Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.2 1.2-5 Lecture 45 on 27 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 how Gārgya—who came claiming that he knows Brahman—wanted to take up the role of a guru and approached Ajātaśatru. But Ajātaśatru was a greater real knower of Brahman, whereas Gārgya was not. But out of infinite love and sympathy, Ajātaśatru humbly sat down: "Please teach me." But very gently, very lovingly, every time Gārgya says "this is how I contemplate—do upāsana of Brahman," he did not know that there was a lower aspect of Brahman (Saguṇa Brahma) and a higher aspect of Brahman. And even in Saguṇa Brahma, there are various qualities. But Ajātaśatru immediately says: "I know a little better than you"—without giving offence.

The Art of Teaching

It is an art how to speak to the other person, teach him, even scold him, try to correct him without giving any offence. On the contrary, making the person feel that it is all done because of love for me. Ajātaśatru becomes samadarśana. Every Jñānī becomes samadarśana, meaning: "I am not separate from this other person. The entire universe is myself. It is not different from me." That realisation makes a Jñānī really feel that "I love everybody." Because, as we have seen earlier also in this very Bṛhadāraṇyaka—in the first chapter, fourth section, eighth mantra—that Ātman, one's own true self, is nearer, dearer than anything else in this world. And a knower of that understands that the whole universe is my own self. There is nothing else excepting Brahman.

The Teaching Is for All

So that is how we start the second chapter of this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. Gārgya was being given this knowledge, but through him—like Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa giving that marvellous knowledge through Arjuna to the whole of humanity. It is not meant only for Arjuna. Arjuna is only an X representative. Here also, Gārgya is just an X. But this greatest truth is being said: "Who am I?" But in order to understand "Who am I?" I have to be a fit person even to understand the teachings of the teacher. For that purpose, the student has to be taken step by step—like passing one class after another and then entering into the university, passing all the classes, and then only specialised training—PhD—can be given. Otherwise, the teaching becomes practically useless.

Gārgya's Humility

So this is how Gārgya came and he wanted to teach. But immediately Ajātaśatru rewards him with one thousand cows, like Janaka giving to Yājñavalkya. And then Ajātaśatru asked Gārgya: "Please teach me." And Gārgya started teaching. But every time, Ajātaśatru says: "This upāsana of yours is a bit limited. I know a little bit better. I will teach you a better upāsana." And like that, Gārgya starts to teach twelve upāsanas from Mantra 2 to Mantra 13. In the end, Gārgya understood that the person to whom I have come to teach knows much better than me, and he became very humble.

The Sanskrit Subhāṣita

This is proved through the Sanskrit subhāṣita:

विद्या ददाति विनयम्.

vidyā dadāti vinayam.

"The more we know, the more humble we become." How? Because the more we become learned, the more we understand how much more is lying hidden of which I have no knowledge. So always humility is a sign of learning. And Gārgya, being a very sincere person—though mistaken at first—became very humble and humbly he requests, like a student should request:

सामित्पाणिः गुरुम् उपासीत.

sāmitpāṇiḥ gurum upāsīta.

Everybody must approach a fit teacher with samit-pāṇi—samit in hand. Samit-pāṇi indicates humility, complete self-surrender. Now Gārgya approached Ajātaśatru and requested him: "Please teach me. I am ready to learn." And Ajātaśatru also understands: the student is ready.

The Law of Readiness

As Swami Vivekananda says: "When the field is ready, the seed also is ready." It is an invaluable law in this world. When we are ready, then happiness comes. When we are ready, unhappiness and suffering also comes. For everything, readiness is necessary, and that is indirectly talking about Karma Siddhānta. So he begged the king that "you be the teacher." But the tradition was all the time that brāhmaṇas would be the teachers, kṣatriyas would be the students, or anybody else. But then the king did not want to disrupt this sampradāya (tradition). So he simply said: "I am happy you are ready—that is all I require. I will teach you." He did not require Gārgya to kneel down, to make praṇāms, to sit low.

