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This is Part 11 of A Catechism of Enlightenment–a serialized commentary on “A Method Of Enlightening A Disciple” from Shankara’s Upadeshasahasri–A Thousand Teachings

17) “He is the self-luminous and formless Purusha, uncreated and existing both within and without. He is devoid of prana, devoid of mind, pure, and higher than the supreme Imperishable.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:1:2)

This first point has already been considered, but how is it I said that Brahman is neither inside nor outside anything? It is true–the upanishad’s intention here is to indicate that Brahman is all-pervading. But never does Brahman “contain” anything nor is It “contained” by anything. The Gita emphasizes this, too: “This entire universe is pervaded by me, in that eternal form of mine which is not manifest to the senses. Although I am not within any creature, all creatures exist within me. I do not mean that they exist within me physically. That is my divine mystery. You must try to understand its nature. My Being sustains all creatures and brings them to birth, but has no physical contact with them.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:4, 5)

Prana is the “substance” of life, but it is really not alive at all, any more than the mind–which is only a field of energy–is conscious. We mistakenly attribute life and consciousness to subtle energies, when they are really only mirrors reflecting the life and consciousness that IS Brahman and the Self. It is wisdom to never attribute divine characteristics to anything in relativity.

18) “As a lump of salt dropped into water becomes dissolved in water and cannot be taken out again, but wherever we taste the water it tastes salt, even so this great, endless, infinite Reality is Pure Intelligence alone. This Self comes out as a separate entity from these elements and with their destruction this separate existence also is destroyed. After attaining oneness it has no more consciousness [of separation].” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2:4:12)

Brahman is an absolutely unitary existence which is pure consciousness alone. All “else” is simply a momentary appearance, a dream.

The Self makes for itself dream-bodies from the dream-substances of the various worlds. And so it becomes “separate”–but only in experience, not in reality. When the bodies taken on by the Self dissolve totally, the mirage of independent, separate existence vanishes.

19) “He [Brahman] transformed Himself in accordance with each form and each form of His was for the sake of making Him known.…This Brahman is without antecedent or consequent, without interior or exterior. This Self, the all–perceiving, is Brahman. This is the teaching of the Upanishads.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2:5:19)

Of course Brahman does not change, but enters into each form and appears to do so, making it Its own. The purpose is not to hide or veil Brahman, but to reveal Brahman to the evolving consciousness that is incarnate along with Brahman in those many forms. This is contrary to ordinary thinking, which shows how little value there is to most people’s ideas. Here, too, the problem is insistence on simple–and therefore simplistic–interpretations of the upanishadic teachings.

Nothing precedes Brahman and nothing succeeds It. There is only Brahman–and the Self–in the beginning, middle, and end. Nothing is either inside Brahman and outside Brahman, because there are no “things” at all.

There is another idea presented here: Brahman has no parts, no “in” or “out,” but is a thoroughly homogeneous Being, an absolute Unity. In God there can be no “inner” or “outer,” no “higher” “or lower,” no “greater” or “lesser.” When the upanishads and Gita appear to contradict this, they are only speaking loosely to get their ideas across to Maya-blinded and limited human minds.

20) “It is different from the known; It is above the unknown.” (Kena Upanishad 1:4)

In relative existence there are both the perceived and the unperceived, the known and the unknown. Even the extremely subtle levels of relativity, despite their luminescence and their power, are still material, and not at all Spirit.

The Gita puts it this way: “But behind the manifest and the unmanifest, there is another Existence, which is eternal and changeless.…It is my highest state of being.” (Bhagavad Gita 8:20,21)

21) “That is called the akasha, is the revealer of names and forms. That within which these names and forms exist is, verily, Brahman. That is the Immortal; that is the Self.” (Chandogya Upanishad 8:14:1)

It is understood that Brahman is All, that whatever we see or experience is a manifestation of Brahman. Yes, it is all a dream, but Brahman is the substratum-substance of the dream. So as yogis ascend in awareness of higher and subtler realms of existence–realms of consciousness–there comes a level which is both relative and absolute, both supremely subtle vibratory energy and spirit-consciousness. This level is indistinguishable from pure Spirit because it is pure Spirit. Yet, it is a “level” that has a relative existence. This is the primal Akasha (Ether) that is properly called Chidakasha–Etheric Consciousness. It is the Element of elements, yet it is the Absolute. It is both relative and transcendental, depending on which way the yogi is “looking.” (Please be aware that to try and make some sense out of this I am having to speak a lot of nonsense to give a hint of what actually is the situation.)

From this Akasha all name and form have arisen, and it itself reveals them–makes them manifest by producing awareness of them. This is possible only because it IS name and form–at least seemingly so. So Brahman and the Self are all that “is.”

22) “This is never born, nor does it die.” (Bhagavad Gita 2:20)

Neither Brahman nor the Self have a beginning or ending, an origin or a dissolution. Nothing that is “born” and is therefore inevitably going to “die” is Brahman. But Brahman is all such. Only a yogi untangles this seeming paradox.

• Read more installments of A Catechism of Enlightenment.

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