Brahma-sūtra Pāda 1 Conclusion: Dazed with Delight
Channel: Consciousness Research Centre
Date: 18/04/2022

Śrī Ādi-Śaṅkarācārya writes in the introduction to his bhāshya on Chhāndogya Upaniṣad:
“The entire course of Action has been duly comprehended as, by itself, conducive to the attainment of the regions of the Moon through the Path of 'Smoke',-and as conducive to the attainment of Brahman through the Path of 'Light', when accompanied by a full comprehension of the nature of such deities as Prāṇa and the rest. lt has also been explained that for those who have followed the bent of their natural inclinations and have deviated from both of the said Paths, there is a fall downwards into a painful state; through neither of the said two paths there can be absolute fulfilment of the highest aim of man. Hence, it becomes necessary to expound the Science of the Self without a Second, which, apart from all Action, directly puts an end to the cause of the entire process of births and rebirths as represented by the said three Paths. It is for this purpose that the Upaniṣad has been promulgated. 

…For one who has firm belief in the true doctrine of the 'Secondless Self', there is cessation of the pangs of Birth and Rebirth and also the attainment of Final Liberation. "All these persons attain the purer regions, only the man centred in Brahman attains immortality.''

Thus though this treatise deals mainly with the Science of Non-duality, yet herein are described several forms of Meditation and Worship, which are conducive to several desirable ends ; because these forms of meditation and worship bring about results nearly as good as Liberation, and appertain to slightly modified forms of the One Pure Brahman, which have been spoken of as 'Consisting of the Mind', ' having the Life-breath for its Body ' 
and so forth; all this meditation and worship brings about the fulfilment of Actions and is related to the auxiliaries of those Actions. There is a :similarity also retween the Meditations and the Cognition of the One,-in that both are esoteric in their chara:ter and both fall within the perview of the Mind; just as the Cognition of One without a second is a function of the Mind, so also are the other forms of Meditation and Worship mere functions of the Mind.