The Philosophy of the Upanishads c9.s2.t8.3

c9.s2.t8.3

(4) Deeper still is found the vijñânamaya âtman, “the self dependent on knowledge,” which, as the accompanying verse declares, offers knowledge in place of sacrifice and works, while recognising and worshipping the deity as a separate and independent being. This position also we must abandon like a sheath, in order finally to penetrate (5) to the ânandamaya âtman, “the self dependent on bliss,” as the innermost kernel of man and of nature as a whole. This âtman dependent on bliss, “before whom words and thought recoil, not finding him,” is no longer an object of knowledge. It is, in contrast with the reality of experience, that which lies beyond on the other side, unutterable, unfathomable, an unconsciousness, a not-reality. “For it is he who creates bliss. For when a man finds resting-place and peace in that invisible, unreal, unfathomable one, then has he attained to peace. When, however, a man assumes therein an interval, a separation (between himself as subject and the âtman as object), then his unrest is prolonged. Moreover, it is the unrest of one who deems himself wise (while making Brahman an object of knowledge).”¹