Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.1.3 Lecture 17 on 21 March 2026
Full Transcript (Not Corrected)
Opening Invocation
OM PŪRṆAMADAḤ PŪRṆAMIDAM PŪRṆĀT PŪRṆAMUDACYATE PŪRṆASYA PŪRṆAMĀDĀYA PŪRṆAMEVA VAŚIṢYATE OM ŚĀNTI ŚĀNTI ŚĀNTIH
OM
That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.
OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.
Recap: The First Two Sections
We have covered the first two sections of the first chapter of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. We are now discussing the third section, which is called Prāṇa Upāsanā.
Earlier we have seen two contemplations. Upāsanā means the ability to identify oneself with one's chosen deity. In the olden days, Agni, Prāṇa, Indra, Prajāpati, Yuṣuf, or Virāṭ — these were the names that were used as Iṣṭa Devatās, chosen deities. But now all have merged into three — that is to say, Viṣṇu, Śiva, and Devī. All the various Gods and Goddesses that we encounter are manifestations of Viṣṇu, Śiva, and Śakti.
As Rāmakṛṣṇa said, God is one but He takes different forms for the facility and progress of His children. Whichever form, whichever name a devotee likes — that would be his Iṣṭa Devatā form. But every Iṣṭa Devatā must be contemplated as the Supreme Brahman.
Saguṇa Brahman and the Nature of Māyā
Considerations like this pertain to Saguṇa Brahman. There are some people who find that Saguṇa Brahman is Himself bound, and sometimes they say He is the master — Māyādhīśvara. What is the difference between Saguṇa Brahman, or Īśvara, or Virāṭ, and ourselves? Saguṇa Brahman is the Lord of Māyā, and we are all under the thumb of Māyā. We are bound, we are slaves — but He is the master.
And yet some go on contradicting it, saying that even though they call Him the master of Māyā, He cannot liberate one from Māyā. What is Mukti? Mukti is liberation from Māyā. What is Māyā? Avidyā. Avidyā means to forget that I am Brahman and to think I am an individual. That is called Māyā.
But Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had resolved all these problems. Even long before that, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa Himself resolved these problems — "Everyone is wending his or her way only to Me alone, because I am infinite." So whichever way you travel, you only encounter infinity. Sometimes the progress is slow. For a few people, they deliberately make the progress quite fast by concentrating their minds.
The Meaning of Upāsanā: From the Individual to the Universal
So here we have to understand: Upāsanā means to become one with the chosen deity. Until we succeed in becoming identified with our chosen deity, we identify as separate — "I am separate, my chosen deity is separate" — but with a significant difference in understanding: "I am small, my chosen deity is big. I am of small power, He has infinite powers. I am only here, He is everywhere. I know very little, He knows everything. I cannot help others, but He can help everybody." That concept even the most common person has.
So we have to become identified with the deity through any means. In the olden days, kings used to perform the Aśvamedha Yajña. Therefore Aśva became a symbol for one Iṣṭa Devatā called Virāṭ. Next, Agni became the Iṣṭa Devatā. Now Prāṇa has become the Iṣṭa Devatā — the universal.
What is universal? It is the process of gradually shedding one's identity with small individuality and expanding one's identity with larger and still larger wholes, until we become like Virāṭ. Virāṭ means universal. So the journey is from the individual to the universal. That is the process.
The Growth of Ānanda Through Expansion
As we progress, as we have seen, our Ānanda increases. How does it increase? Because if someone else is happy and I am identified with that person, then not only my own individual happiness, but my neighbour's happiness, my distant known people's happiness, distant unknown people's happiness, the happiness of my friends, the happiness of my enemies — all of it becomes mine. There is no enemy, because when I am expanding, I am both the friend and the enemy.
Like this, the person — by identifying with the universal — gradually expands his happiness also. And finally, when he becomes one with the Iṣṭa Devatā, the Iṣṭa Devatā gives him that complete knowledge: "You are Brahman." Tat tvam asi. And by the grace of God, he realises Ahaṃ Brahmāsmi.
