If you ask this question to a Hindu, probably he would flounder to give a straight simple answer. He could speak for hours about what Hinduism is all about but never define it precisely in unambiguous words.

Neither the Advaitis nor the Dwaitis would accept this equation. Each side is biased by what their preceptors have said. And the debate goes on, about which is the right view. I think if we can see that both are same, many confusions would get resolved. But how do we do that within the framework of the Upanishads?

This word Brahmacharya is probably the most misunderstood word. People somehow link it to ‘preserving sexual energy’, being celibate, transmuting the ‘sexual power’ etc. There is a long history behind all these notions and it is hard to see the light.

As per the traditional belief, whatever truth one finds in the Upanishads is an attempt by the Upanishadic sages to explain their experience, that they had when they were in deep state of meditation. That is the realization they arrived at. It is a different matter whether they could describe their experience exactly as they went through it. But anyone who goes on their path, would surely experience the very same truth and it needs no further validation.

What is this realization as per the Upanishads?

The Bhagavad Gita has a complete chapter on meditation – chapter 6, Dhyana Yoga. This deals with how someone undertakes this path of realization or attainment of ultimate truth. It also explains what happens when someone reaches the culmination of this path and what is the ultimate truth that one realizes.

Akka Mahadevi is on the final phase of her journey. She wants to make the impossible possible. Though without a body consciousness, she does have a body and that body has its own limitations. It wants to see the formless in some form. That is because it can only perceive forms. It does not understand abstract things.

In the previous episode, we saw how a young girl namely Mahadevi dared to take on the entire world. She did not care how the worldly people look at her. She discarded all identities, even the identity as a female!

She went around naked without any hesitation or feeling of shame.