The Example of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa

That is the greatness of—like Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, he never treated any of his disciples as less than himself. In fact, he worshipped them as Nārāyaṇa. How do we know? Because when he loved Narendra so much—nobody else was ready to receive love as Narendra was. What happens? This very often we do not understand. We are not even ready to accept the fact that when a person, like a vessel, which can only hold one kilogram, cannot hold even one gram more than its capacity. It can only hold to its fullest capacity. So even to receive love, one has to be prepared, and according to one's capacity only, love also can be received. And if somebody tries to give more love than what is the capacity of the recipient to receive, then that person will break down invariably—like a child will break down when a heavy burden, more than a few papers, is kept on his head. And every human being understands that.

Narendra's Question

So when Narendra questioned: "Why are you loving me so much?" Narendra did not understand the simple psychological fact that Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was not loving him more than others. Narendra was a capable instrument—a recipient who could really receive the greatest amount of love than other people. Neither others understood it, nor Narendra understood it, nor even Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa understood it. So when Narendra questioned: "Why do you love me so much? Will your case become like the case of Jada Bharata?"—a great sage whose mind was in the end occupied only with the thought of a beloved worldly object, a deer. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa ran to the Divine Mother. He is questioning the Divine Mother: "Why do I love Narendra so much?" Then the Divine Mother said: "You are not loving Narendra. There is a boy—there is an object—he is called Narendra. You are not loving him. You are seeing the greatest manifestation of Nārāyaṇa in him." Then Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa understood: that which I love is Nārāyaṇa.

The Upaniṣadic Truth

And this is the greatest truth the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad proclaims—both to Maitreyī as well as in the first chapter, fourth section, Mantra 8—beautifully illustrates. "Are you loving a sweet? No, you are not loving the sweet. You love the Ātman. Ātman alone is the source of happiness. But that happiness seems to be coming through the medium of the sweet. The moment the sweet stops becoming a medium, immediately you will reject the sweet and go to some other object which can reflect or which can act as an apt medium to convey to us our own nature."

Every Object Is a Mirror

Every object acts like a mirror, but every mirror is covered with thick layers of dust, and that which has the largest, thickest amount of dust reflects our Ātman—our own Ātman—poorly. When we stand in front of that object, that object acts like a mirror, and it can only reflect very poorly. And that Ātman here is called Ānanda. So if we eat a third-class sweet, we get very little ānanda, plus we may get stomach-ache also. But if we really love a higher object—a mother loves a child without putting any conditions—that is the highest expression of love we can get in this world. I think even that is not true. The real expression will be an enlightened teacher, a Holy Mother—how she loves her disciples, all of us devotees. That is the measurement of true love. Even though she may love us 100%, because she can see only Brahman, because each one of us in her vision reflects only her own self, but if somebody is not able to reflect, it is that person's defect, not Holy Mother's defect. How many of us can understand that?

The Greatest Reflector of Happiness

So this is going to be the teaching: that object which reflects us as close as we are becomes the greatest reflector of happiness—ānanda. So in the waking state, we receive very little ānanda; but in dream, we can receive more ānanda; in deep sleep, we receive the greatest amount of ānanda, which is going to be the subject matter very soon.

The Sadguru's Love

But what is important is that every Sadguru loves all his disciples without any partiality, but the disciples become jealous—and that itself indicates their defect, their inability, how much their minds are coated with dust—not understanding why an enlightened teacher shows less love. He does not show less love. We reflect less of his true love, which is ānanda. This is the secret. The Divine Mother taught him: "You see God—that means you see your own self, your own Ātman. And in Narendra, that Ātman is much more reflected than anybody else. And that is why I am loving you."

