Summary:

CH 1, SECTION 1, VERSE 6: Through the prakriyā of neti-neti, the seeker recognizes that the ever-present “I am” is independent of body and thought. Using anvaya-vyatireka, one sees that the body is absent in dream and sleep, yet “I am” remains. Similarly, thoughts come and go, but “I am” persists, revealing that the true “I” is unborn (agotram) and untouched by change. Consciousness is the cause and substance of all things, like gold pervading ornaments. The one doing this inquiry, initially identified with body-mind, must recognize itself as the Cause.

CH 1, SECTION 1, VERSE 7: Analogies. Spider-web: Creation emerges from Brahman without external material, just as a spider produces and withdraws its web. Earth-plants: Creation is non-separate from its source; plants appear different but are still earth – like the world is not other than Brahman. No personal motive, unlike the spider. Hair-man: A conscious being produces inert hair effortlessly, illustrating how inert world arises from Consciousness with no effort or desire.

CH 1, SECTION 1, VERSE 6: Nature of Higher Knowledge

यत् तत् अद्रेश्यम् अग्राह्यम् अगोत्रम् अवर्णम्
अचक्षुः-श्रोत्रम् तत् अपाणिपादम्
नित्यम् विभुम् सर्वगतम् सुसूक्ष्मम्
तत् अव्ययम् यत् भूतयोनिम् परिपश्यन्ति धीराः (१.१.६)
yat tat adreśyam agrāhyam agotram avarṇam
acakṣuḥ-śrotram tat apāṇipādam
nityam vibhum sarvagatam susūkṣmam
tat avyayam yat bhūtayonim paripaśyanti dhīrāḥ (1.1.6)

Brahman is that which is not the object of sense perception or organs of action, which is unborn, which does not have any attributes, which does not have eyes or ears nor hands or legs, which is eternal, which becomes many (manifold creation), which is all-pervasive, the most subtle, that which is free from decline and disappearance, which is the cause of all beings and which the qualified people see very clearly.

In previous session, we discussed what Consciousness is. Now we can perform a prakriya to helps us recognize our nature as that very Consciousness…

Process to Understand Your Nature as Consciousness:

Step 1: Neti-neti

At the beginning, your self-revealing “I am” (gold) is taken to be the body-mind “ornament”. Upanishads need to “separate” the two using neti-neti…

We will use anvaya-vyatireka-prakriya (what remains – what doesn’t) to do neti-neti:

• 1. Body:
     • Waking state: Body is – ‘I am’ is.
     • Day dreaming state: Body is not – ‘I am’ is.
     • Dream state: Body is not – ‘I am’ is.
     • Sleep state: Body is not – ‘I am’ is.
     • Conclusion: “I am” survives, and doesn’t need body for it’s continued am-ness. If I had a real connection to body, then when sense of body goes away, “I am” should too. Difference between Consciousness and “I am”? Same, because that which survives enjoys consciousness.
  2. Mind:
     • Thought ‘Sky is blue' is – ‘I am’ is. Thought is not – ‘I am’ is.
     • Thought ‘I am not liberated' is. Thought is not – ‘I am’ is.
     • Like for ___ is. Like for __ is not – ‘I am’ is.

Conclusion: If “I am” doesn’t need one thought, then it doesn’t need millions of thoughts to exist. “I am” survives. Shows ‘I am’ is not born (agotram) in every thought. 

Step 2: Recognize the things you negated are you (the substance of them), but you are not them

Metaphor: Just like gold inheres everywhere throughout the ornament, Consciousness inheres all throughout your body-thoughts and sense of “I” – since Consciousness is the cause, or the substance of all things.

Who is doing this inquiry?

The I, whose identity is in body-mind, but is the Cause of everything. That ignorant “I” (the inquirer) must see it’s not bound to the body-mind, but is right now the cause – just how the gold is cause of ornaments. And where will you find the cause-of-universe? The last place you’d ever look; that which is the nearest of the nearest.

