According to the 1st Khanda of Chapter Three of Mundaka Upanishad two birds, always united, of equal name, dwell upon one and the same tree. One of them enjoys the sweet fruit of the Banyan Tree and the other looks round as a witness. The deluded soul i.e. the individual soul residing on the same tree with the supreme soul remains immersed in the relations of the world and other materialistic desires but when it sees the other, the long worshipped ruler as different and away from all worldly relations and his glory, then it becomes devoid of all desires and his grief ceases. When one realises this Supreme Brahman he gets rid of all virtues and vices and becomes spotless. He obtains the highest identity. This life shines forth as all the beings. The wise man who thus, knows the real Self does not speak of anything else. His sport lies in the soul, his love and action remain in the soul and he becomes the greatest among the knowers of Brahman. This great soul can be realised and obtained by the constant practice of truth and by devotion, by perfect knowledge and by practising the duty of a Brahman student. Truth is the only path to conquer the real Self. By truth the road towards the gods is opened. The Rishis whose desires have been satisfied proceed on this supreme abode of real truth. This being of Brahma is great, divine and is of a nature that cannot be conceived by thinking. He is more subtle than what is subtle and shines in different ways. It is more distant than what it distant, and also near in this body. One who realises it for Him he resides within the cave. He can neither be apprehended by the eye, nor by speech, not by the other senses, nor by devotion or rites. He can only be achieved whose intellect is purified by the light of knowledge, who beholds him through meditation. This subtle soul is to be known and understood by thinking, into which life divided in five fold divided, has entered. The organ of thinking of every creature is pervaded by the senses. The soul manifests itself in that purified organ in which the soul manifests itself. A man purified in intellect, gains that world and those desires which he imagines in his mind. |