Having known that, again he approached Varuṇa his father, saying: ‘Lord, teach me Brahman’. To him he said: By tapas investigate Brahman. Tapas is Brahman. He practiced tapas. He, having practiced tapas, concluded: Knowledge is Brahman.

Bhṛgu continues his investigation and reaches his fourth conclusion: vijñānaṃ brahma — intellect/knowledge is Brahman. The vijñānamaya-kośa represents the level of buddhi — the faculty of discrimination, determination and knowledge.

While the mind (manas) is fluctuating and receptive, the intellect (vijñāna/buddhi) is determining and active. It is the agent that makes concrete actions possible. As the text says: “By the intellect sacrifice is accomplished.”

The intellect fulfills the definition of Brahman as cause: all actions, thoughts and physical forms depend upon the decisions of the intellect. In a practical sense, we are what our intellect determines.

However, Bhṛgu still perceives a limitation. The intellect, although more subtle than the mind, is associated with agency and desire. Acting as an agent implies separation between the agent and the object of action. Brahman, the supreme Reality, is non-dual — there can be no separation in It.

Bhṛgu will return once more, driven by his dissatisfaction with answers that imply duality.

For the yogi, this indicates that even the intellect must be transcended. The buddhi is a powerful tool, but the Ātman is beyond even the discriminative intellect.