Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.1.5 Lecture 36 on 24 May 2026
Full Transcript (Not Corrected)
Opening Invocation
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
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.
The Great Discussion on Brahman
A great discussion of great spiritual aspirants was going on. What is Brahman, and why should we realise Brahman, and what do we get out of it, and how can we realise Brahman? This is the subject matter of this entire fourth section of the first chapter of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.
The Seven Types of Food (Saptānnas) – Review
In our last class, we saw that the whole universe is divided into seven types of foods. Food means that which one experiences through the five sense organs, not only through the sense organ of taste – everything. So what for are these foods created? First of all, the essential teaching of the Upaniṣad (every Upaniṣad, Bhagavad Gītā, Gospel, Bible, New Testament – everything) is this: the earth on which we are living is not a happy place, but there is a place beyond this earth without any limitations of time, space and causation, and that is called paraloka or the highest world. Going there is only a verbal expression. It means knowing that I am God, I am everything. There is no creation. I am everything. That is the essence of every Upaniṣad.
In this context, seven foods are there. What are those seven foods?
- The first food that we have seen is the food that we experience.
- Then there are two types of foods that we have to offer to gods.
Gods as Manifestations of Īśvara
Gods are nothing but manifestations of Īśvara (one God), but as if the king of a country assigns different roles, different departments, different managers to look after the welfare of the kingdom, so God has created these gods and goddesses for the sake of maintaining this universe. And if we live a proper life, they are pleased with us. So how do we know what they expect from us? They created certain rules: do this, do not this – vidhi and niṣedha. And this vidhi and niṣedha have to be done only through some instruments. Those instruments are called body and mind, and therefore body and mind are created for the purpose of self-knowing, knowing that I am God. As it were, God is playing a game (līlā): "Let me forget myself, and then let me enjoy" – that is called līlā – "and then let me again know that I am back to my own place." This is what Sri Ramakrishna calls nitya and līlā.
What Is Food?
So, what is food? That our body is a food, our mind is a food, this entire creation is a food, and the manifestation of God in the form of the maintainers – that is also food.
The Triangle: Adhyātmika, Ādhibhautika, Ādhidaivika
Yesterday I tried to explain that the whole creation can be divided into three parts: adhyātmika, ādhibhautika, ādhidaivika. It is a triangle. And a triangle can never be broken so long as we attain Brahman. As long as we do not attain Brahman, this triangle will remain. And to dissolve this triangle and to know that I am Brahman is the goal of life. Until that time, let us understand what this triangle is and try to use it in the proper way as guided by our scriptures, which guidance comes to us through our own gurus. A guru is none other than a right interpreter of the scriptures in accordance with the understanding capability of the student. So this is the purpose.
The Role of Physical Food
So now I am here. My body requires food – physical food – but through this food, what happens? I live, and when I live, my body functions. My body has five sense organs of knowledge and five organs of action. So this body along with the mind are utilised to experience. To eat food means not only to enjoy, but the first purpose of food is to live. Only once health is assured – that I am not in danger of death – then only comes: how can I make this food more enjoyable? And how can I make my food – that means my experiences, that means my body, my mind, my parents, my country, my religion, everything – is created by me through my actions? This point especially comes in the sixteenth section, which we are going to enter very soon, where the whole fifteenth section is summarised as mind, speech and prāṇa.
Nāma, Rūpa, Karma
So the whole world: nāma, rūpa and karma (name, form and action). Beautiful psychological explanation. We will come to it, but what it means is that whatever body we have, whatever family we have after birth and after marriage, whatever society we have, and what our experiences will be – it all depends upon how we experience by acting and reacting, and that is what is called karmasiddhānta. That is what Patañjali Ṛṣi summarises as jāti, āyuḥ and bhoga. We will come to that.
Gratitude and Yajña
But God has created foods. That means what? We human beings are supplied food in the form of rains, in the form of seasons, and so we have to show our gratefulness, and that is called connecting ourselves with the gods in a very spiritual unity. And that is done through gratefulness – offering, joyful offering. And to get the idea: I am not the doer, I am not the enjoyer. It is God's grace that is coming in the form of whatever my body, whatever my food, whatever my experiences. So convert the whole life into yajña. That is what Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad Gītā also says: all karmas are meant for only to be acted as a yajña. The whole life has to be converted into yajña. What is yajña? Doing everything without the idea "I am the doer" – tu ho, tu ho. So what is yajña? Complete conversion of aham aham into tu ho tu ho – naham, naham; tu ho, tu ho. And that is done through these experiences by being grateful. I am grateful because gods have given me food. I show my gratefulness through offering, joyful offering, and with the continuous feeling of gratefulness to the gods. In the same sense, I am grateful to everything – to the whole world in the form of sages, in the form of ancestors, in the form of vīrūḍevatās, in the form of gods, in the form of every other human being and non-human being, and also that which is non-living (climate, for example). So these are all annams – experiences. And our experiences depend upon how we live our life – God-given life dedicated to God. That is the pāṭhapariyāya essence.