The Proof

Then how do we know this is the truth? Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's own words. After saying this: "I see the greatest manifestation of Nārāyaṇa in you." This sentence also is very meaningful, pregnant with tremendous meaning. What is the meaning? That means Narendra is more identified with Ātman and less identified with his own body and mind. That is why when Narendra started coming, his eyes were turned upward, and Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa remarked immediately that his dṛṣṭi—his attitude—is attuned to such a high level of truth. That is why he is not even conscious of his body, his breath, his mind, etc. That is why as soon as Narendra sits for meditation, immediately he becomes absorbed. Even if a cobra is crawling near him, he would not be conscious of it. We know that incident—when Narendra was trying to meditate along with some of his friends in a small room upstairs in his house, then a cobra somehow entered, and all the boys saw it and, screaming, they ran away. But Narendra was completely unaware of it.

The Cobra and the Yogi

What do you think the cobra will do? It will not bite him because "snakes used to crawl all over my body," Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa used to say. So when the snake finds no reflection in the mind of Narendra—"I am frightened, I wish to kill you, I want to live"—such thoughts are totally absent. And when such things are absent, just like when we encounter a stone—even if 100 stones are in our house, we do not hesitate to do what we want to do—but the moment one single conscious person is there, we have to control ourselves—how we are going to behave. And we also consciously or unconsciously react to that person's mental attitude, even though he or she is not expressing.

Ajātaśatru's Love for Gārgya

So now Ajātaśatru loved Gārgya like that. Gārgya understood he wanted to be a complete recipient, and Ajātaśatru slowly added to the already existing good qualities—Daivī Sampat—which Gārgya was already having, by slowly hinting to him: "You meditate, do upāsana of Āditya, the Sun God, as Hiraṇyagarbha in this particular quality." So this is going to be the development.

Analysis of the Twelve Mantras (2–13)

We will just do a little bit and analyse these twelve mantras, beginning from the second to the thirteenth. So Ajātaśatru said: "Please start your teaching." And Gārgya said: "That being—Puruṣa—who is in the sun..." We have to be very careful here to understand what Gārgya was telling. So the sun is not a dead star—a molecule of some atoms filled with energy, light, heat, etc. No—he is the Puruṣa. He is the Devatā—Āditya Devatā, the Sun God. And the sun is nothing but—like our physical body—the sun that we see, we experience, which radiates heat and light, is just like our physical body. So I meditate upon that Puruṣa as Brahman.

Ajātaśatru's Addition

Immediately Ajātaśatru said: "I also meditate upon the same Āditya Devatā, but with higher qualities—as all-surpassing, as the head of all beings, and as resplendent." Three particular qualities he adds. What would be the result? Whoever—not only Ajātaśatru, not only Gārgya—anybody who contemplates upon that being who is seen in the sun, in the moon, in the lightning, in the fire, in the waters, etc. (which we are going to see—even in a shadow), they are all Devatās.

What Is a Devatā?

As I mentioned earlier, a Devatā is one without whose grace we will not be able to survive. So the Pañca Devatās—beginning from the earth, ending with space, Ākāśa—the whole universe is their manifestation. They are sustaining the whole universe. And in the end, there is this law: the effect must always go back to its original cause. When ornaments are melted, they go back—they do not "go back"; they remain as gold. When all the furniture is broken down, they all manifest as pure wood—or our attention is drawn. Previously, you are not thinking of wood; you are thinking: "This is a table. This is a chair," etc. But it is all nothing but pure wood.

The Inevitable Law

So this is the law, the inevitable law: the effect must always merge—resolve back—into its cause. Following that, we can forestall what is going to happen. This meditation on the Sun God as Hiraṇyagarbha—then the Devatā, Sūrya Devatā—becomes identified with Hiraṇyagarbha. Hiraṇyagarbha becomes identified with Īśvara. Īśvara becomes identified with Nirguṇa Brahma. This is going to be the inevitable process. But Ajātaśatru, as I said, is preparing Gārgya for the highest—to make him a fit adhikārī, a fit person to receive śravaṇa, manana, and nididhyāsana.

The Result of Meditation

So whosoever meditates upon in this manner on the Sun God as all-surpassing, the head of all beings, and resplendent—they also become all-surpassing, head of all beings, and resplendent. Those qualities become explicitly manifest in that upāsaka.

