The Brihadaranyaka extols the Supreme Brahman as the Changeless Reality. The entire Prapancham, the earth, fire, air, space and ether are held within the Supreme Brahman; the entire concept of Time seen as the past, present and future is also within this Brahman; and this Brahman stands beyond all Space and Time eternally.
For an individual to internalise this truth and experience Brahman as the atma and the antaratma in the entire creation is a difficult spiritual exercise, pointed out Nochur Sri Venkataraman in a discourse. The story quoted by Sri Ramakrishna illustrates how it is difficult to imbibe subtle truths.
A sishya, taught by a guru to see Narayana swaroopa in all beings and objects, tries to sincerely understand the import of this teaching in daily life. Once, he sees an elephant on the road and goes towards it thinking of his guru’s instruction to see the Lord in it. He does not heed the mahout’s warnings to keep away from it as it is amuck and gets hurt. Is not the mahout also the Lord’s swaroopa?
Many a time, partial understanding of esoteric matters is a natural hurdle to all. The Upanishad goes on to say that the atma in the individual is the subtlest of all, enabling all the complex acts of thought, word and deed. But ignorance makes one think that he sees, or hears, or knows, overlooking that which makes his eyes, or ears or understanding perform their respective functions. To recognise one’s ego, gunas, etc as the manifestations of Prakriti and to see the same Prakriti in the world of creation is crucial if one has to avoid falling into the trap of worldly pulls.
When the dog inside the house barks at a street dog and the latter retorts, the master does not get involved. The wise align with the atma within which stands aloof as a mere witness.