4.DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPREME INDICATED IN TERMS OF ITS QUALITIES.

The fourth wave starts from here, in 4 continuous mantras:-

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Though the Eternal has no quality of its own, since the language can explain only in terms of its gunas (nature)  or experiences, the qualities of the Self are indicated here, which are not to be taken literally. Certainly, it is a futile attempt to try to explain the infinite in terms of a finite language. The inability of the language to express the Inexplicable is found enlarged and clearly expressed in the very language in which the Upanisad is trying to explain the Self in these four mantras.

"The Atma or the Self is motionless":-

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The word 'motionless'is only an indication of all-pervasiveness of the Supreme Realty. An all pervading Reality cannot and need not  move anywhere  because  there is no spot wherein it is not already existing. This idea is indicated in the epithet 'motionless'used there by the great Rishi.

"The Self is swifter than the mind ":-

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The mind is the fastest thing in the Universe. But the Self runs faster, because the Reality in the form of 'existence' is already there, before the mind could reach the spot of its contemplation. 

"The devas (sense-organs) could not overtake":-

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The sense-organs cannot overtake the Self, since the sense-organs can only perceive objects, and, the objects themselves can remain and function only in a medium of Reality. Whenever  the sense-organs perceive their objects, they function only in the field of Consciousness. Take away the Consciousness, and the sense-organs should declare their inability  to act or function.

"Sitting, it goes faster than those who run after it":-

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The Self though seemingly inactive (motionless) in its own Real Nature, seems to be most active. 

Example:- The steam  in the railway engine can be described  as motionless in its own real nature. The water evaporates to create the steam, and the steam moves the train. Of course, the train is being pulled by the dynamism of steam. The steam can, therefore, be explained as that which 'goes faster than those who run after it '----the bogies.

"Matarisva ( the element Air ) supports the activity of all living beings":-

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The Supreme is the very source from which air takes it potency, by which it gains its miraculous capacity to sustain, nourish, and maintain life in the forms. The same idea is much more vividly brought out in the following mantram.