The Story of Vishuddhānandaji

There is a beautiful anecdote. Once, Swami Vishuddhānandaji—a disciple of Holy Mother, one of the greatest, respected, aged sādhus in our order—he became like Holy Mother towards his disciples. His love towards his disciples was unparalleled. This Vishuddhānandaji, when he was young, used to visit Dakṣiṇeśvara. Once he went to Dakṣiṇeśvara, and there he met an old gardener—even unable to stand up properly, but cleaning the pathway between the room of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and Pañcavaṭī. And somehow, a special radiance was coming out of this gardener.

The Gardener's Vision

Swami Vishuddhānandaji, being a fit person, grasped that fact. So he went and asked: "Did you meet Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa?" The gardener was at first hesitant, but something prompted him and he also responded: "Yes, please tell me something that you experienced." The gardener started describing that, you know, once I was having a sleepless night, so my house is very near to this Dakṣiṇeśvara temple, and I came out at night and I was surprised to see a brilliant light coming from the direction of the Pañcavaṭī. This brilliant light had no resemblance—in those ways in the 19th century, remember there was no such—even I think Petromax light probably was not there, not to speak of electric lights. So he proceeded slowly, and then from a distance he saw Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was sitting in samādhi on the platform of the Pañcavaṭī. And then from his body was emanating this tremendous light, and it used to emanate from Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's body even much earlier, but after a long time prior to—the Divine Mother: "Mother, go inside, go inside"—and his body became so-called dull. But those who had discerning eyes could see it.

The Blessing

So here he saw, and then he was frightened a little bit. It must have uplifted this gardener's mind to the highest degree. He went home. Next day, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa met him. And then he knew what happened. He asked: "What did you see yesterday night?" The gardener, of course, confessed. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said—and this is his way of bestowing his grace—he is showing his real form in the form of cit and ānanda and sat, especially cit—pure consciousness, pure light. It was his unbounded grace, unsolicited grace. "You meditate upon me in that form as the form of light." And then every day, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa commanded—as he commanded Rishik—"Every day after food, you prepare, you go to the Tulasī mañca"—a platform where the Tulasī plant is growing. According to Hindus, Tulasī is none other than the wife of Nārāyaṇa Himself. So if we worship, if we hold on to this, all up then we will get the auspicious. So like that, you meditate upon this light, but you clean the room because many devotees will be walking, and this would be your service—this will be your Karma Yoga. And faithfully, every day, this man carries out as long as possible, and that is how Vishuddhānandaji met him.

The Point of the Story

Now the point is that Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was meditating on the Divine Mother as resplendence, and so his body, his mind became resplendent like the sun, and that light was incapable of staying inside. It was peeping out through every pore of the body. So that is what he showed. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa does not show this normally, but he showed this form. That resplendence—and this gardener must have meditated upon Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa because nothing like a personal experience—and that resplendence must have been manifesting in the gardener also. That is the purpose I gave—I cited this example. So Vishuddhānandaji could understand that this man is not an ordinary man; he is somebody very special. So we got this story. Because of the grace of Swami Vishuddhānandaji Mahārāj, upon how many people Rāmakṛṣṇa had bestowed his grace in this form, God alone knows. Whenever I remember something, I will quote it. That is the real meditation for us—not to these Upaniṣadic words we might forget.

Ajātaśatru's Teaching

So Ajātaśatru started to enlighten him, showing him the distinctions within Hiraṇyagarbha itself. King Ajātaśatru recognised Gārgya as a fit disciple, and then he started teaching. Thus, from verse mantra 2 to 13, we get Saguṇa Brahma Upāsanas—twelve upāsanas in twelve mantras, ending with the thirteenth. And we find at every stage, Gārgya says: "This is how I have been contemplating upon this particular aspect of nature." Ajātaśatru declares: "Now you can also add more, because I know what I am talking about"—and so expands the concept of Gārgya and our concept of Hiraṇyagarbha. Why? Because Ajātaśatru wanted to take Gārgya to the highest Brahman. But for that, fitness has to be first acquired. And Ajātaśatru was trying to make Gārgya a fit recipient because he found him very sincere and capable of becoming a very fit recipient. This is going to be the development.

