Chapter II - Realisation of Brahman

Food realised as Brahman.

Bhṛgu was given to understand that investigation was the means of attaining knowledge of Brahman defined above indirectly as the cause of the universe; and the śruti now proceeds to shew what conclusion he came to at the first stage of investigation.

स तपस्तप्त्वा ॥ ५ ॥
                      ॥ इति प्रथमोऽनुवाकः ॥
                      ॥ अथ द्वितीयोऽनुवाकः ॥

अन्नं ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् । अन्नाद्ध्येव खल्विमानि भुतानि जायन्ते । अन्नेन जातानि जीवन्ति । अन्नं प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति ॥ १ ॥

sa tapastaptvā || 5 ||
                      || iti prathamo'nuvākaḥ ||
                      || atha dvitīyo'nuvākaḥ ||

annaṃ brahmeti vyajānāt | annāddhyeva khalvimāni bhutāni jāyante | annena jātāni jīvanti |
annaṃ prayantyabhisaṃviśantīti || 1 ||

5. He, having practised devotion,—

[Anuvaka II.]

1. That food was Brahman he concluded. From food indeed are these beings verily born; by food, when born, do they live; into food, do they, when departing, enter.

He concluded that food^[1] was Brahman. Food, indeed, possesses the attributes of Brahman mentioned above.—How?—From food indeed are these beings verily born; by food, when born, do they live; into food do they, when departing, enter. Therefore, that is to say, it is proper to hold that food is Brahman.

Food (anna), here referred to is the material cause of the Annamaya sheath spoken of in the Ānandavallī. So also with regard to prāṇa, manas, vijñāna, and ānanda. For, the definition of Brahman can in no way apply to the forms, such as the Annamaya, evolved out of the upādāna or material cause, such as food. Certainly, the Annamaya, etc., are evolved out of anna, food, etc.; and since every effect is said to dissolve into and be one with the cause, the investigator is gradually led on to the final cause, Ānanda, by first seeing the \nnamaya, etc., as one with anna etc., and then by seeing anna, food, as one with life, life as one with mind, mind as one with intelligence, and finally intelligence as one with Bliss.—(S).

Having zealously practised devotion of the kind described in the last chapter, Bhṛgu concluded that food was Brahman,—seeing that food possessed the marks of Brahman, i. e., seeing that all beings had their birth, etc., in food. -(S).

Bhṛgu investigated the subject with devotion in full concentration of mind, and concluded that food was Brahman,—seeing that food possessed the marks of Brahman i. e. seeing that food was the cause of the birth, stay, and dissolution of the universe. The word ‘beings’ means the gross bodies. These, as everybody knows, have their birth in food; for, it is the sperm of man and the blood or ovum of woman that constitute the source of the gross body, which is made up of the essence of food lying in the womb. The śruti, too, has declared, “From food man (is born).” It is true that ākāśa, etc., as such, are not born of food; still, their birth in the form of the gross bodies must be traced to food; and it is in this sense that food is spoken of as the cause of the universe.

 

The first finding is not satisfactory.

तद्विज्ञाय । पुनरेव वरुणं पितरमुपससार । अधीहि भगवो ब्रह्मेति ॥ २ ॥

tadvijñāya | punareva varuṇaṃ pitaramupasasāra | adhīhi bhagavo brahmeti || 2 ||

2. That having known, again, verily, did he approach Varuṇa the father, saying “Sir, teach me Brahman.”

Having thus thought over the subject in full concentration and concluded that food was Brahman, as according both with the definition of Brahman and with reason, Bhṛgu felt a doubt and again approached his father, Varuṇa, saying “Sir, teach me Brahman.”

Not pleased with the result, he felt a doubt and wished to know more. He did again approach the Guru; he did not give way to sloth.

What, then, was the cause of his doubt? We answer: Because he saw that food (the Virāj) had birth.

Seeing that food was an effect, he again went to the Guru and asked, with a view to cut asunder his doubt.—(S).

Similarly, finding that prāṇa, manas, and vijñāna, when regarded as Brahman, were open to the same objection, he again and again asked about the Supreme Brahman till there was no occasion for any more enquiry.—(S).

The aspirant to knowledge does not give up enquiry till the Supreme Brahman is known by direct experience like a bilva fruit held in the hand.—(S).

