Mandukya_Upanishad

to the realisation of asti-bhāti-priya, which is what beckonsus every day in our activities.We want perpetual existence. We do not want to die.This is the sense of astitva, being, in us. We want to becalled intelligent at least. We do not want to be regarded asstupid. This is the urge of bhātitva or chit, consciousness, inus. And we want happiness and not pain. This is the urge ofpriya, bliss, in us. The urge for perpetual existence, ifpossible immortal existence, is the urge of asti or sat –existence. The urge for knowledge, wisdom, illumination,understanding, information, is the urge of bhāti or chit –consciousness. The urge for delight, satisfaction, pleasure isthe urge of that infinite delight of existence-consciousness,priya or ānanda, bliss. It is this threefold blend ofExistence-Consciousness-Bliss that reveals itself eventhrough nāmā and rūpa, and it is not the nāmā and therūpa or the name and the form that we really want in ourlife. In our contact with things, or names and forms, weseek asti, bhāti and priya. We seek satchidānanda throughnāmā-rūpa; we seek Reality in appearance; we seek theAbsolute in the relative; we seek Brahman in all creation;we seek Īsvara in the world. That is what we seek. In all ouractivities, whether it is office-going or factory-labour,whatever be the work that we do, the purpose behind is theseeking for a final release of all internal tension and anacquisition of unlimited satisfaction.So, nāmā-rūpa-prapanca, all this variety, this universe,is ultimately that Brahman – sarvam hyetad brahma. Thisunity can be established by the recognition of asti, bhāti,priya or satchidānanda in nāmā-rūpa, even as we find gold39