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BRAHMANISM
lime experience of the devotee beholding the inner vision of his God in concentrated absorption is only a prelude to the final ineffable crisis of complete illumination, beyond the spheres even of the divine form. For the attainment of this highest goal the very last trace, the very seed, of "ignorance" (avidyā) must be rooted out. Wherewith the bliss of the nondual Brahman will be present automatically-the experience of this bliss itself being the only direct proof in the world for the fact of the transcendental identity. Through thought and rational methods one can establish indirectly, or suggest something of, the final nondual state; but the one purpose of Vedānta is not to suggest, but to make known. This goal is expressed through the frequently quoted Vedic-Upaniṣadic aphorism, brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati: "He who realizes Brahman through knowing becomes Brahman." 145
The basic paradox of the entire discipline is that, though the identity of jiva and Brahman, which is the sole permanent reality, is beyond change, nevertheless it must be realized and reestablished by means of a laborious process of temporal human endeavor. The case is compared to that of a man who has forgotten the precious jewel he wears about his neck and so suffers grief and anxiety, believing it to be lost. When he meets someone who points it out to him, nothing is changed except his ignorance-but this (at least to him) means a great deal.
The direct way to realization is through absorption in the transcendental state beyond qualifications. For this the texts and the teachings of the guru prepare the candidate by the indirect, preliminary, negative way of "the maxim or method (nyaya) of the refutation (apavada) of the erroneous imputations or superimpositions (adhyāropa)." ." 146 The verb adhy-a-ruh, "to place one thing on another," also "to cause, to produce, to bring
145 Mundaka Upanisad 3. 2. 9; cited in Vedāntasära 29. 146 Vedantasära 31.
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