The reason why Bhṛgu was not satisfied with his finding may be explained thus:—The Vajasaneyins read as follows:

“Some say that food is Brahman; but this is not so, for, in the absence of life, food decays.”^[2]

The malodour of food is clearly perceived in the physical body, which is made up of food. The Viṣṇupurāna, too, teaches the same thing as follows:

“To the person who does not get disgusted with the foul smell of his own body, what else can be taught to him to cause disgust in him?”

Therefore, though the physical body has its birth, being, and death in food, still food cannot be Brahman.

 

Devotion is necessary at all stages.

तं होवाच । तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व । तपो ब्रह्मेति ॥ ३ ॥

taṃ hovāca | tapasā brahma vijijñāsasva | tapo brahmeti || 3 ||

3. To him said (Varuṇa): By devotion, Brahman seek thou to know. Devotion is Brahman.

This reiteration of devotion is intended to impress that it is the best means. Varuṇa means to say: so long as thou dost not find the thing to which the definition of Brahman is fully applicable, and so long as thy desire for further light does not cease, so long do thou betake thyself to devotion through concentration which is thy sole means to the end. That is to say, seek thou to know Brahman by devotion alone.

By repeatedly saying “by devotion seek thou to know Brahman,” we are given to understand that through devotion alone is perception of the Self possible.—(S).

To Bhṛgu who thus approached his father, the latter taught that only devotion by concentration (described above) was the means to the knowledge of Brahman. With a view to impress the truth that devotion was the proximate means to attain an intimate knowledge of Brahman, Varuṇa spoke of it, by courtesy, as identical with Brahman, in the words “Devotion is Brahman.” If Brahman were taught in the words “Real, Consciousness, Infinite is Brahman,” which define Brahman as He is, then one would think that Brahman, as knowable through scriptures, cannot be immediately perceived, any more than Dharma and Adharma. Accordingly, Varuṇa, seeing that Brahman was perceptible through one-pointed understanding, did not teach Bhṛgu what Brahman was in Himself, but taught him only Devotion,

 

स तपोऽतप्यत || 4 ||

sa tapo'tapyata ॥ ४ ॥

4. He resorted to devotion.

 

Life-principle as Brahman.

स तपस्तप्त्वा ॥ ५ ॥
                     ॥ इति द्वितीयोऽनुवाकः ॥
                     ॥ अथ तृतीयोऽनुवाकः ॥

प्राणो ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् । प्राणाद्ध्येव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । प्राणेन जातानि जीवन्ति । प्राणं प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति ॥ १ ॥

sa tapastaptvā || 5 ||
                     || iti dvitīyo'nuvākaḥ ||
                     || atha tṛtīyo'nuvākaḥ ||

prāṇo brahmeti vyajānāt | prāṇāddhyeva khalvimāni bhūtāni jāyante | prāṇena jātāni jīvanti | prāṇaṃ prayantyabhisaṃviśantīti || 1 ||

5. He, having practised devotion,—

 

[Anuvaka III.]

1. That life^[3] was Brahman, he concluded. From life indeed are these beings verily born; by life, when born, do they live; into life do they, when departing, enter.

The śruti now proceeds to shew to what conclusion Bhṛgu came by pondering over the matter a second time. Bhṛgu again thought over the definition given above, with mind in full concentration, and concluded that life was Brahman. The Aitareyins declare negatively that life is the cause of the birth of the physical body:

“Without life, indeed, semen is not emitted; if it be emitted at all, without life it would decay, it would not be born.”^[4]

When a jīva embodied in the subtle body (liṅga-deha), returning from heaven (svarga) or hell (naraka) through rain, enters into man through food, and through his sperm into the woman’s womb, then that sperm, heated by the vital air, which penetrates into it, passes through the stages of embryo, etc., and gives birth to the body. But in the absence of vitality, the sperm cannot give rise to the physical body. As life is the cause of the birth of the physical body, so, it is the cause of its sustenance, as the Kauṣītakins declare: “So long as in this body the

vitality remains, so long does the body live.” It is a well-known fact that on the departure of vitality takes place the death of the body: therefore, since vitality, though not the upādāna or material cause of the physical body, is the nimitta or efficient cause of its birth, sustenance and death, Bhṛgu concluded that life was Brahman.

