Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.2 1.2-13 Lecture 46 on 28 June 2026

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

Opening Invocation

ओं जननीं शारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुं, पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः.

Oṃ jananīṃ śāradāṃ devīṃ rāmakṛṣṇaṃ jagadguruṃ, pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ.

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.

Introduction: Gārgya and Ajātaśatru

In our last class, we started analysing what Gārgya was trying to teach to Ajātaśatru, and how after hearing from Gārgya, Ajātaśatru started adding some more upāsanas. Every upāsana is a divine quality to be acquired by one who is aspiring to become Brahman—to become a fit recipient, to become a worthy student.

The Essence of Vedānta

So we have discussed two of those upāsanas. So one was the Sun. According to Vedānta—that means Hinduism is a common name for Vedānta. Vedānta, by the way, should not be identified with Advaita. Vedānta means the essence of the Vedas, which includes the dualistic philosophy, qualified non-dualistic philosophy, and also the highest non-dualistic philosophy—Dvaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, and Advaita. The essence of these upāsanās is: each soul is potentially divine. The word "potentiality" means—in our understanding—forgotten divinity. Each soul has forgotten that he is the Divine, and we remember that we are not divine, but we are something else; we are individuals.

Who Is an Advanced Human Being?

This enquiry does not fit for any other non-human being, only to human beings—that too, advanced human beings. And who are the advanced human beings? Those who need not struggle for survival, those who have enough. Why do we say that? Because if somebody—let us say a field worker—he cannot survive without working. So manual labour is the only way for him to continue his living. Such persons have limited time and limited capacity, limited intelligence. Therefore, we have to understand that certain conditions need to be fulfilled.

The Three Conditions

A person, first of all, is highly developed in intellect. Second, he has gone through all these experiences through many a life—many janmas. Thirdly, he has started analysing himself. Then he found out whatever he experienced, he was lacking. And then only the enquiry comes: "I have thoroughly examined the entire physical phenomena, the external world, and I do not see what can fulfil my true desire." And then he turns inward, and then he has to struggle through various stages.

The Need for a Guru

For such a student, he has to become a student, because no student can ever understand what the scripture tells except through a Guru. Even in the case of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, when he intuitively understood that only my Divine Mother is my Guru, he surrendered himself—like Arjuna:

शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम्.

śiṣyas te 'haṃ śādhi māṃ tvāṃ prapannam.

Whenever we read about this particular line in the second chapter, we have to remind how Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said: "I am a fool." He was not a fool—but "fool" in what sense? That I do not know anything about Brahmavidyā. But he was not a fool with regard to worldly objects and worldly experiences. His understanding of the world, his knowledge of the world, is far superior to any other person. He understands by analysing thoroughly, objectively, that really speaking, he finds out there is no essence there; it is only an illusion. And then only he stops searching for what he wants to achieve outside and turns his attention inside.

Daivī Sampat

But even that turning inside—to become a fit disciple—he has to acquire what Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says: Daivī Sampat. And there are many—and I told you earlier that these qualities, whether demonic or divine or spiritual, come in gang groups. You cannot have one single without being supported by the other, either way. So Ajātaśatru found out Gārgya was having some spiritual qualities. He was humble; he was ready and open to truth from wherever it comes. So that is why God—in the form of Ajātaśatru—has started helping Gārgya: "You develop these qualities." How did he help? "You contemplate this particular quality. Go on thinking day in and day out; meditate with perfect concentration. And what we think, that is what we become."

The Twelve Upāsanas

So, as I said, it is not mentioned here, but as soon as Ajātaśatru taught him—"These are the qualities you have to develop"—immediately Gārgya must have practised. We do not know whether it took months or years; that is not mentioned. But we have to presume that Gārgya had acquired one by one, one after the other, those divine spiritual qualities—Daivī Sampat—and then only Ajātaśatru proceeds to the next stage. This is the development.

And then there were twelve upāsanas mentioned by Gārgya of which he was aware only partially, not in their fullness. And Ajātaśatru completes the understanding of Gārgya, makes him contemplate upon those—the specific word used here is upāsīta—"O Gārgya, you do contemplation on this particular quality also."