Mind, Speech, and Prāṇa as Instruments
So the main instruments of all these annas are either for bhoga (enjoyment) or yoga (for approaching God and becoming one with Him). Food is the key, and that food – this particular point – is manaḥ, vāk, prāṇaḥ. So that is what is said even in this fifth section. So any experience can be transformed into a spiritual practice, and any experience can also be made into a hellish, worldly experience. So if I use God-given intelligence, body and mind for a selfish purpose, I bind myself more and more. But if I use the same thing with intelligence, then I can gradually progress and finally attain oneness – viddhi brahmātma jñānam. But the instruments are necessary: mind, speech and vital force.
So as I said yesterday: mind means full of thoughts, and speech means that we have to think – loud thinking is called speech. So if we are thinking evil thoughts, our thoughts will be only evil, our speech will be only evil speech, and our actions will be evil actions. Vital force – prāṇa: prāṇa means that divine vital force called vāyudevatā enters into us. We are borrowing it by His grace, and this prāṇa enters into us, divides itself into five parts, and keeps this body completely a fit instrument. But we have to be grateful to all the pañcabhūtas.
Profound Definitions of Manas (Mind)
The Upaniṣad now provides profound definitions for all of them. First, we will deal with what is manaḥ – the mind. How do we know we have a mind? How do we know that it is summer season or very hot season? You just observe how hot the weather has become. The hotter it is, the greater it is. So certain heat is very pleasant; below that heat, very unpleasant; above that homeostatic heat, it is very unpleasant. The more hotter it is, the more uncomfortable we become. So how do we know that it is summer season? Because we continuously experience heat. When we experience high heat by approaching a blazing fire in any form, that is not summer season. But continuously, day after day, night after night, we see it is. So this is an example, an analogy, to show how we know we have a mind. This Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad in this fifth section gives a few hints. What are they?
कामः सङ्कल्पो विचिकित्सा श्रद्धाऽश्रद्धा धृतिरधृतिर्ह्रीर्धीर्भीरित्येतत्सर्वं मन एव । kāmaḥ saṅkalpo vicikitsā śraddhā'śraddhā dhṛtiradhṛtirhrīrdhīrbhīrityetatsarvaṃ mana eva |
So how do we know there is a mind? The Upaniṣad proceeds to give a beautiful example: even if we cannot see the mind, we can deduce the presence of the mind by this experience. First of all, the mind is defined as an aggregate of various vṛttis – only a few vṛttis.
What is the first one? Kāma – desire. What is the second? Saṅkalpa – once desire comes, it will not be fructified; we have to do saṅkalpa – we have to determine: "I want to make this desire come true." And as we are putting forth efforts, doubts will come. Saṃśaya means doubt. Then belief, disbelief, etc. Then there will come: śraddhā (belief), aśraddhā (disbelief) – "Oh, probably I should not have taken it up, but no, I am not going to give it up." So diffidence, modesty, precise knowledge, and fear. If any of these emotions are experienced by us, we have to understand all these indicate they are the very characteristics of the mind.