 

तद्विज्ञाय । पुनरेव वरुणं पितरमुपससार । अधीहि भगवो ब्रह्मेति ॥ २ ॥

tadvijñāya | punareva varuṇaṃ pitaramupasasāra | adhīhi bhagavo brahmeti || 2 ||

2. That having known, again, verily, did he approach Varuṇa, the father, saying “Sir, teach me Brahman.”

 

तं होवाच । तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व । तपो ब्रह्मेति ॥ ३ ॥

taṃ hovāca | tapasā brahma vijijñāsasva | tapo brahmeti || 3 ||

3. To him said (Varuṇa): By devotion, Brahman seek thou to know. Devotion is Brahman.

 

स तपोऽतप्यत ॥ ४ ॥ 

sa tapo'tapyata || 4 ||

4. He resorted to devotion.

 

Manas as Brahman.

स तपस्तप्त्वा ॥ ५ ॥
                     ॥ इति तृतीयोऽनुवाकः ॥
                     ॥ अथ चतुर्यो°नुवाकः ॥

मनो ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् । मनसो ह्येव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । मनसा जातानि जीवन्ति । मनः प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति ॥ १ ॥

sa tapastaptvā || 5 ||
                     || iti tṛtīyo'nuvākaḥ ||
                     || atha caturyo'nuvākaḥ ||

mano brahmeti vyajānāt | manaso hyeva khalvimāni bhūtāni jāyante | manasā jātāni jīvanti | manaḥ prayantyabhisaṃviśantīti || 1 ||

5. Having practised devotion,—

 

[Anuvaka IV].

1. That manas^[5] was Brahman, he concluded. From manas, indeed, are these beings verily born; by manas, when born, do they live; into manas do they, when departing, enter.

The śruti proceeds to shew at what conclusion Bhṛgu arrived after pondering over the matter a third time.

The vital principle is unintelligent and cannot therefore be Brahman. In the words “Consciousness is Brahman,”^[6] “Intelligence and Bliss is Brahman”^[7] the śruti gives us to understand that Brahman is intelligent. And manas is intelligent, because it is the principle of knowledge (jñāna-śakti). The definition, too, as the cause of the birth, &c., of the universe applies to the manas. It has been declared above that the entering of the vital air into the womb leads to the birth of the physical body; and similarly the entrance of vitality is itself dependent on manas, as declared by the Ātharvaṇikas in the form of a question and an answer:

Gārgya asked: “How comes he into this body?” Pippalāda answered: “By an act of manas does he come into this body.”^[8]

The act of manas here referred to is the saṅkalpa or formative thought which at the time of death arises in the manas impelled by the karma of the closing life, the thought of the ego that he will be born in such and such a body. By this thought produced at the close of the former incarnations the vital principle which had formed part of the former body comes into the body of the present incarnation. This truth is clearly taught in the same Upaniṣad:

“His senses still inhering in his mind, whatever his thought, with that he goes into the prāṇa; prāṇa joined with the fire, united with the Ātman, leads him into his world as he has built it up.”^[9]

The ego (jīva) carrying along with him speech and other senses—whose functions at the time of death become absorbed as it were in those of manas—thinks of the body which he will have to put on next; and with these thoughts concerning the next body the ego enters into prāṇa or vital principle, which becomes at this stage the leading principle of his constitution. And this prāṇa, impregnated with the fire of this intense thought concerning the future body, leads the whole subtle body (liṅga-deha) along with the ego (jīvātman) to the region which he has built up in thought. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka gives the following illustration:—

“And as a leech, after having reached the end of a blade of grass, and having approached another blade, draws itself together towards it, thus does this Self, after having thrown off his body and leaving it unconscious, and after having approached another body, draws himself together towards it.”^[10]

To explain:—A leech moving among blades of grass, after having reached the end of one blade, first catches hold of another with the fore part of its body, and then draws its hind part to it; so also the jīvātman, abandoning at the time of death the present body by way of ceasing to identify himself with it, leaves it insentient, and then, after first fashioning the future body by thought, then carries his whole body—i. e., carries himself embodied in the liṅga-deha—to that other body. Therefore all embodied beings are born of manas. As one has to exercise thought in securing means of livelihood such as agriculture and trade, manas is the cause of the sustenance. Since, as shewn above, death occurs when one abandons by thought all attachment to the body, manas is also the cause of the dissolution. Thus, as manas possesses the characteristic marks of Brahman, Bhṛgu concluded that manas was Brahman.

