9. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Mantra 2.4.13 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

The entire message, the entire teaching, can be summarized in one word.

In Sanskrit, sarvatma bhava, which means being the essence or the self of the entire universe, of everything.

Or to put it even more simply, oneness.

The whole universe is one with you.

You are one with the entire universe.

A little qualification here, a technical qualification.

Oneness does not mean in this case a collection.

For example, there are all these things in this room.

Suppose you put them all together, it's a bundle of things.

All the things in one bundle, the things in this room, a collection, an inventory, a catalogue of books.

Not in that sense.

The oneness we are talking about here, the oneness of all things, would still exist even if all things did not exist.

So, it is oneness because it is Satchidananda, existence, consciousness, place, appearing as this entire universe.

If the appearance were to disappear, still the reality would remain.

And that reality you are.

In fact, that is the discussion today.

We will see.

So, that reality you are.

You are that one reality appearing as everything.

When you look at everything, you are the one reality at the heart of everything.

Yajnavalkya teaches this by showing that the self is everything.

How does he show that? He says this entire universe arises from the Atman, exists in the Atman and disappears back into the Atman.

And the examples he used, we have seen those examples, wonderful metaphors he has used.

The example of the fuel burning and smoke and various colors of sparks and grains of smoke emanating from that fuel.

Similarly, the entire universe has arisen from the one fire called Brahman or Atman.