Higher Knowledge and Right Understanding

By Arun Singha Mahapatra, Founder – Aadya Meditation Centre and Academy (AMCA)

Higher Knowledge and Right Understanding — these are not mere ideas for contemplation, but the very essence of the human journey. Every being moves through countless experiences, joys and sorrows, births and endings, seeking freedom from the unseen chain of suffering. Yet liberation is not found in the world of change; it shines in the awakening of right understanding.

The sages of the Upanishads proclaimed that beyond the fleeting knowledge of objects and names lies a higher knowing — Para Vidya — by which one realizes the timeless truth of the Self. When this wisdom dawns, ignorance dissolves, and life itself becomes a movement of peace.

To know rightly is to live rightly. To live rightly is to be free. Thus, Higher Knowledge and Right Understanding are not distant ideals; they are the natural flowering of human consciousness, the sacred goal of existence — the end of seeking and the beginning of awakening.

Having glimpsed the vision of liberation through Higher Knowledge, we may now ask — what truly distinguishes the higher from the lower, the real from the unreal? The seers of Vedanta invite us to explore this very question, for without right understanding, knowledge remains incomplete. It is through careful inquiry (vichāra), contemplation, and the awakening of discernment (viveka) that one begins the ascent from ignorance to illumination.

Let us, therefore, enter the path that the Upanishads reveal — the way of Para Vaidya, the knowledge that liberates, and Apara Vaidya, the knowledge that binds — and understand how true wisdom leads the soul beyond all suffering.

Introduction

Right understanding does not come by chance. It grows through sincere study of the scriptures and the three foundations of Vedanta — the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutra, known together as the Prasthana Traya.
From such study, one begins to see the difference between Vidya and Avidya — knowledge and ignorance.

Avidya hides the truth and makes us see the world of names and forms as real. Vidya removes that veil and reveals what is truly real — the one unchanging Reality called Brahman, the source and essence of everything.

Mundaka Upanishad teaches that there are two kinds of knowledge: Apara Vidya, the lower knowledge that deals with the changing world, and Para Vidya, the higher knowledge that reveals the Imperishable. Through this higher knowledge, one becomes free from ignorance and the endless cycle of suffering.

Right knowledge and right understanding are therefore essential. When understanding becomes realization, it goes beyond words. It is not a theory or belief; it is direct experience.
Faith and devotion are helpful, but they are not enough by themselves. True realization comes only when there is inner clarity, reflection, and purity of mind.

The Two Fields of Knowledge

Let us approach this sacred study with an open heart and a clear mind — not to collect information, but to discover  Truth itself. This is the Truth that the ancient seers of the Upanishads realized as the Self within all beings.

According to the wisdom of the Vedas, human life has one sacred goal —to rise from ignorance to knowledge, from bondage to freedom. The Vedas speak of two distinct fields of knowledge.

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Apara Vidya — The Lower Knowledge

Apara Vidya includes all worldly sciences, arts, rituals, languages, and disciplines that help us live and function in the material world.
This knowledge is useful,

but it is limited to the realm of change — it cannot lead to liberation.

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Para Vidya — The Higher Knowledge

Para Vidya is the knowledge by which the Imperishable is known — the direct realization of Brahman, the ultimate Reality.
This higher knowledge is the heart of Vedanta. It is the wisdom that frees us from illusion and reveals the timeless truth that all existence is One.

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Essential Questions of Higher Knowledge

To understand this higher wisdom, we must reflect on a few key questions that shape human existence.

1. The Purpose of Life

Why are we here? What is the goal of this human birth?
The Upanishads declare that the true purpose of life is to know the Self — to realize that our innermost being is not separate from Brahman.

2. The Nature of Brahman — The Supreme Reality

Brahman is infinite, formless, and beyond all limitations.
It is Pure Consciousness — the source and support of everything.
It is not an object of belief but something to be directly realized through self-awareness.

3. The Origin of the Universe

From Brahman arises the entire universe — just as sparks arise from fire or a web from a spider.
The world appears, exists, and dissolves back into that same Reality.
The universe is not apart from Brahman; it is Brahman seen through the veil of Maya.