The Four Qualities of a True Sādhaka
Now, in this Prāṇa Upāsanā, the Prāṇa is praised. In our last class, I discussed a very important point. Every sādhaka who is progressing towards this greater identity must exhibit in his or her life four distinct and marvellous qualities. Every upāsaka has to know about them, and every upāsaka has to judge whether he or she is manifesting these qualities — not with tremendous effort, but automatically, naturally.
What are those qualities?
First, those people who are progressing toward or experiencing God are always happy. That is the first quality, because the very characteristic of the universal — of Brahman — is Ānanda, Sat, Cit, Ānanda.
Second, they become most unselfish. That is called the quality of Sat — holiness and purity.
Third, their love is unlimited and equal to everybody. There is no distinction. They do not say, "This person is high, this is low; I will bestow only a small portion of my love to this person but greater love to another."
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa illustrates it thus: a mother may have three, four, or five children, and her love is 100% to every child. It does not get divided. Do not think she has 100% love, and that when the first child is born it becomes halved to 50%, and as the children grow more her love becomes divided further. No. Love and knowledge — these things remain the same even when we distribute them. When you give knowledge to somebody, you do not lose anything. When you love somebody, you do not lose anything.
Unfortunately, some think: "If my son gets married and starts loving his wife, his love towards me will be lessened to that extent." That is a misnomer. Love and knowledge only go on growing. That is why I called it digital copying — the same quality will be there.
Fourth Quality: Readiness to Sacrifice
So they become unselfish. Their love is unlimited and equal. And the fourth quality: they are ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of anybody.
In my last class I mentioned the Purāṇic story of how Indra wanted to defeat the demons, and he approached a great Ṛṣi called Dadīci — even while he was alive. Dadīci could have perhaps lived for quite some time, but out of dire necessity, Indra shamelessly asked: "You die so that I can take your backbone and shape a weapon out of it. Only through that weapon, carrying your power, can I defeat the demons." And that is exactly what Dadīci did.
Is it a sacrifice for them? We say Dadīci sacrificed so much. But really speaking, Dadīci did not sacrifice anything. If anybody sacrifices one cent in the hope of getting a trillion trillion trillion dollars, can we call it a sacrifice? A person who understands that even if he gives up his whole possessions, his body, his mind, his life, his everything — as a result he gets infinity — what has he sacrificed? He only sacrifices finiteness and gains infinity.
When your left hand is itching and your right hand lifts to scratch it, giving relief — is the left hand supposed to turn, with tears in its eyes, and say, "Oh, how great you are. How kind you are"? No. Because the whole body identifies with every part of the body. Any distress in any part of the body is felt by the whole body. And if one part is very happy, every limb also feels happy about it.
The Story of Swami Vivekananda at Khetri
So God wanted to create. He created His children — a few good and unselfish people, and plenty of selfish ones. And there has ever been a war going on between the selfish and the unselfish. That is what is going on even today. This is called Daivāsura Yuddha — the war between the divine and the demonic — and it is going on even today.
There is a story with regard to this. When Swami Vivekananda was wandering and staying at Khetri, the Khetri Mahārāja arranged for a dance singing programme. A great, spiritually devoted lady was present. The king informed Swamiji and invited him to come down from his room and enjoy. He had not yet learned the lesson — that a true sannyāsī is not conscious of: "I am male, somebody else is female; I am a sannyāsī; this person belongs to a low caste."
Then this lady — probably God inspired her — started singing. She sang Sūradās's bhajans, beautiful bhajans: "Oh Lord, look not upon my evil qualities, because it is You who is playing." She was a lady of great knowledge. What does it matter where she was born? Like M. S. Subbalakṣmī, who was such a great soul.
This heartfelt singing with complete devotion to God moved Swamiji. He heard it from his room, came down practically running, sat down — and she was instrumental in removing that barrier. A true monk has no distinction of sex. Only a person who thinks, "I am a male human being," will be aware of a female. But Swamiji had gone far and he had to learn his lesson. So he learned it and wholeheartedly blessed her.
