A Sacred Teaching on Identity, Reality and Liberation

 In a gathering of teacher and disciple, the sage Yajnavalkya imparts the wisdom of the Self to his devoted student, Paingala, revealing the essence of non-duality and ultimate liberation.

Paingala asked, “O revered teacher, please explain in detail the great teachings that lead to liberation.” 1

Yajnavalkya replied: “One should meditate on the truth of ‘That Thou Art’ and ‘I am Brahman.’ In this context, ‘That’ refers to the unseen, all-knowing divine being—endowed with the power of maya and existing as pure being, consciousness and bliss—the very source of the universe. ‘Thou’ refers to the individual self, shaped by personal experience and identified with the sense of ‘I.’ When the veiling power of maya and ignorance is removed, the Supreme and the individual self are realized as one and the same—Brahman, which is not separate from the true Self.