 

तद्विज्ञाय । पुनरेव वरुणं पितरमुपससार । अधीहि भगवो ब्रह्मेति ॥ २ ॥

tadvijñāya | punareva varuṇaṃ pitaramupasasāra | adhīhi bhagavo brahmeti || 2 ||

2. That having known, again, verily, did he approach Varuṇa, the father, saying “Sir, teach me Brahman”

 

तं होवाच । तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व । तपो ब्रह्मेति ॥ ३ ॥

taṃ hovāca | tapasā brahma vijijñāsasva | tapo brahmeti || 3 ||

3. To him said (Varuṇa): By devotion, Brahman seek thou to know. Devotion is Brahman.

 

स तपोऽतप्यत ॥ ४ ॥

sa tapo'tapyata ॥ ४ ॥

4. He resorted to devotion.

 

Intelligence as Brahman.

स तपस्तप्त्वा ॥ ५ ॥
॥ इति चतुर्थोऽनुवाकः ॥
॥ अथ पञ्चमोऽनुवाकः ॥

विज्ञानं ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् । विज्ञानाद्ध्येव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । विज्ञानेन जातानि जीवन्ति । विज्ञानं प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति ॥ १ ॥

sa tapastaptvā || 5 ||
|| iti caturtho'nuvākaḥ ||
|| atha pañcamo'nuvākaḥ ||

vijñānaṃ brahmeti vyajānāt । vijñānāddhyeva khalvimāni bhūtāni jāyante । vijñānena jātāni jīvanti । vijñānaṃ prayantyabhisaṃviśantīti || 1 ||

5. He having practised devotion,—

 

[ Anuvaka V. ]

1. That intelligence^[11] was Brahman he concluded. From intelligence, indeed, are these beings verily born; by intelligence, when born, do they live; into intelligence do they, when departing, enter.

The śruti proceeds to shew at what conclusion Bhṛgu arrived after pondering over the matter for a fourth time.

Manas being but an organ or instrument like sight, etc., it is dependent on the agent and cannot therefore be Brahman. That intelligence is the agent has been clearly taught by the śruti in the words “Intelligence accomplishes sacrifice.”^[12] The definition of Brahman can be easily applied to the agent; for the agent is the cause of the birth of the body through his acts (karma). The śruti says “Whatever act he does, such does he become. Pure, indeed, becomes he by a pure act, and he becomes impure by an impure act.”^[13] As the agent of such worldly acts as agriculture, intelligence is the cause of the sustenance of the body; and by engaging in battle and other such acts which bring about death, intelligence causes dissolution. Therefore, intelligence, which answers to the definition of Brahman, must be Brahman.

 

तद्विज्ञाय । पुनरेव वरुणं पितरमुपससार । अधीहि भगवो ब्रह्मेति ॥ २ ॥

tadvijñāya | punareva varuṇaṃ pitaramupasasāra | adhīhi bhagavo brahmeti || 2 ||

2. That having known, again, verily, did he approach Varuṇa, the father, saying “Sir, teach me Brahman.”

 

तं होवाच । तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व । तपो ब्रह्मेति ॥ ३ ॥

taṃ hovāca | tapasā brahma vijijñāsasva | tapo brahmeti || 3 ||

3. To him said (Varuṇa): By devotion, Brahman seek thou to know. Devotion is Brahman.

 

स तपोऽतप्यत ॥ ४ ॥

sa tapo'tapyata || 4 ||

4. He resorted to devotion.

 

Bliss as Brahman.

