From knowledge, verily, these beings are born; by knowledge, having been born, they live; into knowledge, upon departing, they enter. Having known that, again he approached Varuṇa his father, saying: ‘Lord, teach me Brahman’.

Bhṛgu has verified that the intellect fulfills the definition of Brahman. However, he returns a fifth time. This persistent repetition demonstrates his maturity as a spiritual seeker — he is not content with partial understandings, however sophisticated they may be.

The intellect, though subtle, is associated with pain inherently. All action implies effort, and all effort implies suffering. Moreover, the intellect is the cause of physical forms through karma, but it cannot be the cause of the primordial elements (ākāśa, etc.) that underlie physical manifestation.

There is a deep intuition guiding Bhṛgu: there must be a principle that is a priori to everything — that depends on nothing else, that is the source of everything without being caused by anything. This principle, if it exists, must be:

• Ajāta (unborn)
• Nirviśeṣa (without attributes)
• Advaya (non-dual)
• Ānanda (bliss)

Bhṛgu’s search has been progressive: food → prāṇa → manas → vijñāna. Each level was more subtle than the previous, but all were koshas (sheaths), not the Ātman itself. Bhṛgu is about to make his final discovery.

For the yogi, this progression teaches that persistent effort, accompanied by discrimination, inevitably leads to the supreme Reality.