Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.2 3.1-3.6 Lecture 53 on 25 July 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: The Third Brāhmaṇa

We are studying some of the very important parts in this third Brāhmaṇa – third section. So first I would like to take up some of the important, very important mantras and then summarise what we discussed so far.

The State of Deep Sleep (Suṣupti)

In the 17th mantra – first section, second chapter, 17th mantra:

sa ha uvāca ajātaśatruḥ atra eṣa etat sut abhut yaḥ eṣa vijñānamayaḥ puruṣaḥ, tathā eṣāṃ prāṇānāṃ vijñānena vijñānam ādāya ya eṣa antar hṛdaya ākāśaḥ tasmin śete.

Ajātaśatru, as we should remember, had taken his newly acquired disciple Gārgya or Bālāki to a sleeping person, woke him up after violently shaking him, and he was describing that state.

The Components of the Jīvātman

This Puruṣa – that is the jīvātman – and the jīvātman consists of how many things? We have to say three things:

Cit – pure consciousness.
Cidābhāsa – the reflection of this pure consciousness in the mind of the individual.
Body and mind – we can join them together.

So pure consciousness, reflection of pure consciousness, plus body‑mind is called the individual soul – jīvātman. And every jīvātman goes through three states of experience until he has self‑knowledge and becomes free – attains liberation – not "attains", but knows that he was never bound.

The Three States

So this person, in the waking state, the emphasis is on the body, and the body's emphasis is on the external world. But in the state of dream, the external world and the whole physical body are as it were separated from himself. He deals only with the impressions he gained through his movements and interactions in the waking state, and taking those impressions, he creates his own world – that is beautifully described later on.

But in the deep sleep state (suṣupti), this pure consciousness combined with reflected consciousness takes – he rises above all connections with the waking state – body, external world, and mind. What does he do in the deep sleep state? He takes everything, as it were – all the functions of the organs – and converts them into pure reflected consciousness. And then where does he rest? There is supposed to be a place in the heart – it is called hṛdayākāśa, daharākāśa – and he rests there as long as that state of deep sleep continues.

The Role of Karmaphala

But because of karmaphala, when the time comes, that karmaphala acts as the cause – that is why suṣupti is called kāraṇa śarīra. So again it forcibly draws him from the hṛdayākāśa and then separates him from Paramātman as it were. That is the state Ajātaśatru was describing: where was the sleeping person, because it took such a long time to wake him up? He was deeply resting in the hṛdayākāśa along with cit – remember, cidākāśa, cit, cidābhāsa has not disappeared, but it is nearest to the pure cit, its real nature. As if there is only the shining sun and there is only the pure mirror – there is nobody there to witness, to use that reflected light to experience what is in the room. It is just like that.

Swapiti – Resting in the Lap of Paramātman

Taniyāda gṛṇāti atha etath puruṣaḥ svapiti nāma – when this person is in deep sleep, the jīvātman gets a special name: svapiti. He is called svapiti, meaning he is lying in the lap of Paramātman.

Taṭgṛhītaḥ iva prāṇā bhavati, gṛhītaṃ vāk, gṛhītaṃ cakṣuḥ, gṛhītaṃ śrotram, gṛhītaṃ manaḥ – when the jīvātman is in suṣupti, all the sense organs are withdrawn, and when sense organs are withdrawn, their functions are also withdrawn. The organ of smell is absorbed, the organ of speech is absorbed, the eye is absorbed, the ear is absorbed, and the mind is absorbed. In other words, both mind and body attain to their causal state and are not able to function.

The Causal State

Now, slowly after some time, because of karmaphala – remember, it always works – two points we have to remember here: prāṇa, whatever be the state – waking, dream, dreamless – prāṇa will never depart; otherwise that person, that jīvātman, would be a dead person. So prāṇa will be there. But these three states are experienced by the help of the prāṇa – the body and mind are withdrawn, sense organs and corresponding thoughts are totally withdrawn. So after some time, this causal body (cause) wakes up and pulls the jīvātman forcibly from the resting place in the Paramātman, brings it first to the state of dream – svapnāvasthā.