4. Karma, Rebirth, and Liberation

Through many births, the soul moves under the power of Maya, the illusion that hides Truth.
Then this veil is lifted through right understanding, one awakens to immortality — not as a reward, but as one’s natural state.

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The Path to Freedom

All these truths are aspects of Higher Knowledge — Para Vidya.
>To study them is to walk the path from knowledge to wisdom, from wisdom to realization, and from realization to freedom.

The Eternal Question

The Mundaka Upanishad is one of the ten principal Upanishads — a profound Sanskrit text embedded in the Atharva Veda.
It begins with a question that echoes through the ages, a question that arises from the deepest longing of the human heart:

“What is that, by knowing which, everything else is known?”

The great householder Saunaka, filled with humility and devotion, approaches the sage Angira and asks this timeless question.
It is not a question born of curiosity, but of wisdom — for Saunaka seeks not fragments of knowledge, but the very source of all knowledge.

Through this question, the Upanishad leads us to the heart of Vedanta: the search for that one Reality which, when known, makes everything else known.
This is the beginning of the journey toward Higher Knowledge — Para Vidya, the knowledge of Brahman, by which ignorance ends and Truth shines by itself.

Then sage Angira starts explaining about two kinds of knowledge.

Apara Vidya begins with the Karma Kanda, the section of the Vedas that deals with rituals and actions. Those who follow the Karma Kanda rituals such as Agnihotra do so with the desire to gain pleasures or rewards through their actions. But this is not the ultimate goal of human life.

Sage Angira said to the householder Saunaka:

“The sages studied the rituals described in the Vedas and went beyond them to the Truth.
You may find comfort in them; if you seek the rewards of your actions, remain with them.
But if you seek the eternal, go beyond.”

A few lines from the sacred text explain that even the fire sacrifice, Agnihotra, becomes null and void if even one of its eight prescribed conditions is not fulfilled.

It is also said that better than the Karma Kanda is the Upasana Kanda, the path of worship and meditation — a middle way that refines the heart and prepares the seeker for the Jnana Kanda, the path of knowledge.

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Sparks from the Flaming Fire

Just as countless sparks rise from a blazing fire, so too all beings, all worlds, and all elements emerge from the one eternal Reality — Brahman.
The sparks shine for a moment and return again into the same flame.

So it is with creation: all arises from Brahman, lives in Brahman, and dissolves back into Brahman.
The many are but expressions of the One — the infinite playing as the finite, the timeless appearing in time.

Know This Truth from the Higher Standpoint

The fire sparks, though one in nature with the fire, leap out from it — countless and bright.
In the same way, unnumbered beings arise from the Everlasting, live for a while, and finally merge back into It.
Thus, all creation is but the play of the Infinite appearing as the finite, and returning again into the Infinite.

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The Absolute Nature of Brahman — Nirguna and Saguna

Nirguna Brahman — The Formless Absolute

The Divine, in Its highest truth, is formless and featureless — without birth, breath, or mind.
Free from all qualities and distinctions, It transcends space, time, and causation.
Present within all things and yet beyond them, It pervades existence silently and completely.
Untouched by change or limitation, It remains the purest of the pure, the unmoving foundation of all that appears and disappears.

Even the causal principle — the source from which all arises — is not beyond It.
Nirguna Brahman transcends even the transcendence of Ishwara.
It is the ultimate Reality, the silent witness, the changeless foundation of all that seems to exist.

Saguna Brahman — The Subtle Manifestation as Hiranyagarbha

When Brahman is viewed in association with Maya, It appears as Saguna Brahman, the Lord with attributes — the source, sustainer, and dissolver of all worlds.

Hiranyagarbha, the Cosmic Mind or subtle totality, from Him arise prana (life force), the mind and senses, and the five great elements — space, air, fire, water, and earth — that uphold and nourish the universe.

According to the traditional Bhasya, this represents the creation of the subtle body at the collective level (Samashti), showing that mind, prana, and elements are manifestations of Brahman through the power of Maya.

From Brahman, associated with Maya, arises Ishwara, the Creator. From Ishwara come the five subtle elements (tanmatras), and from them arise the mind and pranas — born from the sattvic and rajasic aspects respectively.