Understanding Hiraṇyagarbha

So yesterday also we talked: who is Hiraṇyagarbha? For that, I will summarise what I have spoken. Our body has got eleven organs—five of action, five of knowledge, and one mind—eleven. So the five sense organs of knowledge are called inputs, and what to do with that input is called the five organs of action—called output. And the whole thing is one composite—made to be one composite unbroken ṛti by the mind. So all these eleven organs have their own presiding deities. So as an example: I have an eye, you have an eye—every jīva has an eye—and that is an individual manifestation of the Adhiṣṭhātra Devatā called the Sun God. So what is the Sun God? He is the totality of the power of seeing in every jīva in the form of the organ called eye. And the same Sun God also must make us experience the power of seeing through the power of light—as I said, "light" means—so for the ears, Ākāśa (ether) is the light, etc.; for the mind, it is the moon. So all these Adhiṣṭhātra Devatās of all the eleven organs consisting of our individuality is called Hiraṇyagarbha. All the Adhiṣṭhātra Devatās combined is called Hiraṇyagarbha. That is how we have to understand.

A Sample Mantra

So we will just take up one sample mantra, see how it has to be understood, and then we will come to Ajātaśatru's teaching. At every risk, after the twelve upāsanas, Gārgya tries to teach Ajātaśatru. Every time, Ajātaśatru says that "I know better" and corrects and expands his existing knowledge. At the end of the thirteenth, Ajātaśatru asked: "Don't you know something more about Brahman—etāvān—only this much?" Gārgya understood the implication: "I will sit down and you take the higher place. I will be your disciple—student. You will be my teacher. You teach me, and I shall learn. I will sit as an obedient śiṣya."

The Teaching of Nirguṇa Brahma

Thereafterwards, Ajātaśatru teaches that Hiraṇyagarbha is not the ultimate Brahma. Towards the end of this chapter, again from the—I think Mantra 15 or 16—the king teaches about the Nirguṇa Brahma. How does he do that? So when Gārgya humbly requests him—"Accept me as your student"—Ajātaśatru did not disregard the sampradāya tradition. He said: "You have said you are ready; you have accepted me as your teacher. For me, it is more than sufficient." So he takes him by hand—not demeaning him by asking him to follow him behind him, or to sit in front of him showing respect—and then he leads him to a sleeping man.

The Sleeping Man

First he calls him out by some names of the Prāṇadevatā, and then the man did not wake up. Then Ajātaśatru shakes him many times, and at the severest shaking, the man suddenly wakes up. That is the incident. But taking that as an example, Ajātaśatru asks Gārgya: "Where was this jīvātman when he was in that deep sleep state?" Deep sleep state means he was not in the waking state, he was not in the dream state, he was in the deep sleep state. But even though he did not know the world does not exist, one Devatā is there without whom life will be dead—Prāṇadevatā. So the names of Prāṇadevatā were called. What is that calling? "O Prāṇadevatā, are you the Brahman—Supreme Brahman, Parabrahman?" So when this person touched the body, the gross body replied, as it were: "I am not the Parabrahman." Why not responding? When he shook a little more, the dream—the mind, the subtle body—responded, as if: "I am not the Paramātman." And when he shook him violently, the deep sleep—the person he was experiencing—he has merged himself for the time being. That is why it is called deep sleep, because that is going to change after some time. But it indicates what is that state? There is no body, there is no karmaphala there. A person is resolved back into his true self even though unconsciously. That is going to be the development.

The Following Footsteps

But first we will see what the mantras are there. So the next part is a very profound teaching. Of course, following the same footsteps that we had followed in the Māṇḍūkyakārikā, especially following Gauḍapādācārya, we get the Saguṇa Brahma Upāsanas on Hiraṇyagarbha through the medium of different objects like the sun, the moon, the lightning, the wind, and the fire, etc. We will see that. So this is going to be the methodology.