Mind in Waking, Dream, and Sleep
So we know when a person is in deep sleep, he has no desires. But the moment he is awake (jāgrat avasthā) or even in dream state, immediately kāma will come. The whole dream state is because of desire only, and often we find what we cannot achieve in the physical world (in our waking state) can be achieved easily if we can cultivate that special technique. There are some people in India who believe that we have the secret of this technique. So all of you think of a particular great person (head of that particular sect) – and often it goes by Viśvāmitra’s sect. So all of us at the same time combine your thoughts: "We want to visit Kailas and Mānasarovar." And they claim – don’t ask me whether it is right or wrong, but it can be right. Anything can be right through mind. One can go to devaloka, one can go to narakaloka; one can go to Mars, Saturn, America, Russia – I am not telling their hells or heavens – but one can go in dream anywhere. So desires – if there is a desire, that means mind is there. If there is a determination, mind is there. Vicikitsā means doubt. Śraddhā means absolute faith: "I can achieve it." Aśraddhā means "I don't have faith in myself; perhaps I will not achieve it." That is also an emotion, and it has its own consequences. Then dhṛtiḥ – tremendous willpower. Adhṛtiḥ – some people do not have any willpower. Hrīḥ – modesty. Dhīḥ – tremendous intelligence, capacity to understand. Bhīḥ – fear. Ityetat sarvam mana eva – any of these emotions, thoughts come in the form of these emotions; that is the manifestation of the mind. And mind is invisible; it can only be experienced through these. How do you know this person is a good person? Because goodness, evilness – all these things are not visible, but they can be understood through experience. If somebody gives you a blow without any cause, that means he is an evil person. And somebody smiles, helps you and does not want even thanks – you know such a person is a good person. So the mind is invisible.
The Mind Knows Even from Behind
Now the Upaniṣad tells: so I am sitting somewhere; I am facing in one direction, and suddenly, silently another person comes and touches me at the back, and immediately I know somebody has touched me. Even a mosquito touches, a fly lands on me, or the wind is blowing upon me – anything – cool air in the summer season – then I know that mind is there, because the mind understands even though I am not seeing the cause of that touch. Through that experience, I know my mind is working; it has taken notice.
तस्मादपि पृष्ठतः उपस्पृष्टः मनसा विजानाति । tasmādapi pṛṣṭhataḥ upaspṛṣṭaḥ manasā vijānāti |
Through mind, one knows it even when touched from behind (pṛṣṭhataḥ means backside – that which is not immediately visible; upaspṛṣṭaḥ means when it is touched, comes into contact with anything). We know that.
Speech Betrays the Mind
Then vāk (speech). You will notice that when a person's mind is filled with thoughts (mind is nothing but vṛttis, thoughts), depending on the quality of the thoughts, what comes out of the mouth – it is impossible for any person to speak sooner or later without speech betraying the person. That is how, especially the followers of Freud, they try to understand what is bugging a particular psychological patient, because they also cannot read the mind of another person. In fact, most of us cannot read our own mind – it remains. And as the unconscious part of the mind, only a few remembrances will be there; that is all we know about these things. So what is important is that speech betrays.
So you are talking with somebody; suddenly he calls you a rogue and immediately apologises: "No, no, I did not mean it; it just came out accidentally." There can be nothing more foolish. That is why in Bengali they say, "pete nā thākila derī āśana" – if it is not already in the mind (irpet means mind inside), it will never come out. Because if you do not have anything inside, you cannot bring it out and give it to somebody or show it to somebody. It must be there. So suddenly a person gets angry: "No, no, I did not mean..." No, you meant it, but you are suppressing it. We have to understand it. So watch your speech.
That is why:
भद्रं कर्णेभिः शृणुयाम देवाः । bhadraṃ karṇebhiḥ śṛṇuyāma devāḥ |
And if you find somebody is speaking that which delights you, takes you to higher regions, then you know that is satsaṅga. On the other hand, however nicely a person is talking, if it is creating fear in you, bringing your mind down, then you have to understand it is not the words; here we have to take note: speech does not mean words only. Speech means what is intended to convey that is there behind, and psychologists try to read it. Some fellow is suffering because of his aunt, and then this person is asked by the psychologist – I am quoting as an example – so the psychologist notices. Then he asks, "What is your relationship with your aunt?" Suddenly this fellow undergoes a convulsion and then he controls himself. He does not want to blurt it out. So he says, "Oh, she is a very nice lady; she treats me very nicely." But he cannot fool the psychologist – he understood. So now and then, when this fellow is least expecting, he will suddenly make that "aunt" word appear every time; the reaction comes out instinctively. That is called speech. The intention behind the real (what is called motivation) is more important than anything else.
The Test of Speech
Marwaris use it to take many very quality things – quality sweets, quality flowers, quality fruits – to Sri Ramakrishna, but he could not accept it. "We want your blessings," but he could understand. Even if such a businessman brings a betel leaf, sixteen desires are attached to it – that is what Sri Ramakrishna says. So we should never be taken in by external speech, because if we have been leading a good life, immediately we can feel whose speech is marvellous and real, and whose speech is artificial, connived – meaning one thing and speaking out something else. That is why when Narendranath started hearing Sri Ramakrishna, his external behaviour seemed to be at odds with normal behaviour. But then he was a person of great perception; then only he understood: "It is true that he may be behaving like that, but I have never come across a person whose speech, whose thought, whose action tallies in every way without contradicting each other."