The Psychological Fact

So we were trying to analyse those qualities, and we have already taken up two or three qualities. We will just remind. The first is his meditation on the sun—Āditya. As I mentioned, never forget: the sun, the moon, the lightning, the vāyu (air), the ākāśa—all these are nature, but nature as Brahman Devatā. So certain qualities are superimposed upon them. Even though—let us take an example—even though there is a stone image of Śiva—Śivaliṅga—but by taking it as a support, a true Śiva-bhakta (devotee of Śiva) contemplates: "My Iṣṭadevatā (chosen deity) is all-pervading, all-compassionate, all-forgiving, and He is the supreme most. He is the praiseworthy." Like that, thinking of one particular quality until it becomes one's own nature is the real result. That also the Upaniṣad mentions: if anybody contemplates in this particular way, he becomes the most important person, he acquires tremendous spiritual splendour, he becomes the greatest, he becomes the most intelligent person, etc. So whatever we think, that is what we become. And this is a psychological fact which has been accepted by every psychologist.

The Devatās

So first Āditya, then we have seen three qualities added. And then he took up Chandra is the second. And Chandra Devatā, Sūrya Devatā, Vidyud Devatā, etc.—we have to add, even though that epithet is not given in this Upaniṣad. So what is a Devatā? Without whose existence our existence is not possible. So the one particular aspect of our existence combined—samaṣṭi, universal—is called Devatā. So the moon is taken up, and that Chandra Devatā is meditated upon as Hiraṇyagarbha. Now one of the qualities is Hiraṇyagarbha quality. So Ajātaśatru—the Guru, now the teacher—adds three qualities: Bṛhat, Pāṇḍaravat, Somarāja. And incidentally, these are also the qualities of Prāṇadevatā—samaṣṭi Prāṇadevatā. Whenever I say prāṇa, it is individual. Whenever I say Prāṇadevatā, you have to understand it is the presiding deity, the person—the Devatā—who is manifesting in everybody in that particular format. Please keep this in mind.

The Three Qualities of Chandra

Bṛhat means he becomes expanded. Just as a person who comes after a hard work—a manual labourer comes back—imagine there is a full moon and then he stands. It is likely he forgets the whole world because the Chandra Devatā delights everybody, gives joy to everybody, and it is the purest white. And His grace—Chandra Devatā's grace—is on everybody. So Bṛhat means indiscriminately bestowing His grace upon everybody.

Pāṇḍaravat—pure. Pāṇḍu means white; pure means śuddha. Very pure. So the upāsaka becomes pure. The upāsaka delights everybody because happiness is his very nature, and that is indicated as the third quality—Somarāja. Soma is a kind of plant, and they used to extract the juice which is like a mild intoxicant, and it gives tremendous joy, lifts up at least temporarily. And we have to imagine that is why ecstasy is another name for another of these drugs—ecstatic state. However, whatever be the state previously, as soon as a person imbibes, immediately he becomes tremendously aware of a change of consciousness, a change of perception. That means his mind forgets temporarily his temporary state of body and mind and enters into a delightful state. That is why they are so addictive. So Somarājaḥ. It is also said that the Soma plant creeper only grows in plenty and in fullness only when the moonlight influences it. So they are connected together. But it is a well-known scientific fact that a full moon—when you stand in front of it—certainly delights everybody's heart.

The Result

So these are the three qualities: Bṛhat, Pāṇḍaravat, Somarājya. And as I mentioned, these are also happen to be the qualities of samaṣṭi Prāṇadevatā, and that is going to come later on. So anybody who meditates becomes great, becomes pure, and becomes a very delightful, happy personality towards whom everybody is attracted. Because we are really attracted only towards happiness. A man looks at a woman, thinks she is very beautiful. It is not the beauty; it is the happiness that the concept of beauty brings. A man looks at a sweet; it is not the sweet; it is the delight, the happiness that is the resultant of coming into contact with that sweet, becoming that sweet, becoming one with him when he eats, and that quality of happiness temporarily becomes one with this person. So we are not really attracted to any object, but we are attracted towards what is happiness, but mistakenly manifested, mistakenly understood as the properties of those attractive, desirable objects.

