The Upanishads

The universe is composed of three aspects: “[N]ame, form, and action” (127). These are made possible by the word, the eye, and the body respectively, and Brahman is what is behind all three.

A Brahmin named Gargya visited a king named Ajatasatru and offered to teach him about Brahman. Gargya preached that Brahman was the spirits in the sun, the moon, lightning, “ethereal spaces” (128), the wind, fire, water, a mirror, the sound of people walking, the heavens, a shadow, and the human body. At each point, Ajatasataru replied that he only considered those things that are provided by the gods or comprise different parts of life things to be admired or feared. After Gargya finished and said this was the sum of all his knowledge, Ajatasataru replied, “If this is all, we know nothing” (129). 

After that, Gargya offered to become Ajatasataru’s pupil, even though it was rare for a Brahmin to be the student of a Kshatriya (the royal and warrior class in Hindu culture). Ajatasatru asked Gargya where a person’s consciousness goes when they are asleep. When Gargya said he did not know, Ajatasatru explained that a soul goes to the “land of dreams” (129) and rests with Brahman, who exists inside the heart.

The sage Yajñavalkya told his wife Maitreyi that he planned to retire to a life of quiet contemplation. While he declared that he would leave her with his material possessions, still “there is no hope of life eternal” (130) in wealth. In response, Maitreyi begged her husband to give her his knowledge instead of his wealth. Yajñavalkya told her that love for one’s wife, children, material goods, religion, power, the heavens, the gods, and animals is not enough, but they also have to be loved for the presence of the Spirit within them. All these things “rest on the Soul” (131). Then Yajñavalkya taught that “after death there is no consciousness” (132) because, when liberated, the individual spirit dissolves into the Spirit like salt in water.

The king Janaka asked a series of questions to the sage Yajñavalkya. When asked what is “the light of man” (133), Yajñavalkya replied that it is the sun and the moon because those lights determine a person’s activities. When there is no moon and sun and the person is asleep, then their light is the Soul. 

Janaka then asked what the Soul is. Yajñavalkya answered that the Soul “is the consciousness of life” (134) which exists in the material world, the spiritual world, and the world of dreams. Dreams are made by people themselves using “materials from this all-containing world” (134), which reflects how the Creator is within all people as well. This is also why a person should not be woken up quickly because they could be injured by being awakened before the Spirit fully returns.

Deep sleep is a “place of rest” for the Soul, where it experiences “no desires” (135), no despair, and no sensations. Also, there is “no duality” (136), such as when one is in “the world of Brahman” (137). There, when an individual soul becomes one with Spirit, that individual’s joy is even greater than that of a wealthy person or even the gods themselves.

When a body dies, the Spirit “returns by the same way to life, wherefrom he came” (138). The author compares the process of dying to when a king is welcomed by his court and a village. Similarly, the “powers of life” (138) assemble to accompany the Spirit as it merges with the consciousness of Brahman. Drawing from the “wisdom and works” from its former life, the Soul seeks out a new, better form “like that of the ancestors in heaven,” the “celestial beings” (139), the gods, or the creator god Brahma himself.

Karma is the principle which dictates one’s fate. If one’s actions are good or evil, that determines what a person becomes. This is because human beings are “made of desire” (140), which shapes their faith, and their faith shapes their deeds. When someone is free of desire for material things, their only desire is for the Spirit. This allows them to become one with the Spirit after death. Likewise, if someone succumbs to “unwisdom,” then they can end up in “worlds of no joy, regions of utter darkness” (141). Knowledge of the true Self, the Atman, God, and that there is oneness instead of a plurality are necessary to avoid such a fate.

Brahman is sought through “holy sacrifices, charity, penance and abstinence” (142). The sages who best sought Brahman did not seek to have families or material wealth, and instead lived like “pilgrims” (142). The person who becomes one with Brahman is free from evil, sin, and fear.