स तपस्तप्त्वा ॥ ५ ॥
                     ॥ इति पञ्चमोऽनुवाकः ॥
                     ॥ अथ षष्टोऽनुवाकः ॥

आनन्दो ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् । आनन्दाध्येव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । आनन्देन जातानि जीवन्ति । आनन्दं प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति ॥ १ ॥

sa tapastaptvā || 5 ||
                     || iti pañcamo'nuvākaḥ ||
                     || atha ṣaṣṭo'nuvākaḥ ||

ānando brahmeti vyajānāt | ānandādhyeva khalvimāni bhūtāni jāyante | ānandena jātāni jīvanti | ānandaṃ prayantyabhisaṃviśantīti || १ ||

5. He, having practised devotion,—

 

[Anuvaka VI.]

1. That Bliss^[14] was Brahman, he concluded. From Bliss, indeed, are these beings verily born; by Bliss, when born, do they live; into Bliss do they, when departing, enter.

Now the śruti proceeds to show at what conclusion Bhṛgu arrived after pondering over the matter for a fifth time.

As agency is associated with pain, intelligence cannot be Brahman. Moreover, these four principles,—food, life, mind and intelligence,—cannot be the cause of the birth of all being; it being impossible that ākāśa and other primary elements of matter should be born of food, etc., which are formed of those elements of matter. On the contrary, Bliss is devoid of pain; being in itself agreeable to all, it constitutes the highest end of man; and it is also the cause of all being including the primary elements of matter such as ākāśa; and for these reasons Bliss may be regarded as genuine Brahman. The nature of Bliss is described by the Chhandogas as follows: “What indeed is the Great, that

is bliss; in the small, bliss exists not; the Great One alone is bliss.”^[15] Objects are of two kinds, great and small. The Great One, the all-inclusive one, is alone bliss; but in what lies beyond the Great One, i. e., in the small one, there is no bliss. The Great One must be bliss. What constitutes the difference between the Great one and the small is taught in the same Upaniṣad as follows: “Where one sees not anything else, that is the Great; and where one sees another, that is the small.”^[16] The non-dual, admitting of no triads,—each of these involving three different elements such as perceiver, perception and the object perceived,—is the Great One; and the universe of duality involving triads is the small. The same Upaniṣad speaks of the Great One and the small as the permanent and the impermanent:

“What indeed is the Great One, That is immortal; and what is small, that is mortal.”^[16]

In the waking and dream states involving duality, we experience only pain, for the most part. If there be pleasure at all now and then, even that is a mere pain, as involving many imperfections, namely, the trouble of procuring it, its inferiority as compared with higher pleasures, and its periṣability. Accordingly, the author of the Śreyomārga says: “Alas! because the small pleasures of the embodied beings are hard to procure and subject to decay, and conduce only to misery, therefore, there are only miseries upon miseries here in this world.” With this view, it has been said that there is no bliss in the small. Bat, in suṣupti and samādhi, the two states of non-duality, bliss reigns, supreme and self-luminous. It should not be supposed that it is mere absence of pain; for, mere abhāva or absence cannot be self-luminous. Bliss is self-luminous because it manifests itself without a pramāṇa or medium of knowledge. Certainly in that state non-duality is not perceived through a pramāṇa ; if it were so perceived, then there would be duality and suṣupti would come to an end. We must, however, conclude that it manifests itself then, because there is no disagreement on the point. If people understand the jāgrat and svapna states without any disagreement, they do understand also the states of suṣupti and samādhi without any disagreement. Thus, as manifesting itself without an external medium of knowledge, the non-dual is self-luminous and is therefore not mere absence of pain. The non-dual is bliss because suṣupti and samādhi are objects of pleasure, like the attainment of sense-objects of pleasure. All men, when they have to do nothing else, lie down to rest, seeking the bliss of suṣupti. And those who possess right knowledge resort to the nirvikalpa-samādhi, only to enjoy the bliss of it. Both these classes of people subsequently call back the bliss of these states to their mind thus: ‘I slept happily’; ‘I felt quite happy in the state of perfect self-composure.’ From these instances of suṣupti and samādhi we may understand that even the non-dual, which existed prior to the emanation of the dual, was Bliss. It is from this non-dual Bliss, that all dual existence including ākāśa and other elements of matter, as also all beings from the Hiraṇyagarbha downwards, is born.

(Question):—Duality and non-duality, creation and dissolution, alternate with each other, again and again, like day and night. Now, since one thing cannot have two such mutually opposite forms, we must hold that one of these forms must be inherent, while the other is extraneous. Which, then, of these is the inherent form and which the extraneous form of the One?