What happened to her in the end? Somebody had taken the trouble to find out, and a great transformation had come over her. The ultimate result was that she truly became a saintly soul by coming into contact with Swami Vivekananda. Like that — how many women had been transformed? One person has taken the trouble and written a book — I think the title includes "woman" and "Swami Vivekananda," though I do not remember the exact title — and he gathered further details.
India is not great at preserving biographies. We do not even know the full biographies of those whom Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa used to praise, like Nityagopal or Bhavānāth, whom the Master loved so much. What happened to them in the end? Only Svāmi Caitānandajī collected their biographies. Through the few details we know, we come to see that Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's influence did not go to waste. Even though some came less frequently, this undeniable influence upon their lives has been abundantly proved by the transformations they underwent.
The Story of Dadīci and the Deva-Asura War
So these great people — their love is unlimited, and they are ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of anybody.
There is a story that relates to this third section, which has twenty-eight mantras. The essence is that one should find out: Do I belong to the demonic group or to the divine group? And if by chance I am born to the demonic group, I should try to join the godly group. Sādhanā is nothing but reducing selfishness.
Bhagavad Gītā also beautifully enumerates this fact: among billions of people, there will be only one or two who really want to progress towards God. And even among those thousands, only one or two really reach the goal. This does not mean that the rest will never reach God — it means there will always be some people who have started long back and are steadily making progress. And we see in our life a few such people becoming one with God — knowing fully well Ahaṃ Brahmāsmi, or what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa used to call Īśvara Darśana.
The Sense Organs as Devatās: The Udgītha Brahmāṇa
Now, a small story: Prāṇa has transformed itself into our sense organs — the five sense organs and the mind. These sense organs are also called Devas. The word Deva comes from the root div, meaning light. The eye lights up all forms. The ear lights up all sounds. The nostrils light up all smells. The tongue lights up all tastes. And the Tvak — the sense organ of touch — reveals all that is soft, hard, hot, or cold. We are all experiencing these in India — it was quite cold, slowly the cold has come down, and after a few days it becomes quite uncomfortable.
So — let us defeat the demons. That means, let us defeat selfishness. These sense organs said: let us sing the Udgītha. Udgītha consists of certain mantras from the Sāma Veda. Sāma Veda is that part of the Veda which is meant for singing loudly. Ud means "loudly" or "in a higher scale, with strength." Gītha means "to sing." Some parts of the Sāma are called Sāma mantras, Sāma Gānas, and they have to be sung with a beautiful voice — the intonation, the strength, the purity. Many rules and regulations have been imposed: there is Udātta, Anudātta, Svarita, and double Udātta, and so on.
So they asked every sense organ to sing for them. But being selfish — even these gods, these sense organs that are called gods because they give us knowledge, because the very income of sense activity is knowledge — 50% of the result they gave to others and the finer parts of enjoyment they kept for themselves. Therefore the demons could easily defeat them. Because whoever is selfish, that person will be defeated sooner or later. There is no doubt about it. If we study history with this idea in mind, we can understand it much better.
The Triumph of Mukhya Prāṇa
Every sense organ was given the opportunity, and every sense organ proved to be selfish — it did not give 100%, it kept some portion for its own private pleasure. This is what this beautiful third section is describing — not to highlight what they did, but to show that we all should try to conquer selfishness and become unselfish.
What is unselfishness? To become the infinite. To identify oneself with the other — just as a mother becomes unselfish automatically because she identifies: "This child is also me. The baby is also me. The grown-up son is also me. Every one of them is none other than me." But as soon as she encounters neighbouring children, that same mother becomes selfish. "Now you are not my children" — and she does not want to share any good thing with others. That is why selfish love is only selfish love. It is not true love.
Whereas a true spiritual sādhaka does not expect anything. His only expectation is: "I want to please God." And God is manifesting as Mātā, as Pitā, as Ācārya, as Atithi.
So when puffed up with arrogance and egotism, every sense organ thought: "Without me it is not possible for the body to live." But when it left the body in a huff and then came back, it was shocked to find the body still functioning. Maybe there was a bit of inconvenience — "We can't see, we can't hear" — but life went on. All five sense organs did the same thing in their turn, and all were proved that life can go on without them.
Here, "life" means Prāṇa.
