The world and the Supreme Being

Yama says that the goal of all sadhana can be reached by a man of self-control. He who lives with this understanding, becomes the clever driver of his chariot and controls the reins of his mind. He surely reaches the end of his journey to the Supreme Being. The sense objects are beyond the senses because the senses are meaningless without the objects. Beyond the objects, is the mind, which attaches the senses to the objects.

Beyond the mind is the buddhi or the understanding. 

What is this understanding? It is that which sees the mind and understands how it functions. Beyond this understanding is the Great Self, which is the core of one’s own consciousness, that lies within and is the Witness.

Beyond that Great Self, is the Purusha, the Unmanifest, the final goal. Beyond that Great Self that watches everything - all the activities of the senses, the mind and the intellect - is the Unmanifest. This is the Universal Mind considered not as the mind of the individual but as the sum total of all minds.

Actually, if you look at it carefully, there is one universal mind that manifests through different centres or different brains. Try to understand this. We all experience joy and sorrow. The cause of these individual joys and sorrows may be different but they are both common to all.

This word Purusha shows that the ultimate goal is not ‘nothingness’ or an impersonal object. Purusha is a conscious entity but not a limited entity. Purusha is the final goal, the end of the journey. There is nothing beyond That.

The Buddhists also believe ‘That is the end, beyond which there is no movement, it is the other shore.’

That Self is hidden in all beings and does not shine forth. It is not evident, when you look at a being, that there is this inner Self, this Purusha inside. It can be seen only by the seers through their subtle minds and their sharp understanding. They see the Self within.

Yama urges Nachiketas not to be complacent. He says,’ Now that you have attained all your boons, do not be complacent. Try to understand them and realize the Self. Be alert, be careful because this path that you are taking is as sharp as the edge of a razor and is hard to cross.’

Yama says, ‘Awake Nachiketas! Understand that you are not the little fellow you think you are. You are that formless, limitless Self, which can neither be destroyed nor is born – that ever existing Supreme Self. Knowing that Self and abiding in that Peace, be free from the fear of death.’