Saguna Brahman — The Gross Manifestation as Virat

When the same divine Consciousness expresses as the Virat, the Gross Macrocosm, It becomes the total visible universe — the Cosmic Person whose Fire is His head, Sun and Moon His eyes, the quarters His ears, the Vedas His voice, Wind His breath, the Universe His heart, and the Earth His feet.

He is the inmost Self dwelling in all beings. The Upanishad describes this as the grand vision of the Panchagni, the Five Cosmic Fires — the sacred cycle where Fire gives rise to the Sun, the Sun to the Moon, the Moon to the Rain, Rain to Food, and Food to Man. From Man comes seed, and from seed, life is born again.

Thus, through the divine play of Saguna Brahman — as Hiranyagarbha and Virat — all creation, subtle and gross, arises, lives, and returns eternally to the one Supreme Purusha.

Origin of Karma Kanda Rituals

From Him arise the hymns of the Rig and Sama Vedas, and the sacrificial formulas of the Yajur Veda, which are used in the preliminary rites.
>From Him also come the sacrifices, the sacrificial posts, the offerings, the time of sacrifice, the sponsor of the sacrifice, and the worlds that are gained through such acts. All these, purified by the Lunar and Solar paths, originate from that same Supreme Source.

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Origin of Upasana Kanda Rituals

From Him are born the gods of various hierarchies, the celestials, humans, animals, and birds.
Out of that same Supreme Source flow the in-breath and out-breath, the corn and barley, and the power of austerity that purifies life.
In Him also arise faith, truthfulness, continence, and all the virtues that uphold existence and preserve harmony in the universe.

The Secret of the Groups of Seven

The seven pranas are born from Him alone.
So too are the seven flames — the seven tongues of Fire mentioned in the First Mundaka, Second Khanda, Mantra 4 — and the sevenfold fuel and sevenfold oblations.
In the “cave of the heart,” within all beings, lie these groups of seven — including the seven vital points or  chakras where the pranas are distributed and through which life is sustained.

Our Physical World

From Him arise the oceans, rivers, mountains, herbs, and their healing properties.
Amidst all the elements — within and beyond them — abides the innermost Self, the silent witness, the source and essence of the entire physical world.

Brahman and the Universe are One

The Purusha, the Supreme Being, alone is this entire universe — all sacrifices, all austerities, all worlds, and all forms of life.
He is the Supreme Consciousness, the highest and immortal Brahman.

He who knows this Purusha as dwelling in the cavity of the heart — the inner shrine of awareness — unties the -knot of ignorance even here, in this very life.
Such a one attains freedom not after death, but in the midst of life itself.

O noble seeker, this is the ultimate realization:
That Brahman and the Universe are One —
the Infinite manifesting as the finite,
the Eternal shining through all that changes,
the One appearing as the many,
and returning ever to Itself in silence.

Conclusion

This universe — with all its subjects and objects — exists only as a condition upheld by the Supreme Consciousness, upon which all appearances are experienced by the perceiving individual.
Without that Consciousness, the universe has no independent reality.

What is truly real in the universe is nothing other than Existence–Consciousness–Bliss (Sat–Chit–Ananda).
The countless names and forms are but appearances, not self-existent substances.

When the Purusha — the Supreme Being — is known, all is known.
In truth, there is no such thing as “all” apart from this One Purusha.
>The knowledge of the Purusha dissolves the illusion of duality, destroys ignorance, and reveals the state of immortality and absoluteness — the realization that the knower, the known, and the knowing are one and the same Reality.

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Recommended Readings

• Back to the Truth: 5000 Years of Advaita — Dennis Waite

• The Ten Principal Upanishads — Shree Purohit Swami and W. B. Yeats

• Brahma Sutra Bhasya of Sankaracharya — Translated by Swami Gambhirananda

• Commentary on the Mundaka Upanishad — Swami Krishnananda

• Mundaka Upanishad — Swami Gurubhaktananda

• Eight Upanishads, Vol. 1 (with commentary of Sankaracharya) — Translated by Swami Gambhirananda

• The Taittiriya Upanishad (Shikshavalli, Anandavalli, Bhriguvalli) with Sri Shankara’s Commentary — Swami Satchidanandendra Saraswati

• Additional information and resources are available online.

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A Note to Readers

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For a complete understanding of the subject, please read the posts sequentially from the beginning of the series.

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