NEXT VERSE: Three analogies to demonstrating how Consciousness can manifest as many forms…

CH 1, SECTION 1, VERSE 7: Three Similes (Spider, Plants, Hair)

यथा ऊर्णनाभिः सृजते गृह्णते च
यथा पृथिव्याम् ओषधयः सम्भवन्ति
यथा असतः पुरुषात् केशलोमानि
तथा अक्षरात् सम्भवति इह विश्वम् (१.१.७)
yathā ūrṇanābhiḥ sṛjate gṛhṇate ca
yathā pṛthivyām oṣadhayaḥ sambhavanti
yathā asataḥ puruṣāt keśalomāni
tathā akṣarāt sambhavati iha viśvam (1.1.7)

Just as the spider creates and withdraws its web, just as the plants and trees come into being from the earth, just as hair on the head and body grow from a living person, in the same manner, here, the creation (world) comes into being from akṣara Brahman.

The Spider Analogy – Brahman as Both Efficient and Material Cause:

Shows from one, comes many. Spider creates its web without requiring external materials.

The spider produces the thread from within itself and later withdraws it back. Similarly, Brahman doesn't need external help or materials to create the universe.

Brahman, like the spider is simultaneously the maker (efficient cause) and the material (material cause) of creation. If it was only the maker, or only the material, then it wouldn’t be all-pervasive.

This analogy refutes Sāṅkhya philosophy that separates intelligent cause (puruṣa) from material cause (prakṛti).  

Limitation of example: Spider web is always one type of creation. Spider is away from the web. Spider has selfish motive for creating. Next example compensates…

Earth and Plants Analogy – Creation Without Separation

Creation is not separate from its source: Plants, though appearing different from the earth, are composed of the earth's minerals and remain connected to it. Likewise, the world, though appearing different from Brahman, is never separate from it.

No motive: While the spider creates its web for a purpose (catching prey), the earth has no selfish motive in producing vegetation. Similarly, Brahman's creation is not driven by personal desire or need.

Limitation of example: Plants are sentient – what about insentient? How can inert world arise out of conscious Brahman? Next example compensates…

Hair Growth Analogy – Conscious Source, Different Effect:

Inert can arise out of a conscious being: Hair grows naturally from a living, conscious person, yet the hair itself appears inert. This shows that a conscious entity can produce an insentient or non-conscious object.

Effortless creation: Hair and nails grow effortlessly. Creation is an effortless expression of Brahman's nature.

Dream Analogy: (Explains all 3 analogies)

Dream provides the best analogy for understanding creation. In a dream, the dreamer is both the efficient cause and the material cause of the dream world.

The dream world (of sentient/insentient objects) appears different from the dreamer yet is not separate, and you had no motivate for the dream. It appeared of it’s own accord. You didn’t initiate it. When the dream ends, everything resolves back into the conscious being.

Similarly, the manifest world is a manifestation of Brahman. Brahman lends existence to everything – it is the “is-ness” that pervades all things.

When you say a flower “is” — that “is-ness” never goes away. If you destroy the flower, the flower is gone, but the petal “is.” If everything disappears, the absence of form “is.”

This “is-ness” is never negated – it is Brahman, the reality of everything.

Purpose of Analogies:

Helps show 4 possibilities using analogies, all which will be explained logically in next verse 8.

• Possibility 1: Unchanging Awareness is the cause of change/transformation/movement, yet Awareness itself doesn't undergoing change (it is vivartta-upādāna; non-changing material cause – thus Vedanta isn’t pantheism where God becomes the world).
• Possibility 2: Wants to show how it's possible for the world to appear as many while being non-separate from its cause; Awareness.
• Possibility 3: Shows how knowing one reality (Brahman), you can come to know the essential nature of everything.
• Possibility 4: Intends to show world/creation is not the production of something new that didn't exist before. Brahman contains the unmanifest universe, just like Gold contains unmanifest ornaments, or spider contains the potential for the web, or seed containing the unmanifest tree with all its programming for roots, trunk, branches, and fruits.

NEXT VERSE: How many comes from Consciousness…

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Recorded 8 July, 2025