The Teachings of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
One of the earliest descriptions of Being in the Upanishads can be found in the discussion between Ajatashatru and Gargya in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Ajatashatru, the king of ancient Kashi, offered a thousand cows to Gargya, a brahmana, if he could provide a satisfactory explanation of Being. (Brahmanas refer to texts, as well as priests.)
Gargya said, “The person within the Sun, indeed he is the Being I meditate upon.” The king replied, “Please do not talk to me about that being. While he is the head of all beings, he is not Being.” Gargya went on to talk about the essence of the moon, lightning, space, air, fire, water, sound, the person in the mirror and his shadow. When all his explanations of Being were rejected, the brahmana requested the king to teach him. Ajatashatru led him to a sleeping person and said, “When this person fell asleep, his consciousness gathered together all his senses, including his mind, and restrained them. When he lies dreaming, his consciousness takes his senses and moves about in different worlds as he pleases. When the person is in deep sleep, his consciousness rests too. That resting place is Being.”
Then the king added, “As a spider moves along the thread it has woven from within itself, and as sparks emerge from the fire, so too do all the worlds, divinities, beings and their breaths come forth from the Self that is Being. This manifest world is true and Being is the truth of truths.”
Ajatashatru was among the first in the world to say that Being is not just the essence of natural entities such as lightning, space, air and fire, but also the essential Self of all human beings, as well as Truth itself. Additionally, this world and all its beings are a manifestation of unmanifest Being.
Yajnavalkya (8th century BCE), the chief sage of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, was among the first to describe the consequences of our actions (karma), the meaning of the Self (Atman) and the origin of the universe. According to Yajnavalkya, our universe was first wholly undifferentiated, without name and form and without any duality of subject and object. It was only the essential and undifferentiated Atman. It then said, “I Am Being (Brahman)” and so arose its name and identity.
It continued to differentiate and thereby formed the world and the gods, all humans, food to feed them, senses, the rest of the world.
In a discussion with his wife Maitreyi, Yajnavalkya said our children, ways of life, the worlds, the gods, all are dear to us because the Atman is in them. The self in all beings is this Self, this eternal Brahman. All things in this world are pervaded by it, nor is anything left uncovered. When this differentiation dissolves, then only the Atman remains. In such a non-duality, when the Self is all that remains, then by what and by whom can one smell, hear, speak and understand? By what shall we know That through which all becomes known?
In a famous conversation with Janaka, king of Videha, Yajnavalkya is asked, “What light guides a person here in this world?” Yajnavalkya concludes, “He who sees the Self in his own self and sees the all in the Self, becomes a knower of Being.” Such a knower of Being becomes calm, self-controlled and liberated from all evil and doubt.
In other sections of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Being is also that which is true and real. For example, it is the truth of truths (satyasya satya) that is covered by the brilliant golden disk of the Sun. This notion of Being as revealing the Truth is similar to the ancient Greek view of Truth as disclosing a concealed essence (Greek aletheia).