Vidyut (Lightning)

So we have seen that one. Vidyut is also we discussed. So Ajātaśatru heard from Gārgya: "I contemplate upon lightning." And then Ajātaśatru says: "That is okay; that is a good thing. But I contemplate upon this lightning as Tejasvī—Hiraṇyagarbha." Remember, the vidyut (lightning) is an aspect of Hiraṇyagarbha. The moon is an aspect of Hiraṇyagarbha. The sun is an aspect of Hiraṇyagarbha. As I mentioned yesterday, all the presiding deities are the combined particular quality in every human, in every living creature. As an example, just to remind you: all the seeing power in every creature in the form of the eye—all the eyes combined—sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt—so that is called Sūrya Devatā. So all the minds together is called the Chandra Devatā. And here Tejasvī means splendour. There is a special splendour. It is not a power that emanates; it is a natural quality because lightning means light. Tremendous power is there. So tejas—power, tremendous commanding capacity, and a brilliant shining personality. All these qualities are involved in this meditation upāsana called Tejasvī. So Ajātaśatru says: "I meditate upon lightning as tejas—divine splendour." And whoever meditates, that becomes that particular person's own nature, part of his personality. So he becomes Tejasvī. That is why I said: saints' heads are often depicted as having a halo like that.

Ākāśa Upāsana

The next upāsana, the fourth upāsana, is called Ākāśa Upāsana. And when we are talking about this Ākāśa Upāsana earlier, we have seen what are the similarities between Ākāśa and Ātman. Ākāśa is the very first manifestation of Ātman. So both are infinite; both are uncontaminable—nothing can touch them. Both are indivisible; both are all-pervading; both are supporting everything in this world. So inevitably, everyone has to meditate upon Ākāśa, succeed in it at least to some extent. Then he will have a glimpse of what Ātman could be.

Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Experience

I also quoted what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's own experience: "I was like a bird flying in the infinite sky." And do not immediately say that it falls. Suppose the bird gets tired and then falls down and then dashes itself against the earth or a rock and dies. These are called negative thoughts; they should not be entertained. Ākāśa means infinite. In infinity, there is no up and down, east or west, above and below. Nothing is there. So that is a beautiful meditation—joylessly flying. There is no other being excepting me. And this is a very high and difficult upāsana to practise.

The Two Qualities of Ākāśa

Here it is. I am just reminding you: Gārgya said, "I worship—I do upāsana—on Ākāśa." He says with two special glories—Pūrṇaḥ and Apravṛtti. So why Pūrṇa? Because whenever we objectify a thing, the objectifying means it is limited. But Ākāśa is unlimited. Therefore, we have to think—even though it is a thought, even though the mind can only think in limited terms, limited by time, space, and causation—we have to intellectually contemplate it as Pūrṇaḥ. Pūrṇaḥ means infinite.

पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते | पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ||

pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate | pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate ||

So it is Pūrṇam. And then Apravṛtti—that means actionless. So light is actionless. I say "light is illumining" as an example. All these concepts require a little bit of self-analysis. So light is illumining an object—that is how we express. Without light, I cannot see an object, experience an object, but as soon as light comes—either electricity or natural light—immediately it illumines. But our understanding should be deeper. You go and suppose you ask the light: "Did you illumine?" It says: "What are you talking about? I do not know anything about illuminating anything." Because if light thinks "I am illuminating," then it is a quality of the light, and sometimes the quality can be manifest, sometimes unmanifest. That means what? Sometimes the light decides: "I will show this person what this object is." And another time: "I do not like this person, so I am not going to illuminate." Light will be there, but that illumination will be absent—by the will of the light. But that is not the case. Fire burns; fire does not know anything. But in its presence, by its very nature, anything that comes into contact—even nearby contact—with fire automatically burns. It has nothing to do with the fire. This is illumining without the thought that "I am illumining." That is the concept we must have with regard to so many things.

Ākāśa as Supporter

With Ākāśa, it is the supporter of all, and it is uncontaminable. So that is why it is said that any number of impurities can be thrown into space, but space is never contaminated. So this is how one has to understand, though Ākāśa does not really do anything. But without Ākāśa, nothing can be done. You cannot construct a house. You cannot construct a workspace. You cannot move one millimetre if there were to be no space. But space itself does not know anything about it. It is asparśa—completely non-touchable, non-influenceable. That is how one has to understand. It does not act, and it is also kriyā-rahita. Pūrṇaḥ—it is infinite, and in infinity, there is no time, space, and causation. There is no action; there is no inaction. That is how we have to understand.

