By its light, all shine variously

tadetaditi manyante'nirdeśyam paramam sukham |

katham nu tadvijānīyām kimu bhāti vibhāti vā  ||2-2-14||

“That is this” - thus the wise know that highest, indefinable happiness. How would I know that? Does it shine, or does it shine distinctly?

This mantra is in the form of a question; it may be assumed that it was asked by naciketa, or yamarāja himself raises and answers the question.

tadetaditi manyante - the wise refer to “that” brahmānanda not as a remote concept, but as “this” ātmānanda, which is intimately available to them here and now. This nature of happiness is paramam sukham - the highest happiness possible. anirdeśyam - it is indescribable. Although it is indescribable, this happiness is directly owned by the wise. katham nu tadvijānīyām - how can I make that ānanda available to me? In other words, by what means can I own this highest happiness as my nature if it is not describable? kimu bhāti vibhāti vā - does this nature of happiness shine (evident) for me directly or does it not shine distinctly, whereby it becomes evident to me through some means?

Yamarāja answers.

na tatra sūryo bhāti na candratārakam nemā vidyuto bhānti kuto'yamagniḥ |

tameva bhāntamanubhāti sarvam tasya bhāsā sarvamidam vibhāti ||2-2-15||

The sun does not illuminate that (ātmā), nor the moon and the stars.

These flashes of lightning (also) do not illumine it. How, then, can this fire illumine it?

Everything shines only after that (ātmā), which is self-effulgent. By its light, all

this shines variously.

It is an important mantra that gives a relevant answer to naciketa’s question. The question was how to get brahmānanda? Yamarāja answers that brahmānanda is never an object or experience which I can attain like any other thing. The moment I reduce brahmānanda to a specific form or an experience, I subject it to the limits of time and space. Brahmānanda is not a time-bound experience which comes and goes; it is my nature which is ever present, thus ānanda should be translated as anantaḥ - limitless. How should I own up brahmānanda? It can only be owned as myself. I don’t need to do anything to get this highest happiness, because it is me alone. What I need to do is to gain the qualifications required to understand this fact.

Then, when is brahmānanda available? The answer to this is the counter question: when is it not available? Mantra 2.4 of Kenopaniṣad says that brahman is self-evident in every experience. To explain that brahmānanda is me alone, yamarāja defines the nature of consciousness in this mantra.

na tatra sūryo bhāti - the sunlight does not illumine consciousness brahman. Even as the illuminator of the entire world, it cannot make this nature of brahman become evident. Similarly, na candratārakam nemā vidyuto bhānti - the moonlight, the stars and the flashes of lightning do not illumine the consciousness brahman. kuto'yamagniḥ - then how can an ordinary flame illumine it? Why consciousness can’t be illumined by all these illuminators? Because effects can’t illumine the cause. In fact tameva bhāntamanubhāti sarvam - everything shines only after that consciousness ātmā, which is self-effulgent. When the sun, moon, etc. are known because of consciousness, how can they make consciousness known? tasya bhāsā sarvamidam vibhāti - all varieties of experience are evident only because of the light of consciousness. Where can I find this consciousness? That consciousness is me alone, who proves the existence of everything, but does not require any proof to exist.

Everything in the creation is known only because of self-evident and self-proven consciousness. That consciousness is ānanta - limitless nature which is not depending on others, and where everything depends upon it to exist. That limitlessness is the highest happiness - ānanda. When there are no limitations, there is no basis for the absence of happiness. You need not seek that ānanda; you are ānanda.