The Upanishads

“Behold the universe in the glory of God: and all that lives and moves on earth.”

This statement introduces the reader to the Ultimate Reality Within the Individual. It implies that instead of God being separate from the universe and the beings within it, they are “in the glory of God,” who is in all things.

“When a sage sees this great Unity and his Self has become all beings, what delusion and what sorrow can ever be near him?”

Another key part of the texts’ exploration of Ultimate Reality Within the Individual is the role of spiritual enlightenment. The goal of spiritual practices like meditation is to eventually achieve unity with Brahman through the Atman (See: Index of Terms). At the same time, this passage reveals the role emotions play in spiritual enlightenment, in that it provides “joy” (49) and freedom from “fear” (56).

“There is the path of joy, and there is the path of pleasure. Both attract the soul. Who follows the first comes to good; who follows pleasure reaches not the End.”

The Upanishads emphasize that purity, knowledge, and spiritual practices lead to enlightenment and union with Brahman, speaking to The Importance of Knowledge in Spiritual Liberation. Otherwise, the desire for material goods and pleasures leads one to samsara (103), the cycle of death and reincarnation.