Taittiriya Text

"That from which all beings are born... .. Try to know that. That is Brahman." (Taittiriya Upanishat). This aims at a non-dual Brahman s the only reality and does not define a saguna Brahman. It defines Brahman as the efficient, as well as, the material cause of the universe , since it is the place of the dissolution of the universe. Being the material cause of everything in the universe, It is the basic reality behind everything. This gives rise to the intuition knowledge that Brahman is non-dual and everything else is unreal, It (Brahman) being the efficient cause it also proves that It is non-dual and it precludes anything else as being the efficient cause. It is through vivarta or apparent modification through avidya, nesience, that Brahman is transformed into the universe. This univese is therefore illusory.

   There are some who argue that 'although a Pot is made of clay, it is the result of the handiwork of a potter'. If clay is the efficient cause potter is the material cause. This is not the case of Brahman who is both the efficient and the material cause of the universe. It is also true that the universe is like the rope that is mistaken for a snake. The Snake is superimposed on the rope due to avidya, nesience, or mistaken identity. What we see is just an image of the objects perceived by the senses due to the focused attention of the mind; the object is projected by the eyes on the mind screen and the image is transformed into cognition by the brain. These are stored in memeory and cause the illusion- like rope appearing like snake in dark (avidya, ignorance). When light falls on it, knowledge dawns, the snake (image) disappears and the real rope (cognised as real) appears. Even the rope is not real since it is based on our perception. Hence, the world, the rope, the snake, all the phenomenal objects for that matter, are illusory as long as the Consciousness (Chit-Shakti), 'Light of the Soul', Atmajnyan, does not shed light on it! So, we all live in a make-believe world and we ourselves put on a mask in our day-to-day life and act as actors on a stage. No wonder, this prompted Shakespeare to say- "the world is a stage and we are all actors and spectators, too."