The Result of This Upāsana

"This is how I meditated before I attained Brahmajñāna," says Ajātaśatru to Gārgya. "You also must acquire these qualities." What does it mean? You become a Karma Yogi. You feel that "the cause of me is Brahman. I am the Ātman. I am Pūrṇamadaḥ, Pūrṇamidam. And I do not need to do anything because I am Sat-Cit-Ānanda by my very nature." So if I am of the nature of bliss, if I do something, you know what happens? Instead of being happy, I will be subjected to unhappiness because an object is limiting. An object definitely limits the subject also. So we must go beyond subject and object.

Upāsana Means Becoming One

So Ajātaśatru teaches Gārgya: "You do upāsana." I am using this word upāsana because meditation, contemplation, concentration—these words really do not express what can be expressed by this word. Upāsana means what? Completely becoming one with the object of our contemplation. So He is infinite, and whatever is infinite is beyond any action, because everything that a person does is to obtain something which is not there. But when he becomes infinite, the subject, the object, the desirable, the undesirable—everything is included in the Pūrṇa. Actually speaking, there is nothing undesirable. Even the worst thing is nothing but Brahman.

The Example of Bhairavī Brāhmaṇī

And in order to teach this lesson to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, while Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was practising Tāntrika sādhana, Bhairavī Brāhmaṇī did so many things. I will only mention two. One day she brought some faeces and said: "My child, please taste them—not eat them, but taste them." And a revolution had arisen in the mind of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. And then Bhairavī Brāhmaṇī perceived it and said: "What is there? Look here, I am doing it." And without any revulsion or hatred, how can it be done? Only by considering it as a manifestation of the Divine Mother who is everywhere—or Brahman, if you like. So Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said: "Immediately I was possessed by Caṇḍikā, and immediately I had no revulsion at all."

The Dung Beetle

Actually, look at it. There is a beetle called dung beetle. And the dung beetle's food is only dung. What is dung for us is the nutritious food for the dung beetle. And if you can imagine a dung beetle—a devotee of Brahman? In fact, there is no one who is not a devotee of Brahman, because every creature's unconscious prayer is: "Let me exist forever; let me be full of consciousness; let me be Ānandasvarūpa—asato mā sadgamaya, etc." So unconsciously, we are all—there is nobody from that viewpoint who is a disbeliever in God. Only if you use the word "God," there will be a problem. But if you believe that God means existence, pure consciousness, and unbroken bliss—ānanda—then everybody wants only God. Everybody is a spark of God. Everybody is a devotee of God. Only temporarily, our mind does not allow us to recognise that fact.

Apravṛtti and Kriyāvān

So Apravṛtti, kriyāvān—this is how: all the full ānanda is within me. I do not desire anything other than ānanda. An object is desired only if I think I do not have the ānanda of this particular object—for example, a sweet—then I desire sweet. When I am having unbroken happiness, my ānanda is pūrṇa—infinite. Where is the question of any desire? Where there is no desire, there is absolutely no action.

Vāyu Upāsana

The next upāsana is Vāyu. You know, slowly some of the Pañcabhūtas are taken out for upāsana. Vāyu means air. We all know Vāyu means oxygen—Prāṇadevatā. Without breathing sixteen times a minute, we will not be able to survive. And those who suffer from asthma, they understand what I am talking much better. So you close your nostrils and hold up your breathing—you will understand what I am talking about.

The Three Glories of Vāyudevatā

So here also the three glories are there of Vāyudevatā, that is Prāṇadevatā: Indraḥ, Vaikuṇṭhaḥ, Aparājitasenāḥ. Indra means Īśvara, because what is the first thing? Life. "I want to be, I want to exist"—and that comes only from Prāṇadevatā. Prāṇadevatā comes in the form of Vāyu, especially oxygen. What is oxygen for human beings and other animals is poison to all the plants. So for the plants, what we breathe out—that is called carbon dioxide—that is the oxygen for them. So in whichever case—oxygen or carbon dioxide—both are manifestations of Vāyudevatā, Prāṇadevatā.

The Three Qualities

He has got—you are contemplating fine. But now you have to contemplate the same Vāyu as Hiraṇyagarbha—as Indraḥ—the king of the kings; and Vaikuṇṭhaḥ—meaning extremely intelligent, amandaḥ—do not imagine Nārāyaṇa's loka Vaikuṇṭha. In fact, it is where there is no kuṇṭha—there is no lack—and pure consciousness is the location where God is revealed. Therefore, Vaikuṇṭha means amandaḥ—not at all dull. That means he is very intelligent, he is active, he is energetic, he is agile, dynamic, etc. And Aparājitasenāḥ—one whose army is never defeated, one who has got invincible forces or undefeatable power. Aparājitasenāḥ—that means one who has got an army which is invincible.