The Dream State – The 72,000 Nāḍīs

How does it do that? That is described in the 19th mantra:

Atha yadā suṣupto bhavati, atha nākasya caṇavet, atha nāmanā diyā va saptatiḥ sahasrāṇi hṛdayāt purītam avipratiṣṭhanti, tābhiḥ prati avasāprupyā purītathi śete.

Briefly, what Ajātaśatru is trying – or this Upaniṣad is trying – to convey that knowledge to us through the medium of Ajātaśatru: when the karmaphala forcibly forces back the jīvātman, how does it enter? It seems there are very subtle nāḍīs (nerves) – nerve centers. This nerve center we cannot find through any amount of microscope or telescope. They are subtle – subtle means not experienceable by the physical body, physical senses, even microscope or telescope. They cannot do anything unless sense organs are functioning. Only when the eye is perfectly functioning will telescope work, microscope work. If you put both in front of a blind man, they are not going to work.

The Pathways of Return

So when this person wakes up, then what happens? Slowly, because of these vāsanās – karmaphala, that is the impressions – they urge: "You will have to exhaust the resultant of your own actions." So how did he enter into that ākāśa – cidākāśa or vāidyākāśa or daharākāśa – through these very nerves? And how does he come back? Through the very nerves. So if you go somewhere, if you have climbed to the higher stories in your own building, you will again come back. So there are various staircases, as it were – they are called very, very subtle nerves. How many are there? The scripture is telling: 72,000 are there. Among them there is one which is called purītati, which is the most important nerve, and every other nerve is only emanating from there, and they are all well established in the heart. The heart is the place where we feel our identity.

The Deep Sleep State and Returning

So what happens when the Self goes into deep sleep, when it does not know anything? And how did it go into deep sleep? Through those very nerves. Now what is happening because the karmaphala wakes the person up? It returns along the 72,000 nerves called hītā. They are all called hītā. Hītā in Sanskrit means that which does good for anybody, which extends from the heart throughout the whole body. And these nerves, though they are emanating from the heart, are spread throughout the body until even the tips of the hair. So even if some smallest insect touches the tip of our hair, immediately that sensation – "Oh, something is touching me" – we can find out. Not to speak of the skin, where we feel it much more intensely – any touch. So these nerves are spread all over, and there it brings back into the dream state.

The Three Examples – Baby, Emperor, Brāhmaṇa

What happens? Yathā kumāraḥ hava mahārājya hava mahābrāhmaṇa hava atighniṃ ānandasya gatvā śayita evam eva eṣa etath svete atighnim – as a baby, or an emperor, or a noble Brāhmaṇa, when they enter into the deep sleep state, they experience incomparable, supreme happiness, because for the time being duality is absent. Mind and body cause duality; mind and body are absent in deep sleep.

Having experienced that highest bliss, three examples are given:

Kumāra – a baby without the least bit of worries. In this state of babyhood, no baby will ever think about what happened in the past, what is going to happen in the future, where am I going to eat, who is going to take care of me, etc. He knows somebody else is going to take care of him. He does not even think like that – we only attribute that thinking to the baby. But the baby absolutely knows someone is looking, and if somebody by chance is temporarily absent, the baby starts howling, crying. Immediately father, mother, brother, sister – somebody comes running and takes care of the baby, and the baby becomes peaceful once more. So a baby does not have judgmental values – "this is a good person, that is a good person; this is tasty food, that is not at all tasty" – all these thoughts are totally absent until his sleeping saṃskāras wake up when his body grows up sufficiently. But until that time, a baby is a marvellous example.

That is why a jīvanmukta is compared to a baby – just like a baby without a second thought. He wants to sleep, he will sleep; he wants to meditate, he will meditate; he wants to study, he will study; he wants to talk, he will talk.

