This particular Upanishad deals chiefly with the Invisible Cause and the
visible manifestation, and the whole trend of its teaching is to show that
they are one and the same, one being the outcome of the other hence no perfect
knowledge is possible without simultaneous comprehension of both. The wise
men declare that he who worships in a one-sided way, whether the visible or
the invisible, does not reach the highest goal. Only he who has a
co-ordinated understanding of both the visible and the invisible, of matter
and spirit, of activity and that which is behind activity, conquers Nature and
thus overcomes death. By work, by making the mind steady and by following the
prescribed rules given in the Scriptures, a man gains wisdom. By the light of
that wisdom he is able to perceive the Invisible Cause in all visible forms.
Therefore the wise man sees Him in every manifested form. They who have a
true conception of God are never separated from Him. They exist in Him and He
in them.
XV
The face of Truth is hidden by a golden disk. O Pushan
(Effulgent Being)! Uncover (Thy face) that I, the worshipper of
Truth, may behold Thee.
XVI
O Pushan! O Sun, sole traveller of the heavens, controller of
all, son of Prajapati, withdraw Thy rays and gather up Thy
burning effulgence. Now through Thy Grace I behold Thy blessed
and glorious form. The Purusha (Effulgent Being) who dwells
within Thee, I am He.
Here the sun, who is the giver of all light, is used as the symbol of the
Infinite, giver of all wisdom. The seeker after Truth prays to the Effulgent
One to control His dazzling rays, that his eyes, no longer blinded by them,
may behold the Truth. Having perceived It, he proclaims: "Now I see that that
Effulgent Being and I are one and the same, and my delusion is destroyed." By
the light of Truth he is able to discriminate between the real and the unreal,
and the knowledge thus gained convinces him that he is one with the Supreme;
that there is no difference between himself and the Supreme Truth; or as
Christ said, "I and my Father are one."
XVII
May my life-breath go to the all-pervading and immortal Prana,
and let this body be burned to ashes. Om! O mind, remember thy
deeds! O mind, remember, remember thy deeds! Remember!
Seek not fleeting results as the reward of thy actions, O mind! Strive only
for the Imperishable. This Mantram or text is often chanted at the hour of
death to remind one of the perishable nature of the body and the eternal
nature of the Soul. When the clear vision of the distinction between the
mortal body and the immortal Soul dawns in the heart, then all craving for
physical pleasure or material possession drops away; and one can say, let the
body be burned to ashes that the Soul may attain its freedom; for death is
nothing more than the casting-off of a worn-out garment.
XVIII