The First Upāsana: Āditya (Sun)

So first of all, we have seen Gārgya says: "I meditate upon Āditya—the Puruṣa in Āditya." Very important for us to keep this in mind. Whenever Gārgya says "I meditate on this Puruṣa," there is a living Devatā. In us, it is only the individual jīva, but there is samaṣṭi jīva as it were in a special form manifest in the Sun God, and that Sun God is taken as an ālambana (as a support). Just as we take a small rounded stone—Śāligrāma or Śivaliṅga—because without this support we cannot think of anything. Remember when the Rājā in Jaipur challenged Swami Vivekananda: "Why do Hindus worship idols?" He never understood that an idol is only an ālambana. But what the devotee is really meditating upon, thinking upon, praying to is not an idol. Nobody will worship "O stone, please come and save me." A photograph or a pratīka, a symbol—a cross, an Oṃ, or a Śrī Cakra—it does not matter. They are only supports.

The Puruṣa as Support

So even this Puruṣa in the Sun God is only a support. No doubt, he is the Adhiṣṭhātra Devatā of everybody's power of seeing in the form of the eye. But higher than that is this Puruṣa. "I meditate upon him, taking him as a support, as Hiraṇyagarbha—Saguṇa Brahma." This is what Gārgya wants to convey to Ajātaśatru.

The Three Qualities

Then Ajātaśatru says: "What you have done is marvellous. You have practised; you have developed concentration; you have succeeded in thinking of Āditya in one aspect. I will add another three aspects to it. So your knowledge—your upāsana of Āditya Devatā—will be much more effective than anything." So three qualities: Atiṣṭhā, Mūrdhā, and Rājā.

Atiṣṭhā means "prominent." If you see our Prime Minister Modi among all the people, you know everybody is looking at him. Of course, nobody is looking at me. And if I am looking not at Modi and somebody else, they will change: "What are you looking at?" So this is called Atiṣṭhā. Atiṣṭhā means what? Prominent, superior—is the main important—pradhāna, mukhya, śreṣṭha.

Mūrdhā means pūjya, pūjanīya—there are some qualities because without the sun—Āditya Puruṣa—life is impossible. Pūjanīya, ādaraṇīya, vandanīya. So this is the viśeṣaṇa—Mūrdhā.

And then Rājā means he is resplendent, filled with light—not only he is filled with light, he is lighting up the whole universe, day and night—so prakāśasvarūpaḥ. These are the three special qualities.

The Result

"Now you meditate on these three qualities which I have mentioned. What are they? Atiṣṭhatva, Mūrdhatva, Rājatva—qualities of the Āditya Puruṣa, Āditya Devatā as Hiraṇyagarbha. This is how I meditated." Why do I say "I meditated"? Because Ajātaśatru had already crossed—he realised Saguṇa Brahma—just like Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa realised Saguṇa Brahma (Kālī), and Kālī took him to her real aspect, which is called pure consciousness. So at the end of four months or five months at Dakṣiṇeśvara, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said: "My first experience of pure consciousness—I was an adult in meditating upon Mother Kālī. Then suddenly Mother said: 'This is my second nature; my first nature is pure consciousness.' Then waves of consciousness came like tsunami waves, and I struggled to remain conscious, but soon they made me unconscious." And Swami Śaradānanda describes this telegraphically.

The Results of Contemplation

We must remember that that Prakāśa-svarūpa is called Rājā, and I have also attained the results. And not only me, if you contemplate, you will also get the same results. And anybody contemplates on Hiraṇyagarbha as Atiṣṭhatva, Mūrdhatva, Rājatva—he will also become the most important person and the most venerated, respected, worshipful person, and he will be endowed with tremendous splendour. As I mentioned, behind every saint's head, the halo is drawn indirectly to prove that he has become light. So Moses saw Bhagavān as the light in the burning bush.

