The word Upanishad simply means sit
...d in any modern day lab: the very concept of Atman. Here the guru describes two characteristics of the Atman by providing an example for each. The first example is that of a fig: the fruit is divided open and one of its seed is taken under consideration. Then the seed is divided and nothing is perceived. The guru then says that as there is nothing that anyone can find in the fig seed. Yet the same seed is capable of giving birth to the “great Nyagrodha (sacred fig) tree”, in the similar fashion, the very essence of life which is common to all living beings is unseen by naked eyes. That essence is Atman, the very reality of all living beings present. The other example is of a pinch of salt and water. The salt by itself is white crystalline solid; it has its own taste and its own shape. Water, on the other hand, is transparent liquid that has no shape of its own and no taste what so ever. Now, if placed in water, salt looses its physical existence and becomes one with the water. The presence of salt in water is not available to human eyes. The guru then asks one of his shishyas to take a sip from the water from a given end of the pot. The pupil identifies the presence of salt in the water. The guru then asks the pupil to taste the water from the middle of the pot; the pupil has the same answer, then some other end, but the answer remains constant: it is salty, it is invisible, and has no visual property of salt. The guru then explains that, as the pupil is unable to prove the presence of salt in water, yet after drinking it he agrees with the presence of salt in the water. Therefore in a similar manner what lives in the whole world is the Atman. That is the reality. That art thou. The Atman is all-pervasive. It is everywhere. It is that finest essence that the whole world has as itself; Atman is the reality. The passage also seems to be enforcing equality among all beings. Be it a boar, human, tiger, fly, or, bear. Atman is all pervasive, its source is unknown, and , it is the very essence that supports life in all that is flesh. Similarly, universe, the Brahman is unknown and endless. The knowledge of Brahman is beyond the endurances of human learning. And Brahman suppor...