(Answer):—We answer thus: It is agreed that the nondual Bliss of suṣupti is independent of all extraneous means; whereas the dual waking state is based on many-external means such as sense-objects, etc. Therefore the non-dual self-existent Bliss is the upādāna or material cause of the temporary universe of duality; the many things such as foam, waves, bubbles have their birth, being and dissolution in the one ocean.

 

Devotion is the sole means to Brahmavidya.

Thus when Bhrigu, with his mind purified by devotion, found that life, mind and intelligence did not fully answer to the definition of Brahman, he slowly, step by step, dived within till he came to know, by means of devotion alone, that Bliss, the innermost One, was Brahman. Thus the main drift of the teaching of this section is this: the aspirant to the knowledge of Brahman should resort to that supreme kind of devotion, namely, to the perfect composure of the external and internal senses, as the means to that knowledge.

By devotion alone, by applying the process of elimination through anvaya-vyatireka, Bhṛgu was, step by step, led to find Brahman in the Pratyagātman, the Inner Self. Accordingly those who strive to escape from saṃsāra should always resort to the faultless devotion with a view to finding Brahman in the Inner Self.—(Sh

By devotion of concentration, Bhṛgu realised that the non-dual Bliss was Brahman defined as the cause of the universe. Therefore devotion alone is the primary means. And in the sciences of Yoga Patañjali and others have treated at length of several means of attaining this one-pointedness of the mind which is the highest form of devotion.

In the legend narrated above concerning the investigation of Brahman as the cause of the universe, it has been shewn that devotion in one-pointedness of mind is the proximate means to the intuitive realisation of Brahman as bliss. And, now, with a view to remove a doubt as to whether there exists another principle superior even to Bliss, as Bliss is superior to the four principles, food, life, mind and intelligence, the śruti concludes the subject thus:

 

Bliss is the self.

सैषा भार्गवी वारुणी विद्या । परमे व्योमन्प्रतिष्ठिता ॥

saiṣā bhārgavī vāruṇī vidyā | parame vyomanpratiṣṭhitā ||

2. This wisdom of Bhṛgu and Varuṇa is established in the Supreme Heaven.

Now, the śruti, departing from the legend, formulates in its own words the propositions established through the legend.—This wisdom learned by Bhṛgu and taught by Varuṇa, and which first started with the Annamaya Self, culminates in the Highest heaven, i. e., in the Supreme non-dual Bliss hid in the cave of ākāśa of the heart.

This Brahmavidya is well-known, because it is spoken of in other Upaniṣads,^[17] and is realised by one’s own experience acquired through one-pointedness of mind. This culminates in the Highest Ākāśa, i. e., in the principle of Brahman. There are three Ākāśas:

1. That spoken of^[18] as born of the Self, the lowest ākāśa;
2. That spken of^[19] as the Avyākṛta, the Undifferentiated Root wherein all universe is woven as warp and woof; the middle ākāśa.
3. The Highest Ākāśa, the Principle of Brahman, the Indestructible, the basic Reality underlying all phenomenal universe including the Vedas, the One which in the main is treated of in the Aigveda and other scriptures. Than this there is nothing higher to be known. Hence it is that wisdom reaches its culminating point in this principle.

The Supreme Heaven is the Self wherein all distinction of ‘I’ and ‘thou’, of the ego and the non-ego, disappears; and wisdom reaches its culminating point there, where one sees Brahman as the Self and the Self as Brahman. Thus, from a sentence one acquires the knowledge “I am Brahman,” which cannot be the import of a sentence.—(S).

 

The fruits of wisdom.

य एवं वेद प्रतितिष्ठति ॥ ३ ॥

ya evaṃ veda pratitiṣṭhati || 3 ||

3. Whoso thus knows is firmly established.

And whoever else in this fashion dives within, step by step, by the same means of devotion and realises Bliss as Brahman, He also, in virtue of this culmination of wisdom, becomes established in Bliss, in the Supreme Brahman, that is to say, be becomes the very Brahman.

He casts away the five sheaths and attains the supreme support. The wise man attains a firm abode in that support, spoken of in the Ānandavalli as “Brahman, the tail, the support” which is beyond cause and effect.—(S).

