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This is Part 13 of A Catechism of Enlightenment–a serialized commentary on “A Method Of Enlightening A Disciple” from Shankara’s Upadeshasahasri–A Thousand Teachings

30) “He is never seen, but is the Seer; He is never heard, but is the Hearer; He is never thought of, but is the Thinker; He is never known, but is the Knower. There is no other seer than He, there is no other hearer than He, there is no other thinker than He, there is no other knower than He. He is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. Everything else but Him is perishable.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3:7:23)

Our nature is consciousness, so we are solely witnesses of all that is spread out around us as relative existence. Seeing it, we find ourselves “in” the ever-changing drama and begin to think that we are a part of it. Unfortunately, the seer begins to think he is the seen. And since we live in this dream along with billions of other dreamers who, like us, cannot perceive their real nature, we are told by all those voices that we are the ever-shifting patterns of light and shadow, that there is nothing but the shadow-plays in which our consciousness is immersed. So how could we be other than confused?

But in time we begin to intuit the unseen seer, the unheard hearer, the unthought thinker, the unknown knower. When we develop the courage to dare the venture, we seek out the way to find this Unknown, however much others–and our past experience–may insist that there is no such Person. When that urgency is well-developed in us, then we find others who hold the same conviction, and find the testimony of those that have sought and found. Writings of sages come to us. If our aspiration is strong enough we may even come into the orbit of those who have sought and found, whose very existence will be our assurance that the Goal can be reached.

“But if that is true, why don’t I see it?” This question in many variations is asked by us and others when we first hear of realities hitherto unheard of by us. Shankara tells us by citing the statement of the Chandogya Upanishad:

31) “The mind consists of food.” (Chandogya Upanishad 6:5:4; 6:6:5)

This is incredibly important. It is the mind that marks us out from animals; it is the mind that enables us to seek and find the Goal Supreme. The mind is an essential factor of liberation because it controls the way we handle all the other aspects of our being. For this reason Sri Ramakrishna continually told aspirants: “The mind is everything.”

This upanishadic verse tells us that “the mind consists of food.” Some of the other verses from that section of the upanishad are these that explain how food becomes mind. “Food when eaten becomes threefold. What is coarsest in it becomes feces, what is medium becomes flesh and what is subtlest becomes mind.” (Chandogya Upanishad 6:5:1) “That which is the subtlest part of curds rises when they are churned and becomes butter. In the same manner, that which is the subtlest part of the food that is eaten rises and becomes mind.” (Chandogya Upanishad 6:6:1, 2) So the character or quality of the food we eat determines the character and quality of the mind. This is a principle we must take extremely seriously. Many mental and emotional problems arise solely from diet. And the quality of intellect depends utterly on diet. There is no possibility of anyone comprehending the full range of dharma and esoteric philosophy unless their mind–and therefore their diet–is pure. This applies to the practice of yoga as well.

If the mind is everything, so also is our diet. Diet is discussed in the Bhagavad Gita (17:7-10) and in Spiritual Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet.

32) “Having created all this, He entered into it. Having entered into it, He became both the manifested and the unmanifested, both the defined and undefined, both the supported and unsupported, both the intelligent and the non-intelligent, both the real and the unreal. The Satya [the Real, the True] became all this: whatever there is. Therefore call It the True.” (Taittiriya Upanishad 2:6)

Brahman has not really “become” anything, but we have only the language of this world to speak in. The important points are that Brahman is within all AS all, that even the “unreal” is real in essence, and that all this should be called Real–not sneered at or despised as “unreality.” This is real Advaita.

33) “Entering into them He rules all creatures.” (Taittiriya Aranyaka 3:11:12)

There is no chaos. Everything is perfectly ordered and under divine control, whatever the appearance may be.

34) “This Self has entered into these bodies, as a razor lies hidden in its case, or as fire, which sustains the world, lies hidden in its source. People do not see the Self, for when viewed in parts It is incomplete….The Self alone is to be meditated upon, for in It all these become unified. Of all these, this Self alone should be known, for one knows all these through It.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1:4:7)

Although Brahman is ever present, we do not see It because we are only looking at fragments of reality. Only in the Self, in Brahman, are the fragments united into the Whole. Therefore we should meditate on the Self, leaving all partial things aside. Yet, when we know the Self, all will be seen by us as the Self in perfect unity.

35) “So, piercing the end [the brahmarandhra, the crown of the head], the Lord entered through that door. That door is known as the vidriti, the cleft. This is the place of bliss.” (Aitareya Upanishad 1:3:12)

The Self enters the body through the crown of the head, the brahmarandhra, “the hole of Brahman,” the subtle (astral) aperture in the crown of the head, and dwells in the thousand-petaled lotus (sahasrara) that corresponds to the brain in the physical body. Liberated beings are said to exit the physical body through this aperture at death. Consequently yogis keep their awareness in the sahasrara as it is the abode of bliss.

36) “That Self hidden in all beings does not shine forth; but It is seen by subtle seers through their one-pointed and subtle intellects.” (Katha Upanishad 1:3:12)

Here is another very yogic citation. None but those who focus and refine their minds, themselves becoming focused and refined, can see the Self. “Therefore, Arjuna, become a yogi.” (Bhagavad Gita 6:46)

37) “That Deity thought: ‘Let Me now enter into those [potentially] sentient beings.’” (Chandogya Upanishad 6:3:2)

Here the upanishad is speaking of the bodies which can become sentient–at least through association–by the entrance of Brahman and the Self.

38) “The embodied one rests happily in the nine-gated city.” (Bhagavad Gita 5:13)

The Self is ever immersed in its own blissful being, even though embodied in the subtle and physical bodies. Incarnation is not a misery for the spirit–only for the ego-mind. This is an important point because many think that bliss is attained by dropping the body or somehow cutting off awareness of it. What is really needed is reestablishment in the Self. Nothing else will work.

• Read more installments of A Catechism of Enlightenment.

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