He who has attained the ultimate is a Jnani, say the scriptures. He knows that there is nothing further to be attained or known. This realisation is absolute and true in his consciousness. This is the state where all search ends.
But lack of the knowledge of truth is the cause of restlessness in life where there is fear of our temporary existence and panic regarding the everyday uncertainties. Though all of us aim for peace and happiness, life offers this only in snatches and along with difficulties and sorrow as well. The Upanishads speak of the various issues and aspects of spiritual quest that individual aspirants can draw upon to find their own answers, said Sri K. Srinivasan in a discourse. The Mandukya Upanishad teaches us to understand that we are all the essence of immortal bliss comprising truth, knowledge and everlasting happiness. But knowing the theories of truth cannot make one realised. The process of meditation by which intellectual perception becomes an inward realisation, when knowledge is transformed into realisation is taught. Training the mind forcibly is meditation. To see the reality behind the empirical world and to reconcile the pulls of both is a challenge. If one starts thinking about this world and its workings, it is not possible to remain ignorant of the innumerable doshas in it. The steady concentration of the mind on the real builds the implicit faith in this knowledge giving it a reality. A person with such faith gains equanimity. He understands that this world in a creation of the mind even as a dream world is. He learns to remain unaffected and is able to act in a detached manner.