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This is the 18th and final installment of A Catechism of Enlightenment–a serialized commentary on “A Method Of Enlightening A Disciple” from Shankara’s Upadeshasahasri–A Thousand Teachings

72) “At the end of many births the wise man comes to Me, realizing that all this is Vasudeva [“He who dwells in all things”]; such a great soul [mahatma] is very hard to find.” (Bhagavad Gita 7:19)

It is only the ripened soul that at last comes to the realization that all is Brahman, and therefore all is his own inmost Self. Such a one is a “great soul” by reason of his identification with the Supremely Great. They are hard to find since they live quiet and contented while the ignorant run about teaching and “enlightening” others. In India I learned quite early that those who volunteered their “wisdom” were ignoramuses, and that the wise had to be asked persistently to tell me anything worthwhile. Sometime Indian texts liken sages to a honeycomb: you have to keep poking them to get the honey of their knowledge.

73) “When in the waking and dream states there is, as it were, another, then one can see the other, then one can smell the other, then one can speak to the other, then one can hear the other, then one can think of the other, then one can touch the other, then one can know the other.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:3:31)

But when awakened we know that the “other” is Brahman, is our Self.

74) “By one clod of clay all that is made of clay is known, the modification being only a name, arising from speech, while the truth is that all is clay.” (Chandogya Upanishad 6:1:4)

When the yogi knows the “clod” that is his individual Self, then he knows all selves and the Self of the selves–Brahman. He knows: “All is Vasudeva” as pointed out a couple of sections ago.

75) “For when there is duality, as it were, then one sees another, one smells another, one tastes another, one speaks to another, one hears another, one thinks of another, one touches another, one knows another. But when to the knower of Brahman everything has become the Self, then what should he see and through what, what should he smell and through what, what should he taste and through what, what should he speak and through what, what should he hear and through what, what should he think and through what, what should he touch and through what, what should he know and through what? Through what should one know That Owing to which all this is known?

“This Self is That which has been described as ‘Not this, not this.’ It is imperceptible, for It is never perceived; undecaying, for It never decays; unattached, for It never attaches Itself; unfettered, for It never feels pain and never suffers injury. Through what should one know the Knower?

“Thus you have the instruction given to you. This much, indeed, is the means to Immortality.

“Having said this, Yajnavalkya renounced home.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:5:15)

This catalog of facts has been cited before from other parts of this same upanishad. Two points at the end are worth noting. One is the statement that the teaching on the Self is the means to immortality, since it awakens and stimulates the worthy student to pursue knowledge of the non-dual Brahman. The other is the statement that having said all this Yajnavalkya “renounced home.” So will all who truly hear with inner ears the truth and glory of the Self. They will refuse to live anywhere but in the Self. It is not a matter of where or how their body lives.

76) “To the seer, all things have verily become the Self: what delusion, what sorrow, can there be for him who beholds that oneness?” (Isha Upanishad 7)

So it is.

77) “In this there is but a single one-pointed determination.” (Bhagavad Gita 2:41)

In summation Shankara quotes this and the following verse to remind us that mere philosophizing is not what he is doing. We are being advised to be completely practical. The first thing needed is “a single one-pointed determination” to know the Self.

78) “When a man completely casts off, O Arjuna, all the desires of the mind and is satisfied in the Self by the Self, then is he said to be one of steady wisdom!” (Bhagavad Gita 2:55)

The final and most effective steps are two: completely casting off all desires and becoming satisfied in the Self–not through ideas or feelings but by the Self alone, by entering into and regaining the experience and identification of the Self. Then such a one is of permanent wisdom.

79) “In the beginning this aggregate of desirable objects was but the Self, one only. He cherished the desire: ‘Let me have a wife, so that I may be born as the child; and let me have wealth, so that I may perform rites.’ This much, indeed, is the range of desire; even if one wishes, one cannot get more than this. Therefore, to this day, a man who is single desires: ‘Let me have a wife, so that I may be born as the child; and let me have wealth, so that I may perform rites.’ So long as he does not obtain each one of these, he thinks he is incomplete.

“Now, his completeness can also come in this way: The mind is his Self, speech his wife, the vital breath his child, the eye his human wealth, for he finds it with the eye; the ear his divine wealth, for he hears it with the ear; the body his instrument of rites, for he performs rites through the body.

“So this sacrifice has five factors–the animals have five factors, men have five factors and all this that exists has five factors. He who knows this obtains all this.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1:4:17)

We live in two worlds, inner and outer. The inner is the world of the Self, the outer is the Not-Self. Completion in this latter world avails nothing, but we are swept from life to life and in each one find ourselves incomplete and once again strive for a completeness that by its nature must melt away–if it is ever attained, which in most lives it is not. Finally, weary of seeking the will-o-the-wisp of outer completeness, we turn within and find another path altogether.

The five factors of liberation are common to subhuman as well as human life. These are the primal elements that are reflected in us as five faculties which are also great powers. Those who are moving out from the human level to the divine realm employ Yoga to unite the mind, speech, prana (breath), inner eye, and inner ear through Yoga. In this way the seeker becomes complete, becomes the Self alone.

The final message

This is the final counsel of Shankara to us who have followed his course of instruction in the path to enlightenment. Like Krishna (Bhagavad Gita 6:46), his last message to us is: “Therefore become a yogi!”

The entire text of A Catechism of Enlightenment is now available on the main Atma Jyoti website. Visit it now and bookmark it for future study.

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