The śruti states the immediate visible result of wisdom:

 

अन्नवानन्नादो भवति । महान्भवति प्रजया पशुभिर्ब्रह्मवर्चसेन । महान् कीर्त्या ॥ ४ ॥
                       ॥ इति षष्ठोऽनुवाकः ॥

annavānannādo bhavati | mahānbhavati prajayā paśubhirbrahmavarcasena | mahān kīrtyā || ४ ||
                       || iti ṣaṣṭho'nuvākaḥ ||

4. Possessor of food and eater of food he becomes. Great he becomes by progeny, by cattle, by spiritual lustre, great by fame.

He becomes possessed of plenty of food; we say plenty because, if the mere existence of food were meant, all people possess food, and then nothing peculiar would have been mentioned as the result of wisdom. Similarly, he becomes the eater of food; that is to say, digestive fire is set aflame. He becomes great as possessed of sons, etc., of cows, horses, etc., and of spiritual lustre accruing from the tranquillity of the mind and senses, from wisdom and the like. He becomes great by fame, as a man of righteous conduct.

It is not quite unreasonable to say that this visible result accrues to him who has known Brahman; for, though a jīvanmukta, he perceives duality owing to a slight tinge o£ avidyā still lurking in him. By the grace of the īśvara, even the unenlightened ones come to possess plenty of food; much more so then should they enjoy plenty of food who have realised their identity with Īśvara.—(ū).

Never condemn food.

 

                       ॥ अथ सप्तमोऽनुवाकः ॥
अन्नं न निन्द्यात् ॥ १ ॥

                       || atha saptamo'nuvākaḥ ||
annaṃ na nindyāt || 1 ||

 

[Anuvaka VII.]

1. He shall not condemn food; that shall be his vow.

Moreover, because Brahman has been known through food, let the aspirant regard it as Guru, and so let him never condemn it.^[20] This vow is enjoined on him who has thus known Brahman. This injunction of the vow is meant to praise food; and food deserves praise because it is the means of perceiving Brahman.

Or, † it may be that here, in these last three passages, the Upaniṣad speaks of the fruit accruing to those who contemplate conditioned Brahman, i.e., who contemplate food as Brahman. It does not certainly stand to reason to say that such results accrue to those who have attained all desires and have nothing else to attain.—(S).^[21]
 

 

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The Virāj, the material cause of the physical body consisting of the five gross elements of physical matter perceived by all. The Virāj is the source of all physical objects.—(A).

[2]:

Bṛ. Up. 5-12-1.

[3]:

the cause of the Virāj, namely what is called Prāṇa, the Hiraṇyagarbha, in his aspect of activity or kriyā-sakti.—(A).

[4]:

Ait. Ār. 3-1-2-2.

[5]:

The Hiraṇyagarbha in his aspect of will, saṅkalpa,— ichchhāsakti—(A).

[6]:

Ait. Up. 5-3.

[7]:

Bṛ, 3-9-28.

[8]:

Praśna. Up. 3-3.

[9]:

Prasna Up. 3-9.

[10]:

Bṛ. Up. 4-4-3.

[11]:

The Hiraṇyagarbha in his aspect of intelligence, jñāna-sakti.—(A).

[12]:

Tait. Up. 2-5.

[13]:

Bṛ. Up. 4-4-5.

[14]:

Brahman associated with Māyā. Since the Conditioned cannot be the basic Reality of the Conditioned, Bhṛgu concluded it was the Unconditioned One that Varuṇa hinted at by speaking of Brahman as the cause of the universe.— (A).

[15]:

Chhā. Up. 7-23-1.

[16]:

Ibid. 7-24-1.

[17]:

Muṇḍ. Up. 1-1-l; Kaivalya-Up.

[18]:

Tait. Up. 2-1.

[19]:

Bṛ. Up. 3-8-11.

[20]:

A samnyā«in knowing Brahman should partake of that food only which comes by chance. When the food so obtained happens to be poor or unclean, let him not condemn it.

[21]:

Here Suresvarāehārya differs from Śaṅkarāchārya ; and Sāyaṇa follows the former. Sāyaṇa’s interpretation, as according with the subject-matter of the next chapter, will be given at the beginning of the next chapter.—(Tr.)