Now Mukhya Prāṇa was asked to sing. But Prāṇa did not become puffed up with arrogance. It knows: without me, nothing can be sustained. If Prāṇa departs, the eye cannot see, the ear cannot hear, life will not be there. It knows. And this is a marvellous Vedāntic explanation: it is the Prāṇa which is continuously supplied by the Vāyu Devatā.
This Mukhya Prāṇa divides itself into five parts, fulfilling five different functions within the body — some for digestion, some for circulation, some for throwing out waste — and all of this unselfishly, because it has no selfishness.
When Mukhya Prāṇa was asked to sing, the demons tried to tumble it down, to defeat it — but they could not. As the Upaniṣad gives a beautiful analogy: a huge rock is thrown at a very strong hill, and the rock itself breaks into pieces and falls down — it cannot even scratch the mountain. Like that, the demons could not defeat Mukhya Prāṇa. Selfishness cannot defeat unselfishness.
The Mukhya Prāṇa did not keep anything for itself. It only worked to sustain life so that all five sense organs could function, keep the whole body and mind functioning, and make all three states of experience — waking, dream, and dreamless sleep — completely easy and without interruption. That is why Mukhya Prāṇa is Virāṭ — like the universal loving mother.
Yā Devī sarva bhūteṣu mātṛ rūpeṇa saṃsthitā, namas tāse namas tāse namas tāse namo namaḥ.
That universal mother. This Prāṇa does not say: "Here is a person I will favour more and sustain more, and this other person I dislike, so I will not give to him." No. Instinctively, Vāyu Devatā gives the same Prāṇa śakti to all. Have you ever come across anybody saying, "Oh Vāyu Devatā, you are so stingy — I want to breathe more oxygen but you are not giving"? Vāyu Devatā says, like an ocean: "Breathe as much as you want."
The Five Great Elements as Devatās: Unselfishness as Divinity
The Vāyu Devatā, Agni Devatā, Bhū Devatā, Jala Devatā, Ākāśa Devatā — they are all Devatās. How did they become Devatās? Because of their unselfishness.
And this is going to come here: when through sādhanā a person's eye becomes unselfish, then his eye becomes the sun — a god. When his ears become unselfish, the ears become the Diś Devatā, the directions, Ākāśa Devatā. Similarly, every sense organ becomes expanded. Selfishness is contraction. Unselfishness is expansion. That is why Swamiji defined: life is expansion, and contraction is death.
However much money or power a person may have — the Divine Mother has no such person as "not my child." Every one is Her child. But some have to go through elementary school to understand the fundamentals of life. And that is what is called suffering. That is why Holy Mother says: some misery is a gift of God.
The Definition of Asura and the Essence of the Third Section
This third section is called Udgītha Brāhmaṇa, and mainly it contains the glories of the Prāṇa Devatā — called Mukhya Prāṇa, subdividing itself into five functions again called Prāṇa, Apāna, Vyāna, Udāna, and Samāna.
The most marvellous thing here is the very definition of Asura: Asuṣu ramate iti asuraḥ. Asu means Prāṇa, Prāṇa means sense organ — and a person who revels in the sense organs is an Asura. That is what the whole story of this third section is about: the eye wants to enjoy to the exclusion of other sense organs. No — there must be a harmonious whole. Holistic awareness should be there.
This is what defines life. Life is a continuous struggle between selfishness and unselfishness. Evolution is nothing but gradually reducing selfishness and increasing unselfishness. And when we succeed in becoming purely unselfish, that is called becoming God. That is called manifesting one's own divinity. That is called sainthood — by whatever name you wish to call it.
This warfare is continuing even today. Sometimes divinity reigns supreme in the individual and in society, and at other times the demonical nature dominates.
Sacrifice, Udgītha, and the Burning of the Pāpa Puruṣa
Sacrifice and Udgītha chanting here stand for the holy and Sāttvika qualities and actions of the senses. Yajña here means the destruction of the lower nature and the sanctification of the human personality. Udgītha means meditation on holy qualities. So the Gods thought of purifying themselves.
Ultimately, Prāṇa made all the sense organs — called Gods here — unselfish, and deposited and established their selfishness at the end, making them supreme.
