimination or to make known to man the
unreality of Vishaya objects is like the attempt to empty the
ocean by means of a blade of grass, foolish and fruitless. Be
firmly fixed in the conviction that the world is a myth and then
you can aspire for Prasanthi and Abhaya, Peace and Fearlessness.
As the motivating force behind every birth or product, there
should be a purpose, either Sath or A-sath or Sathasath, isn't it?
What exactly is the transformation that happens? The cause or
Karana undergoes a change or vikara and gets transformed into the
karya. Well, Sath has no Vikara and so no birth is possible from
Sath. A-sathya is void and nothing can emanate from it. Sath and
Asath are inconceivable together. Therefore, logically, nothing
can be born or produced; karana cannot become karya.
When you remember fire, you do not feel the heat; it is only
when you hold it in your hand that you experience the heat. So
too, all objects are different from Jnana about them. Knowledge is
one thing, actual experience is another. Moreover, the search for
the First Cause is an endless adventure. For, even in the complete
absence of the snake, one sees it in the rope. It is all a figment
of the imagination. In dreams, with nothing concrete, all the joy
and sorrow of manifoldness are undergone. For the machinations and
inferences of the mind, no basis or explanation is needed.
Irresponsible inferences about the unreal world will pester the
mind so long as the illumination of Truth is absent. Clasping
delusion is the fate of those who are steeped in Avidya or Ajnana.
This Upanishad has declared in unambiguous terms that the Sath
can never be the Cause for the karya viz. Asath. The external
world is created by our own chiththa, like smoke emanating from a
burning scent-stick. Everything is appearance, an Adhyasa, an
Abhasa, something mistaken to be there, but really non-existent.
The atmosphere of Ajnana is the fertile field for their birth and
multiplication. Samsaara, which has the dual characteristic of
evolution, of origin and ruin, is the fruit of this mistake.
Since Paramatma is Sarvaathmaswarupa, there is no possibility
of Cause-Effect or Wish-Fulfillment or Purpose-Product appearing
in it. For him who has had the Vision of Atma, all is Atma. The
maya-infected seed will sprout into a maya-infected tree; both are
false and fleeting. So too, the birth and death of the Jivi are
both false; they are mere words, signifying nothing. The things
seen in dreams are not distinct from the dreamer, are they? They
may appear as different and as outside the dreamer, but, really,
they are part of the dreamer, arising out of his own
consciousness. He who is the witness has no beginning or end. He
is not bound by duties or obligations, right or wrong. To know
this, and to get firm in that knowledge is to attain liberation
from the shackles. It is the quivering of the Chiththa that causes
things to originate. Chith-thaspandana is the cause of Uthpaththi.