Speech as an Instrument for Progress
So what it means is what we think – what we truly believe – if we can make an exercise of expressing it in the appropriate manner. For example, a spiritual aspirant sings bhajans and praises God in various ways through various hymns, stotras, and he starts cultivating holy company and welcomes people who are good people, etc. So through speech, we can communicate. A devotee communicates, and that communication can be worldly, can be spiritual. But a spiritual aspirant knows how to separate the grain from the chaff, and he can understand: "This is a holy person, and this is not a holy person." So speech is defined simply as any sound emanating from the mouth for communication. But speech can be what is true, what is not true. There is another aspect of speech: how do you listen to my talk? Because I am speaking, and what I am speaking is nothing but the words of the Upaniṣad, but in the light of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and the direct disciples. You have to understand that. I do not speak anything. I take certain saints like Ramana Maharshi, I absolutely find Tulasīdāsa, Mīrābāī, Sūradāsa – all great people are there; they are all men of God. So their words are nothing but of God. That is speech. It is an instrument that can help us progress in spiritual life.
The Role of Prāṇa (Vital Force)
Then there is prāṇa. What is the role of the prāṇa? Every time we breathe in, we are breathing in vāyudevatā. Every time we are eating, we are eating annadevatā, pṛthvīdevatā. Whenever we are drinking, we are drinking jaladevatā. Jaladevatā is not an individual sitting somewhere and then supplying; all the devatās in these five forms are sustaining me. So this is called prāṇadevatā. This prāṇadevatā primarily comes in the form of oxygen, and it can come indirectly not only through air but in the form of the breathing out of every plant, whatever it is. So this prāṇa goes inside. And prāṇa means energy – vital energy. And this prāṇa that we breathe in divides itself into five parts inside our body. What does it do?
The Five Prāṇas
First, it helps us: - Prāṇa itself helps us to breathe in. - Apāna helps us to breathe out – that which helps us to throw out what is poisonous to us (carbon dioxide). - Vyāna regulates prāṇa and apāna. - Samāna – prāṇa is known by the name samāna. What does it do? It helps us digest. It manifests in the form of digestive fire – vaiśvānara. And without partiality, it distributes all the energy. What is food? Energy. But food cannot be converted into energy; energy is only food. Energy manifests in the form of food, and that food has to be reconverted into energy. And energy only helps us to convert that food back into energy. That function is called samāna – without partiality. So the eyes require some energy, the ears require some energy, the prāṇaśakti requires some energy. The mind requires – every thought expends some amount of energy, and the more worrying our thoughts, the more energy we expend. So all those functions are done by one particular function of this prāṇadevatā. It is called samāna prāṇa. - Then there is another called udāna. When food is not suitable, it helps us relieve our discomfort by throwing outward in the form of vomiting. It helps us throw out undigested food. And at last, when this body is not capable of sustaining us, it helps the prāṇa move outwards, outside the body, leaving the body here, keeping the four others – that is prāṇamaya kośa, manomaya kośa, vijñānamaya kośa, ānandamaya kośa – intact. That function of the prāṇa is called udāna: prāṇa, apāna, udāna, vyāna, samāna.
The Three Foods: Manas, Vāk, Prāṇa
So this is how prāṇa sustains us. Vāk sustains us. Then manaḥ sustains us. These three are foods. Food means experience. These three help us how to experience our God-given opportunity called life. So with the help of these three – whether I want to experience the external world, experience the internal world, want to bind myself, want to release myself – either for bhukti or mukti, for everything, this prāṇa is mind, prāṇa and vāk. These are the three important instruments.
The Purpose of the Seven Annas
Now we see that what is the purpose of the seven annas? With the help of these seven annas, every jīva is supposed to evolve until he reaches his paternal home – manaścalo nijāni ketāni. That is the real purpose. But meanwhile, it does not prevent us from enjoying, but as the prasādam of God. So how we experience this external world, what type of body we have been given, what type of mind is given, what type of external world is given, what type of experiences are given to us – everything depends upon karmasiddhānta: what we did in the past life.
Returning to the Triangle
So coming back again to the triangle: we cannot advance towards God unless we treat: - Adhyātmika: my body is nothing but God. - Ādhibhautika: the entire external creation is nothing but God. - Ādhidaivika: it is also nothing but God.