This is also called, in Pūjā, the burning of the Pāpa Puruṣa. You must have read in Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's life — He thought these are all just some theories floating around. But with complete faith in the Pūjā, when He uttered that word — "My Pāpa Puruṣa is being burnt" — He actually experienced a terrible burning sensation in His life. We have to believe, because Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa came to prove that every single letter in the Vedas is absolute truth.
The Transformation of Sense Organs into Universal Devatās
For transcending evil — evil meaning selfishness — one must dis-identify oneself from the selfish sense organs. When I see, it should be for the good of everybody. When I hear, it should be for the good of everybody. Come, come — here is a sweet dish. A mother joyfully calls all her children because she found — like this Mukhya Prāṇa — that she can enjoy more through the mouths of her children than by trying to eat selfishly all by herself.
In the beginning, all the sense organs were very pure by nature, because they are manifestations of Brahman. But all the senses were restored to their original nature by the action of Prāṇa.
When speech was freed from death — death meaning selfishness, meaning it became unselfish — it became the fire: speech became Agni Devatā. Similarly, the nostrils became Vāyu Devatā. The eye, freed of selfishness, became the sun. The ears became the quarters. And the mind became the moon. They were freed from selfish individuality and became universal.
So the Prāṇa — also known as Āyasya Āṅgirasa, meaning the essence of all limbs — secured the edibles for itself by chanting and transformed them into different organs of the body. Prāṇa is manifesting as all the five sense organs. Therefore, like a mother, Prāṇa equally supports and equally strengthens all the five sense organs. The children must learn from the mother — not only that "my mother is Mātṛ Rūpiṇī," but that we also have to manifest the same quality.
As a result, Prāṇa became Bṛhaspati always — it became Bṛhatī, the infinite. Prāṇa is all-pervading and acquires the shape and size of the body that it inhabits.
Veda Pramāṇya and Śaṅkarācārya's Refutation of Narrow Views
So this third section ends by singing the praises of Prāṇa.
Now, Śaṅkarācārya in his Bhāṣyam wants to enlighten us further. As I mentioned, if you have heard the essence of what we discussed, you don't need Śaṅkarācārya's Bhāṣyam. But if you want to expand your intellect and enjoy making it much more sharp — and God has endowed us with a free intellect, and we already waste our time in so many ways — why not also increase our intellectual capacity? I can assure you: the more any one of us develops intellectual capacity, the more will be the joy. It is far, far, far superior — a billion times more than Mānuṣa Ānanda, similarly a billion times more than Viṣayānanda will be Medhānanda. That is what we have to understand.
Here, there are certain schools of philosophy which say the Veda teaches only one thing — ritual, action (karma). And whatever other sentences we find in the Vedas, with other types of content, should not be considered true Veda. True Veda, they say, means only that which prescribes rituals and action.
Now Śaṅkarācārya wants to expose the narrowness of this view and then refute all such arguments through his counter-arguments. This is called Veda Pramāṇya. What is the essence we are going to discuss in tomorrow's class? That every single statement in the Veda — whether it prescribes action or does not — is a Pramāṇa.
I will give you a simple sample. Suppose the Veda says: such-and-such is the case. What action is it prescribing? These are sentences that reveal a fact — they are called Arthavāda or statements of fact. There is a city; there is a marvellous construction called the Tāj Mahal. It is a statement of fact. What purpose does it serve? It definitely serves a purpose. Swami Vivekananda said it would take a whole life to study even one corner of this Tāj Mahal. If such a great soul can appreciate it, do not approach it only from the historical point of view. Whatever may be historically true — this man created a marvellous construction that shines today among the best in the world. Appreciate it, because God is manifesting.
See the mighty Himālayas and the grandest canyon with billions of tonnes of cascading water — such huge rivers. Wherever you see incomparable greatness, vastness, and beauty, delight in it. This is a manifestation of Bhagavān Himself. Admire it without any partiality — to whichever country it belongs, to whichever people it belongs, wherever it is. That is called true sādhanā, true worship of God.
Closing Prayer
Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum
Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh
May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti.
Jai Ramakrishna!