“My son,” said the father, “that subtile essence which you do not perceive there, of that very essence this great Nyagrodha tree exists. Believe it, my son. That which is the subtile essence, in it all that exists has itself. It is the True. It is the Self; and thou, my son, art it.”
In Katha Upanishad a sage declares:
The whole universe trembles within the life (Brahmă); emanating from it (Brahmă) the universe moves on. It is a great fear, like an uplifted thunderbolt. Those who know it become immortal....
As one is reflected in a looking-glass, so the soul is in the body; as in a dream, so in the world of the forefathers; as in water, so in the world of the Gandharvas; as in a picture and in the sunshine, so in the world of Brahmă....
The soul's being (nature) is not placed in what is visible; none beholds it by the eye.... Through thinking it gets manifest Immortal become those who know it....
The soul is not to be gained by word, not by the mind, not by the eye, how could it be perceived by any other than him who declares it exists?
When all the desires cease that are cherished in his heart (intellect) then the mortal becomes immortal.
When all the bonds of the heart are broken in this life, then the mortal becomes immortal....[146]
The salvation of the soul is secured by union with Brahmă, the supreme and eternal Atman (Self), “the power which receives back to itself again all worlds.... The identity of the Brahmă and the Atman, of God and the Soul, is the fundamental thought of the entire doctrine of the Upanishads.”[147]
Various creation myths were framed by teachers to satisfy the desire for knowledge regarding the beginning of things. The divine incarnation of Brahmă is known as Brahma (masculine) Prajapati, and Nãrãyana.
In one account we read: “At first the Universe was not anything. There was neither sky, nor earth, nor air. Being non-existent it resolved, ‘Let me be’. It became fervent. From that fervour smoke was produced. It again became fervent. From that fervour fire was produced.” Afterwards the fire became “rays” and the rays condensed like a cloud, producing the sea. A magical formula (Dásahotri) was next created. “Prajapati is the Dásahotri.”
Eminently Brahmanic in character is the comment inserted here: “That man succeeds who, thus knowing the power of austere abstraction (or fervour), practises it.”
When Prajapati arose from the primordial waters he “wept, exclaiming, ‘For what purpose have I been born if (I have been born) from this which forms no support?...’ That (the tears) which fell into the water became the earth. That which he wiped away became the air. That which he wiped away, upwards, became the sky. From the circumstance that he wept (arodít), these two regions have the name of rodasí (worlds)....”