The Spiritual Context

But how do we understand in the spiritual context? We have to understand that the spiritual qualities—if I possess the spiritual quality of particularly this Vāyudevatā—then any amount of unspiritual forces (what in the ancient days, especially Christian saints, used to term as demons, devils) they cannot defeat me.

The Story of the Saint and the Devil

There is a beautiful story. There was a great saint, and the devil wanted to conquer him. So he came to him and revealed himself as an angel, thinking: "This person will become very proud—'Oh, what a great man I am! I had the vision of Saint Peter the Great angels.'" But the saint was too clever for this devil. Devils are not clever at all; now their thinking is very limited. So the angel is telling: "I have come from God. Rejoice!" Immediately the saint says: "I am not such a great soul that God can bestow—send his angels to me. So I do not deserve your vision." The moment the devil hears it, he hangs his head down and immediately flees away. There is no way to conquer this saint. Whereas a loyal person thinks: "What a how fortunate I am!" So for a few days he will think—in fact, there are so many stories which I am not going to go into.

Humility

So this person is humility itself. Therefore, when a person is so humble:

तृणादपि सुनीचेन.

tṛṇād api sunīcena.

That is what Caitanya Mahāprabhu says: "Even lower than a blade of grass"—considering himself or herself lower than a blade of grass—and nothing can defeat him. Because if a devil comes, he will say: "I am not equal to you; you are greater than me." And there is nothing the devil can do to this humble person. Humility means complete possession by the Spirit of God; when we make space, then pure Ākāśa—pure air—takes its place. When we empty our heart, pure divinity will be manifesting there.

Hanumān and Bhīmasena

So Vāyu is the most powerful. That is why Añjaneya—nobody can defeat him:

मनोजवं मारुततुल्यवेगं जितेन्द्रियं बुद्धिमतां वरिष्ठम् | वातात्मजं वानरयूथमुख्यं श्रीरामदूतं शिरसा नमामि ||

manojavaṃ mārutatulyavegaṃ jitendriyaṃ buddhimatāṃ variṣṭham | vātātmajaṃ vānarayūthamukhyaṃ śrīrāmadūtaṃ śirasā namāmi ||

And Bhīmasena—so in the Mahābhārata, Añjaneya wanted to bestow his grace on Bhīmasena. So he took the form of an old monkey with a thick big tail lying on a narrow path. Bhīmasena said: "You please withdraw your form. I want to cross, otherwise you are elderly, so I do not want to step over you." And the old monkey—Añjaneya—said: "I am too weak. Will you please help me just to put my tail to a side first?" So Bhīmasena tried with one finger—little finger—could not. Then he used all the five fingers—could not. He used one hand—could not. Used both hands—could not. And he used all his energy—could not. Immediately that flashed in his head: "This is not an ordinary old monkey. It must be my eldest brother, elder brother Añjaneya." Immediately he fell at his feet. They were all spiritual people, these Pañca Pāṇḍavas. So immediately Añjaneya gave him a boon: "Tell your Arjuna to keep a flag, and in that flag I will reside, and whoever looks at this flag, his heart will fail on the spot." So Bhīmasena was very, very strong. Añjaneya was invincible. So that is the senā. Whoever has got the grace of Vāyudevatā becomes invincible, and even Mṛtyudevatā does not dare to come near until the allotted time has come.

Agni Upāsana

The next upāsana is Agni—fire. So only one viśeṣaṇa is there. What is it? Viśvasāhā. Viśvasāhā means Agni. Whatever we throw into the fire, it accepts it, burns it—even if it is the most impure, it will not keep it. So that is why He will not get angry with you. "Why did you throw this impure thing into me?" He turns everything into the purest. Throw into fire anything that is pure or impure—everything it will turn into the most purest substance by breaking down, absorbing, destroying all the impurities. That is why fire is called the most purifying aspect. So Agni takes anything given to it, and He does not complain. Whatever we give, He accepts it. And if we give with devotion, He will turn it completely into something very pure.

