There the sun does not shine, nor the moon and stars; nor do these lightnings shine. How then can this fire? That, shining, everything shines after. By its light all this is illumined.

This is one of the most profound declarations in all spiritual literature. Brahman is svayaṃ-prakāśa (self-luminous); it needs no external source to be illumined. All luminaries—sun, moon, stars, lightning—are luminous only by reflection, not by essential nature.

The verse inverts our ordinary perception. We normally think the sun illumines the world; here it is revealed that the sun itself depends on a prior, more fundamental light. Brahman is the light by which light itself is possible. It is not a shining object among others, but the very shine in virtue of which all appears.

Meditation practice brings us close to this truth. When we close our eyes, what light remains? Not physical light, but the luminosity of consciousness itself. The yogi who rests in this bhā (primordial light) no longer seeks enlightenment—recognizing that they are, always have been, and always will be, the inexhaustible source of light in which all phenomena arise and dissolve.