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UPANISAD
as that being taught by all the other great masters of the new wisdom--some notion of which can be gained by a brief review of a number of typical Brāhmanic similes and metaphors, culled at random from the Upanişads of that prolific period.
Ghațasaņvītam ākāsain niyamāne ghațe yathä, ghato niyeta nākāšam tathā jivo nabhopamaḥ.
"Space is enclosed by carthen jars. Just as space is not carried along with the jar when this is removed [from one place to another), so Jiva [i.e., the Self when contained in the vessel of the subtle and gross body), like infinite space (remains unmoved and unaffected]." 16
It matters not to Space whether it be inside or outside of a jar. The Self, similarly, does not suffer when a body goes to pieces:
Ghatavad vividhākāram bhidyamānam punaḥ punaḥ, tad bhagnan na ca jānāti sa jānāti ca nityaśaḥ.
“The various forms, like earthen jars, going to pieces again and again, He does not know them to be broken; and yet He knows eternally.” 16
The Self does not beconie aware of bodies. They can be broken, they can be whole. The Self is the knower of Its own undifferentiated plenitude, beyond form, just as the element ether is beyond form. And just as the element ether, being the first-born of the five elements, contains potentially all the qualities of the other four, as well as everything that can emerge from them (all the objects and figures of sensual experience), so
16 Amptabindu Upanişad 19. 18 Ib. 14.
17 Air, fire, water, and earth are supposed to have emanated, in that order, from ether.
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