Sage Yajnavalkya’s wife Maitreyi asks him to tell her about that which will give her immortality. Yajnavalkya explains to her the nature of Paramatma. He says that the Vedas, Upanishads, Itihasas, Puranas, Slokas, Sutras and commentaries all come from Paramatma. Just as different kinds of smoke come from a fire lit with wet logs, so do all these come from the Supreme One. All the sacred works are like His breath.
However, it is said that sages like Vyasa composed the Itihasas and Puranas. So would this mean that there is a contradiction in saying they came from the Paramatma? There is no contradiction, because these sages are considered aspects of Him, elaborated M.K. Srinivasan in a discourse.
Yajnavalkya then says that the ocean is the goal of waters, the skin the goal of all touches, the tongue the goal of all tastes, the eye the goal of all colours, the ear the goal of all sounds, the mind the goal of all thought and the organ of speech is the goal of all Vedas.
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What the sage intends to convey is that to meditate on the Supreme One, one must control the sense organs. Every sense organ has many experiences, but it is never satisfied with the experiences. So to meditate upon Brahman, control of sense organs becomes necessary. A lump of salt dropped into water makes the water salty. In the same way, Paramatma, which is different from all entities, has the Jivatmas as His body.
Every soul or object is established in Brahman and there is no possibility of any action independent of Him. Paramatma is the knower, known and the instrument of knowledge. One who knows this knows everything, but for that to happen, Paramatma’s grace is needed.