Scriptures or even Brahma’s instruction cannot make one realised. Upanishads reinforce that the truth has to be contemplated and realised within oneself, pointed out Velukkudi Sri Krishnan in a discourse.
In the Chandogya Upanishad, Brahma extols the atma as free from evil, old age, grief, hunger and thirst and that the goal of each individual is to desire to understand this atma. Indra and Virochana, eager to seek this self by which one obtains all worlds and desires, approach Brahma for instruction in this regard. Brahma’s first lesson to them is on the physical self. Brahma makes them see their reflection in water. He then makes them see the image of their adorned self as well. He states that whatever they see is ‘the immortal, the fearless and the Brahman.’
As the two take leave with complacency, Brahma observes that they go away without having known the self. How can a sincere seeker wishing to arrive at the heart of the matter accept what is taught without any further scrutiny?
Virochana interprets this as the ultimate truth and deems the body as the atma and disregards the sastras which say that all acts will bear fruit through births. He propagates the demonical view of sensuous outlook.
But Indra looks into the issue and feels something lacking in this explanation. Indra represents the instinct to learn through interpreting what is taught. Indra goes back to Brahma and patiently learns through stages the blissful nature of the atma. Through contemplation and meditation Indra is able to see the self as transcending all the other selves — the ‘anna, prana, mano, vijnana and ananda’ forms of the self — which are integrated in the individual jivatma. The eternal self is beyond all that is tangible.
