| 11. That Imperishable
Goal which the knowers of the Veda declare, which the selfcontrolled and
the passionfree enter, which desiring they lead the godly life,That Goal
will I declare to thee with brevity.Those who understand the teaching of
the Veda declare the Imperishable as devoid of any attribute whatsoever.
The sruti says: This verily is that (which you wished to know of), the Imperishable,
O Gargi, as the brahmanas (the knowers of the Brahman) declare, not gross,
not subtle, &C. The samnyasias, ever controlling them selves, free from
passion, enter the Imperishable, on attaining to right knowledge. And desiring
to know the Imperishable they enter on godly life (Brahmacharya) with a
Guru, Of That Goal which is called Akshara, the Imperishable, I shall tell
thee with brevity.Having started with the words He who verily among men
meditates on the syllable Om till death, what region will he thereby attain
to ? he (Pippalada) said to him (Satyakama): O Satyakama, this, the Brahman,
the Higher and the Lower, is the syllable Om and it was subsequently said:
He who will meditate on the Supreme Purusha by the threelettered syllable
Om he is borne up by the Samahymns to the Brahmaloka, to the region of Brahman
Again, having started with the words Elsewhere than in dharma and elsewhere
than in adharma, tell me that thou seest ; (KathaUpanished, 213), the sruti
says, that goal which all the Vedas speak of (i.e·, are intended for), which
all the austerities speak of, desiring which they lead the life of Brabmacharya
(celibacy), that goal I tell thee in brevity ; It is this, the syllable
Om .In such passages as these, the syllable Om, regarded either as an expression
of the ParaBrahman or as a symbol of Him like an idol, is intended for persons
of dull and middling intellects as a means of knowing the ParaBrahman. |