God only is manifesting as these three angles – adhyātmika, ādhibhautika and ādhidaivika. Through these three, we create our experiences through our karmas, and depending upon how we use these three instruments (three angles), our life experiences the world. This is, in brief (saṅkṣepa), what is called karmasiddhānta.
Why Is Creation Created?
So why is a human being born? Why is sṛṣṭi created? So that it can realise God. That is called evolution.
Now, the mantra tells something very interesting: how is it that the activities of every jīva never come to an end – these foods never come to an end even though we are experiencing?
कस्मात्तानि न क्षीयन्ते अधिमनानि सर्वतः । kasmāttāni na kṣīyante adhimanāni sarvataḥ |
So why do these foods not become exhausted? Because we go on experiencing them, creating and recreating through action and reaction and through birth and rebirth. That is what he says: everything depends upon me.
Three Instruments for Progress
Then we just discussed:
त्रीण्यात्मने अकुलुतेति – मनो वाचं प्राणम् । trīṇyātmane akuluteti – mano vācaṃ prāṇam |
So God has given us three instruments so that we can progress in life. We can recreate ourselves. That means what? I am now thinking, I created myself. I am a human being, but I wish to be God. What is the wish?
असतो मा सद्गमय । तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । मृत्योर् मा अमृतं गमय । asato mā sadgamaya | tamaso mā jyotirgamaya | mṛtyor mā amṛtaṃ gamaya |
So man is given these, and again once we have been given, we make them our own. What do we make our own? Mind, speech and prāṇa. And we go on creating ever new actions and reactions. Until we wake up and direct all the three exclusively towards God, this cycle of the world continues.
Seeing and Hearing with the Mind
Then the Upaniṣad states a marvellous truth:
मनसा ह्येव पश्यति मनसा शृणोति । manasā hyeva paśyati manasā śṛṇoti |
Indeed, one sees with the mind; one hears with the mind. Many times I discussed it. Suppose you see a person – that is only just the beginning of the action. How I look at that person, what opinions I cherish about that person, how I act and react towards that person – it is all my actions, and through mind only. The mind gets: "This is a good person" – mind acts one way. "This is an evil person; I do not like him" – mind acts in a different way. And then this mind is the root cause.
विज्ञातं विजिज्ञास्यम् अविज्ञातम् । vijñātaṃ vijijñāsyam avijñātam |
Whatever is known, mind is the cause. Whatever is unknown (avijñātam), mind alone is the cause. And whatever is to be known (especially through scriptures, through satsaṅga) – vijijñāsyam – everything through the mind only we do. Therefore:
मन एव मनुष्याणां कारणं बन्धमोक्षयोः । mana eva manuṣyāṇāṃ kāraṇaṃ bandhamokṣayoḥ |
So this is the essence of the fifth brāhmaṇam. We have come to the end of the pañcama brāhmaṇam, which has twenty-three mantras.
The Sixth Brāhmaṇam – Nāma, Rūpa, Karma
Now what is the nature of God, gods, the world and ourselves? This is the topic of the sixth brāhmaṇam. And everything is in the mind only. So if we can use life – means mind – correctly, then I can progress, I can go back from where I have come, I can know who I am and permanently become free. That is why Sri Ramakrishna used to say: life is meant for evolution. He said, "Yāvad bāci tāvat śikhi" – so long as I live, I learn. He is not telling it as a hyperbole; he is telling it is absolutely true. So do not have any doubt. Sri Ramakrishna did not learn anything – He came only to teach. He is sarvajña. It is true, as God is sarvajña. But after being born as a human being, He learnt bhajans. He learnt the Bengali language – He did not come with Bengali language. And He developed a taste for a curry prepared with five types of spices (pañcaphoṛaṇ). All these things He learned only through life, and even in the end – but His learning is meant only for one purpose: not for His sake, but for teaching everybody else.
So here we are in the sixth brāhmaṇa. The last brāhmaṇa, which has only three mantras, and with this the first chapter will come to an end. A marvellous psychological dissection of what is life, what is the world, who are we, and what is this creation – this is answered in this sixth brāhmaṇa. And why creation is done by God – everything is answered here in this sixth.
