The teacher is the first participant, the pupil the second, and their union takes place through the recitation of the Vedas
(that is, the pursuit of knowledge).
To reach the supreme goal, truth or austerity alone do not suffice, one must study and teach the Vedas. After having taught the Vedas, the teacher instructs the pupil to be truthful and to follow his duty.
In giving, we should give with faith, with joy, with modesty and with kindness. In our conduct, we should not be too severe but devoted to duty.
He who gives food amply, food in abundance will be given to him. He who gives food meanly, food will be in short supply for him.
All creatures that dwell upon the earth are produced from matter. They live on matter, and in the end return to matter.
The inner self consists of
spirit. It is the giver of life – it breathes life into all living beings. The self is the shrine of the eternal spirit. The eternal spirit is hidden in the depths of our heart, it pervades all of space.
If a man has understanding, and if he does not swerve from it, he leaves all sins behind. He is not worried about doing either good or evil, for he has understood the reality that lies beyond both good and evil.
Bhrigu Varuni asked his
father about the eternal spirit. His father replied that the eternal spirit is that from which beings are born, that by which they live, and that into which they enter at the time of death. (The body sustains the spirit, the spirit sustains the body of matter.) Having understood this, he again went to his father. His father said that penance is the means of knowing the eternal spirit.
The Taittiriya Upanishad forms part of the Yajur Veda. The Upanishads are the speculative or philosophical portion of the Vedas. They are termed Jnana Kanda (or the part dealing with knowledge).