Zen Buddhism – Complete Absorption

There is a special Buddhistic school of philosophy called Zen Buddhism – Dhyāna Buddhism. The main teaching is: a Zen practitioner – dhyāna practitioner – whatever he does, he is aware of only that. If you are reading the messages you are getting through my WhatsApp application, you will see: when a person is walking, he is aware "I am walking"; when he is sitting, he is aware "I am sitting", etc. So this is how slowly this person becomes only absorbed in that, like a baby. Notice a baby when he is playing – one hundred percent his mind is absorbed in that, and naturally he will get the greatest pleasure. What is the value of his plaything? That is not important – whether it is a few stones, few sticks or marbles, or some play machine – it does not really matter. What matters is absorption. It does not matter what a baby eats, but he is completely absorbed in it.

A Mahārāja who has no known enemies and everything is going on very well – how does he sleep? He is not worried – by God's grace, everything is going on well.
A Mahābrāhmaṇa – a realised soul – they are all same: adhik neem ānandasya gatvā. They experience that incomparable supreme bliss – that is the bliss of Brahman ānanda only, not less.

Śayit evam eva eṣa etat sethe – having experienced that one, he comes back into the next stage of experience, which is called dream.

The Dream Creation – Spider and Sparks

And what happens? He returns back through 72,000 nerves, but then he creates a tremendous creation – his own creation. Further, an example is given:

Sa yathā ūrṇanābhiḥ tantunā uccaret, yathā agneḥ kṣudrāḥ visphuliṅgāḥ vicharanti, evam eva asmāt ātmanaḥ sarve prāṇāḥ sarve lokāḥ sarve devāḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni vicharanti – as a spider moves along the thread it produces from its own body; the second example is given – as from a blazing fire, millions of tiny sparks fly in every direction. Even so, from this Ātman come forth all organs, all worlds, all gods, all beings.

The Point of the Examples

What is the point of this particular mantra? Just as in our dream spontaneously we create our dream world, and we ourselves find ourselves in our dream world – we find our neighbours, our friends, our enemies, our kingdom, our country, our religion – just like in the waking state. How did this person create? Just by the process of thought. Who created the person who is returning, but who is actually the waking person? One person creates the entire dream world. If a human being can create the world – and what is the specialty? When this person has created this world, he does not say "this is only a dream, this is unreal, I have created it myself." First point: it is not unreal – it is absolutely real, exactly like the waking state. Second point: as we are not aware that this whole waking world is created by us, exactly in the same way, the whole dream world is created by that individual soul.

The Dream and Waking States Compared

It is not surprising to think that when we give the example of a dream, upon waking up, instantaneously we realise that "I created my own world, where I created my own happiness and unhappiness, my own friends and enemies – somebody came and presented me an invaluable jewel; somebody else came and snatched it away; or in the process, he even hurt me." But upon waking up, we laugh and say, "How realistic it looked! But I alone – that is important – I alone am responsible." A husband cannot say "my wife is responsible for this dream." So every human being can understand.

But what about the waking state? Is it created by us? Yes. One of the understandings of Karma Siddhānta is: our parents, our family, our financial circumstances, our climate, where we are born, into which family, which coloured parents – black‑skinned, yellow‑skinned, white‑skinned, brown‑skinned – and how our physical body looks, and our fate – whether we are poor or rich, whether we can get higher education or not, whether we are fated to go to higher universities either in India or elsewhere – in fact, the whole universe is created for two purposes:

For exhausting whatever we had earned through our past lives – to experience the resultant of our own past actions.
At the same time, we are given an opportunity to create new karma. Should we wish, we can create new karma. It might take some bit of effort, depending upon the strength of our saṃskāras.

Conscious Creation

But we have to understand: we are creating, albeit most of the time unconsciously. If we can create deliberately, consciously – that is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's advice is: cultivate holy company deliberately, go to solitary places, and understand nothing in this world can help you continuously. Accepting the reality of the world – everything is changing – that is the reality of the world. Since everything is changing, nothing can be relied upon. So do not unnecessarily intensify attachments. Live like a maidservant. All these things are possible, and all these things are done: first, to exhaust, to get the right opportunity, appropriate opportunity; second, whatever best we can do – there is enormous scope, and that is what we need to do.