The Visible and Invisible Results

If one meditates upon Hiraṇyagarbha as adorable, one will become adorable. If one meditates upon Hiraṇyagarbha as brilliant, he becomes brilliant. And if he meditates upon as the light, he becomes also a source of light. So one meditates upon Hiraṇyagarbha—he becomes a fulgent rājā. These are the what is called visible results. But along with these visible results, if somebody wants something higher, he becomes a fit person to take up the next step, which is called śravaṇa—Mahāvākya Śravaṇa. So this is going to be the same from 2 to 13.

The Second Upāsana: Chandra (Moon)

We have seen the second one. So we will go to the other ones. The second upāsana is called Moon—Chandra—upon which Hiraṇyagarbha is meditated. And then he says that there are three viśeṣaṇas: Bṛhat, Pāṇḍaravat, and Somarāja. Chandra—that is, Chandra Devatā—the God manifesting at the samaṣṭi of all these—has to be taken as a support, and upon Him you superimpose Hiraṇyagarbha. And you will also become like Chandra.

The Three Qualities of Chandra

You become Bṛhat—all-pervading; Pāṇḍaravat—you become pure; your mind becomes pure—śuddha; and Somarāja—you become a great enjoyer of bliss. Soma-rasa—you must have heard. So there is a plant supposed to be called Soma plant, and that Soma plant's rasa—the juice—when it is kept in a particular way for some time, it becomes liquor and it gives the highest happiness known to the people. In yajña, they offer it, and they drink it as prasāda, they also enjoy it.

The Result

So one who meditates upon this Chandra Devatā—not the moon, but the Devatā, the Puruṣa whose manifestation is the Chandra moon—so he becomes what? Bṛhat—that means he becomes very famous. He will have plenty of friends, admirers, because like Chandra gives happiness, this person gives happiness to everybody. And his mind becomes innocent, pure, without any guile—guileless. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa used to say about Niranjan: "My Niranjan has no añjana—no guile." And he becomes Somarāja—a source of bliss, and whoever comes into the presence of this contemplator of Chandra Devatā with these qualities will also give the same effect like the Chandra Devatā to the people who are nearby to some extent. Of course, everybody will not be the same according to their receptive capacity. The person will get these qualities.

Anna-Samṛddhi

So Ajātaśatru also gives one more result actually besides those three—Anna-samṛddhi. Because the Moon is the producer of all the oṣadhis—all the health-giving plants, the sustaining plants, food plants. Therefore, this person—because he is contemplating—will get plenty of anna. Not only that, he will also have the capacity to enjoy. Many people possess these things, but their health may not permit them to enjoy, but this person will be enjoying it.

The Third Upāsana: Vidyut (Lightning)

Then the next quality taken is Vidyut—lightning. These are all natural phenomena. Therefore, in the olden days, this natural phenomena is converted into very effective means of progressing in spiritual life in the form of contemplations. So Vidyut, as I mentioned earlier, contains a tremendous amount of power. One lightning—if we can harness it—it will give sufficient electricity or meet energy needs for the whole world, maybe for one year. So Ajātaśatru presents one glory that is Kānteja-svī—one who meditates upon lightning, he also glows—kānteja-svī—inner tejas, inner splendour, comes out. So taking the lightning as support, one must meditate. This quality of giving light belongs to Hiraṇyagarbha really, because every Adhiṣṭhātra Devatā is only a manifestation of this Hiraṇyagarbha. Whoever contemplates becomes Kāntimān.

The Fourth Upāsana: Ākāśa (Space)

And then meditate upon the Ākāśa—space. Then what happens? Two qualities are added: Pūrṇaḥ and Apāravartī. Pūrṇaḥ means he fills up everything, like Ākāśa is all-pervading. This person also becomes identified with everything—that is called all-pervading. And then Apāravartī means that Ākāśa does not seem to be doing any action. So akriyāvān—he does not do anything—but without Ākāśa, no action can take place. So kriyā-rahitaḥ—and this person becomes not only pūrṇa, he becomes without doing anything, he obtains the greatest peace, greatest happiness, greatest bliss.

To Be Continued

So another few contemplations are there, which we will talk about 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!