Apaḥ (Water) Upāsana

The next is Apaḥ—water. We know one of the Pañca Devatās. Agni we have seen, Vāyu we have seen. So take it—Apaḥ means water. Water is taken for upāsana, and here Ajātaśatru adds one more specific quality of Hiraṇyagarbha for Gārgya to contemplate upon. It is called Pratirūpa, meaning samāna-rūpam—that is to say, if you peer into flowing water, as we have seen how Prajāpati instructed: "Bring a big pail of water and look yourselves into it—without dressing up, after dressing up—and what you see that is your true self." One step further in spiritual progress. So samāna-rūpam, pratirūpaḥ—it means it reflects. But even a better reflector is there—that is called a mirror. We are going to come to it.

The Result

So what does it mean? What is the result the person will get? If anybody contemplates Hiraṇyagarbha in the form of this water, then the result he will get is samāna-putra-prāpti. His children will be as spiritual people as the father and mother are. Whether it is sons or daughters, they will also be—all of them will be only good children, taking after the mother and like the father.

Ādarśa (Mirror) Upāsana

The next higher is called Ādarśa. Ādarśa in Sanskrit means what we call mirror. What does a mirror do? It reflects. So Hiraṇyagarbha, if he is meditated upon with this quality called mirror quality, then what happens—that he reflects: "This is what you are." What does it mean? An ordinary mirror actually reflects. If a monkey stands in front of a mirror, only a monkey's svarūpa will come. But this is not an ordinary mirror; it is Hiraṇyagarbha. So when even an ignorant person stands in front of this Hiraṇyagarbha in the form of contemplating him as a mirror, that mirror called Hiraṇyagarbha reflects and shows: "You are not an ordinary human being; you are Hiraṇyagarbha." So the pratirūpa—the reflection of the person who is standing in front of this divine mirror called Hiraṇyagarbha—the divine mirror only reflects divinity. So this is svaccha-svabhāvaḥ, śuddha-svabhāvaḥ—pure Hiraṇyagarbha's svarūpaḥ. So that is the eighth.

Yantam Paścāt Śabdaḥ Upāsana

Then we will see the ninth one—Yantam paścāt śabdaḥ. Supposing a person is running, and after some time his breathing becomes gasping. And meditate upon Hiraṇyagarbha with that gasping sound—paścāt yantam, paścāt śabdaḥ. Yantam means one who is walking for a long time or running for a long time. Paścāt—after a long time, what type of breathing comes out of that person who is running—that gasping sound. Gasping means what? He is trying to inhale more amount of oxygen. Meditate upon that. So every asthmatic patient knows, and it may be very convenient for him to do this one. So what is the Hiraṇyagarbha's quality? Meditate Hiraṇyagarbha as that—so anuguṇatvena prāṇaguṇatvena. That is to say, this person will obtain plenty of life energy from the source of this life energy, which is Hiraṇyagarbha, and this person lives for a long time because he will not suffer from this if he meditates upon him like that.

The Example of Lakṣmī Devī

Supposing a beggar meditates upon Lakṣmī Devī—then as a result of that meditation, he identifies: "I am full of wealth." And thereafter he really gets the happiness of being a wealthy man, even if he does not have wealth. What wealth Śudhiram had, what wealth Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had, what wealth Holy Mother had—but whoever went there, she uplifted their mind, the people's mind to a very high level.

The Anecdote from 1973

I have to remind you one of my anecdotes. In 1973, I was living at—not Mother's house—Balarāma Bābū's house, and the court just had given its verdict that this belongs to the Ramakrishna Order according to the will of Kṛṣṇamayī, the granddaughter of Balarāma Bābū's. And the court case had taken, I think, more than 30–35 years. Anyway, the verdict had come. I was living there, and I used to go for food, etc., to Mother's house, which is the most pleasant experience because going to Mother's house means most enjoyable things are available. You do not need to pray to Mother; they are already there. You go—if you make yourself as hungry as possible, you can enjoy that.

