Jyothischaranaabhidhaanaath

The word Jyothi (Light) does not connote the physical light of the material world. When material limits or qualifications like charana or feet are ascribed to light, how can the immanent, all-pervasive Entity be indicated? Such a limited or qualified phenomenon cannot become the object of adoration and meditation. When this word Jyothi is understood to mean the light embodied and having certain natural characteristics, it cannot signify Brahman, the Universal Absolute.

The Purusha Suktha, the Hymn in praise of the Cosmic Person, declares: "Paadoasya viswa bhoothaani": "The entire Cosmos with all Its Component Elements is but one quarter of His Glory." Therefore, It is beyond bounds, measures or degrees. The Jyothi illumines Heaven and beyond, It reveals even Brahman. That which makes known, by its splendour, the era preceding the origin of living beings, and the regions beyond even the farthest and the highest, "That" is indicated by the word Jyothi. It shines in that supremest among supreme Loka (region).

Note also that the same Jyothi shines everywhere, at all times, in all beings. It comprises Asthi (Sath; Existence), Bhaathi (Chith; Illumination; Knowledge), and Priya (Ananda; Joy; Bliss). All things seen in the Universe have the unseen as its base. All things that move have the unmoving as its base. So, too, for every living being, why, for the very Cosmos itself, the invisible Brahman, the Supra-Truth, Para-Brahman is the Basis. It is this Para-Brahman, the Omni-Self, that causes the Cosmos to shine. Jyothi is the word appropriate only for this Light and not the limited, inferior, physical light. Jyothi has neither beginning, nor end. It is the Param Jyothi (Supreme Light), the Adwaitha Jyothi (the Jyothi without a second), the Akhanda Jyothi (the Eternal Light). In other words, It is the Para-Brahman Itself, for all this is revealed only in and through It. The Jyothi referred to here cannot be interpreted otherwise. The Upanishads do speak of Brahman as having 'feet' but that does not restrict or reduce Its vastness in any way.