It starts with:
त्रयम्वा इदं नाम रूपं कर्म । trayamvā idaṃ nāma rūpaṃ karma |
This indeed is threefold: name, form and action. What is it to say? The whole creation is nothing but name, form and action. What is my body? Form, name and action. What is a part? Name, form and action. There is nothing else beyond name, form and action. How do you think about a person? When you hear his name, his form comes. Then the form flashes in front of you: "This fellow abused me, cheated me, robbed me" – or "This person is so nice; how nicely he treated me; he went out of his way to help me" – all these thoughts come. The entire universe is nothing but nāma, rūpa and karma.
Example of a Pot
Let me give you a small example before continuing. Look at a pot. The pot is nothing but the form. First, somebody takes the clay. Clay is the original material, and that is given a form. And why is that particular form given? For a particular purpose: I want to cook food – pot. I want to store certain materials – bigger pot. I want to drink water – a small glass. I want to eat food – a small plate. So what do I want out of this clay? How can I shape this clay? That is called rūpa. And to distinguish that I want a glass, not a plate, etc., I give it a name: small pot, big pot. If there are so many pots, then number one of the same size and shape, same colour – then number one pot, number two pot, number three pot, pot above, pot below, pot to the right side, pot to the left side, pot behind, pot before. So this is all nāma. And what is the purpose? Karma: I want to drink, I want to eat, I want to cook, I want to store. All this – the whole universe is nothing but forms, names and actions. And how we use that – upon that depends our whole life, our future life.
Speech as the Source of Names
The Upaniṣad wants to tell a marvellous truth: speech. So He said earlier, speech. What is speech? Nāma – name. What is a name? If you never open your mouth and speak – "book, bring a book" – the person will never understand what it is you want that person to do. So every object has a name, and every name is nothing but speech. Speech means that generalised sound assigned in a particular way to a particular object; that is called speech. And then similarly, what is a form? A generalised form. This is a pot – that is a form. What form is it? It is in the shape of a glass. So that is the form. Why is it shaped? Why is it manufactured, created? Because it is useful for me to drink water, serve water to other people, etcetera.
So speech is the root cause. How do I say, "Bring that book"? Through speech. And what do I say? "Book." If there is one book, that speech will do. If there are two books, ten – adjectives are necessary, recessionals necessary: the red book, the yellow-coloured book, small book, big book, etcetera. So what the Upaniṣad is trying to tell us: nāma means speech. Speech means that generalised sound which can be transformed according to the forms into an infinite number of different names. Speech is the foundation; names are to distinguish one form from another form. But that generalised sound is what is indicated.
Generalised and Particular Forms
Similarly, generalised form. So clay has a generalised name, generalised form. Only when the clay takes a particular form, then you call it: "This is a pot, this is a glass, this is a plate, etc." So nāma means generalised sound; rūpa means generalised form. What for? Karma. You take any object in this world. It has a name to distinguish it from others. It has a form again to distinguish it from others. And how I deal with that – for example, I see a mango and immediately I want that: "karma – I have a desire: please, sweet mango – I want to eat this mango." So that is called karma.
Nāma-Rūpa and Creation
So first, the external world is divided into nāma and rūpa. That is why in Pañcadaśī, Vidyāraṇya says: "Brahman sat cit ānanda plus nāma and rūpa is called sṛṣṭi. Sṛṣṭi minus nāma rūpa is called Brahman." So the whole universe is nothing but nāma rūpa. That includes, remember, our own body, our own mind. So I am a baby – one particular rūpa. I am a young person – another particular rūpa. I am an old person – another particular rūpa. So "young, youth, old" – these are all nāmas. Similarly to the mind: I am happy, I am unhappy, I am satisfied, I am dissatisfied, I have this desire, I have no desire – this is all nothing but karma.
The Jīvātman and Evolution
So what does this individual jīva want to do with this nāma rūpa karma? Remember, my body, my mind – everything is included in creation. But that person, that individual who is using it, is called jīvātman. That jīvātman uses nāma rūpa to do some action, and that action slowly helps us evolve. And when we become human beings, then we have better knowledge, better understanding, but it has to be expressed in the form of action. So one action gives us dharma, artha, kāma; another action leads to mukti. This is what is being indicated now in this ṣaṣṭha brāhmaṇam.
Conclusion
I said that this is the most psychological explanation: the whole creation is nothing but nāma, rūpa, karma – name, form and action. We will talk about this marvellous subject in our next class.
Closing Prayer
ॐ जननीं शारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् ।पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः
Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh
May Rāmakṛṣṇa, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekānanda bless us all with Bhakti.
Jai Rāmakṛṣṇa!