The Sevaka's Reminiscence

There was a sevaka, a person who served as an attendant to Holy Mother. He was very old—I forget his name now. So I was eager to know his reminiscences of while he was living with Holy Mother. Then specifically I asked: "So what about your kāma—lust?" Because they were all very young youth, and there were so many women there—young women. And the women need not be Miss Universes, because when a person is in this mood of lust, any woman would look very beautiful. Then the Swami told me something extraordinary. He said: "So long as Holy Mother was alive, even the thought that I am a male never arose in all those male attendants." Then he added: "The moment Holy Mother passed away, as if we have come out of the river Gaṅgā, all the old sins are sitting on the branches on the bank of the river, and they all jumped. Now we have to struggle like anybody else." But then he said that because I distinctly remember how I was living in her presence, I meditate upon it, and that helps me to overcome. Old age is no obstruction for kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, mātsarya—keep it in mind. So that is the result.

Dik (Directions) Upāsana

Then it comes on directions—dik. You know, Hinduism divides all this into four categories: East, West, South, North, and also in between—East and West, East and South, South and West, West and North. We call it Aṇḍavai—you remember easily—mnemonics. So if somebody does contemplation upon it, what does he become? He gets two qualities: dvitīyavān—always there will be somebody with him to help him, to serve him. He will never be without a second person taking care of him as long as the person is alive. So abhiyunuktatva—that means inseparableness. So if a person is married, wife and husband live—only they die at the same time. But they will never be separable; they will not suffer from the separateness of one person dying.

The Result

Sa ya etam evam upāste dvitīyavān bhavati nāsya gaṇāś chidyate—"Even his children—they will not die only in the full āyurdāya time—only they will die." Such a person who contemplates on the directions—East, West, South, North, etc.—as qualities of Hiraṇyagarbha will get the result of always being served, and of course he becomes more fit to become an apt student.

Chāyā (Shadow) Upāsana

Then the next meditation is chāyā. Chāyā means shadow. So:

Sa ya etam evam upāste sarvam āyur evāsmin loke ayate, nainaṃ pūrākālān mṛtyur agacchati.

"He who meditates upon Hiraṇyagarbha as a shadow attains his full span of life in this world, and the shadow called death, which always follows us, does not come to him before the appointed time." That means apāmṛtyu—untimely death—will never come to this one.

Prajāpati Upāsana

And the twelfth upāsana—the last one—is Ātma—that is Prajāpati, the samaṣṭi itself. All the Devatās put together are contemplated upon as Prajāpati—rūpāṇi samaṣṭi-rūpāṇi—upāsana. So what is the result? It means he will become one with everybody. He will have full self-control, total mastery over one's own self.

The Shadow of Death

So these are, in brief, the one—only—I just wanted to know that all of us are followed by the shadow of death. But one who meditates upon Hiraṇyagarbha as a shadow—that shadow will never—the shadow called death will never follow such a person. That means what does it mean? It really means that for the spiritual person, he overcomes the fear of death. "Let death come just now, tomorrow, after ten years, after a hundred years—it does not really matter." But I am not frightened of death because I know as soon as this physical body falls—that is called what we call death—then I become merged in this Hiraṇyagarbha because I have been meditating upon Hiraṇyagarbha.

The Final Step

And whoever meditates upon Hiraṇyagarbha, and Hiraṇyagarbha had these qualities—already Gārgya had some, and Ajātaśatru adds so many—then that Hiraṇyagarbha becomes full, and then whoever meditates becomes completely identified with Hiraṇyagarbha. Hiraṇyagarbha is Saguṇa Brahma. Saguṇa Brahma is Māyādhiśvara—He is the master of Māyā. Māyā means in the form of sṛṣṭi, sthiti, saṃhāra—that is creation, sustenance, and re-emergence into its cause. A person will be free from these.

Ready for the Final Step

So that is how Ajātaśatru had trained his apt disciple Gārgya to become one with Hiraṇyagarbha. Now he is ready for the final step—how Hiraṇyagarbha has to be merged into the Nirguṇa Brahma—Parabrahma, Satyasya Satyam. Hiraṇyagarbha is the satyam—truth—and Nirguṇa Brahma is Satyasya Satyam. And that is the beautiful topic, and Ajātaśatru, in the form of taking Gārgya by hand to a sleeping person, wakes him up. And he tries to explain what happens in deep sleep, and that is what we also had studied in the Māṇḍūkyakārikā, especially Gauḍapāda's teaching. But the same thing, we will try to talk in simpler terms in our next class onwards. I will also give you a methodology of approaching how to understand the forthcoming mantras—how Ajātaśatru had Gārgya understand.

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!