Nature of Paramatma

Sage Yajnavalkya’s wife Maitreyi asks him to tell her about

that which will give her immortality. Yajnavalkya explains

to her the nature of Paramatma. He says that the Vedas,

Upanishads, Itihasas, Puranas, Slokas, Sutras and

commentaries all come from Paramatma. Just as different

kinds of smoke come from a fire lit with wet logs, so do all

these come from the Supreme One. All the sacred works

are like His breath.

However, it is said that sages like Vyasa composed the

Itihasas and Puranas. So would this mean that there is a

contradiction in saying they came from the Paramatma?

There is no contradiction, because these sages are

considered aspects of Him, elaborated M.K. Srinivasan in a

discourse.

Yajnavalkya then says that the ocean is the goal of

waters, the skin the goal of all touches, the tongue the goal

of all tastes, the eye the goal of all colours, the ear the goal

of all sounds, the mind the goal of all thought and the organ

of speech is the goal of all Vedas.

What the sage intends to convey is that to meditate on

the Supreme One, one must control the sense organs.

Every sense organ has many experiences, but it is never

satisfied with the experiences. So to meditate upon

Brahman, control of sense organs becomes necessary. A

lump of salt dropped into water makes the water salty. In

the same way, Paramatma, which is diferent from all

entities, has the Jivatmas as His body.

Every soul or object is established in Brahman and there

is no possibility of any action independent of Him.

Paramatma is the knower, known and the instrument of

knowledge. One who knows this knows everything, but for

that to happen, Paramatma’s grace is needed.