Dreams Can Be Created by Design

Just as we create our own dreams – dreams are not forced upon us by somebody. Every single experience we had in the dream was created by us. In fact, dreams can be created according to design. There are many people who could do that, and we can also do that. Just as we created this waking state, we can also create – Nagamahāśaya's mind was totally pitched to the highest loka. That is why when his aunt used to tell him in his childhood bedtime stories of gods and goddesses and stories from Hindu mythology, next morning he used to get up, run to his aunt and say: "Aunt, today I dreamt whatever you told me yesterday – I have seen Mother Cāmuṇḍā." How many gods and goddesses she had visualised, even though she said "I never knew the existence of it" – but she had strong faith. One of the greatest devotees – she had faith that gods and goddesses exist. If God exists, then goddesses, gods also exist; higher worlds exist; nothing is impossible. Because of that, she used to have strange visions.

We should not say – our modern science is likely to say – "They are all her imaginations." But my point is: whether something is an imagination or something is a reality, it makes no difference. If we imagine something as real, that affects us. If somebody is embracing a black bear thinking "I am embracing Miss Universe", it does not matter – so long as he thinks "I am in the embrace of a most beautiful woman in this world", he is a happy person. But when that imagination breaks, another imagination comes: "This is a black bear about to crush me to death" – that is also in the same pattern. So that is why it is said: "Today's imagination will be tomorrow's fact." In fact, meditation is nothing but pure imagination – of course, guided by the Guru and the scriptures.

The Return from Deep Sleep to Dream

So the person coming down from the state of the highest bliss experienceable in the realistic world – from the state of deep sleep – he comes through the ferry roads, as it were, through the 72,000 nāḍīs. Do not question whether they are 72,000 or 7,000 – it does not matter. So if a person is coming down from deep sleep to the dream state, he must be coming – there must be a pathway, and that pathway is called the nerves.

Having come to this dream state, he roams about. What does he do? He creates – just like a spider creates its own net to catch food in the form of insects, or just like a blazing fire from which hundreds and thousands of sparks are flying all over. The point is: all these sparks have exactly the same nature – they are hot to the touch. If a spark falls upon my body, I feel the stinging. Similarly, they also give light, because the moment you see a spark, you see it even in pitch darkness. And if this spark is a little big enough, if there is any object nearby, it illumines it – self‑illuminating and other‑illuminating – that is the characteristic of fire.

The Whole Universe Comes from Brahman

So the whole universe has come out of the supreme reality called Brahman, just as this dream example is given to make us understand – just as we create. And then one important point we have to understand here: even when we go through this dream state, nothing happens to us. Similarly, when Paramātman creates this entire universe – how many lokas, billions and billions of galaxies, every galaxy is a special loka – nothing happens to Paramātman. That is the second point.

Third point we have to understand: since this whole creation is coming just as from us – every day we have a different dream. On the same night, we can have different dreams. In the same dream, we can have another subset of dreams also – in dream itself, we go to bed and we can have another dream. How many layers of dreams can we have? So one moment we find here in Bangalore, next moment in Vārāṇasī, next moment in New York – every situation is different. So how many dreams? Every dream – a special dream – is a loka. Loka means a special experience.

The Nature of the Creation

For Mahātman, He creates the whole universe, and the point we have to understand is: whatever is created partakes of the same nature as the original substance. A pot – a mud pot, a clay pot – its whole nature is nothing but clay. A golden ornament will be pure gold only. Similarly, what is the nature of Brahman? Pure consciousness. So even when you think "I see this – there is a big rock" – is this consciousness? Yes, of course it is consciousness.

Many times I have tried, and many times I will tell you also: at this point, we do not know what is in the external world. We only know our thoughts. So if I have the thought of a tree – I am imagining. Just like a person sitting in front of a TV in his drawing room or visitor's room, he is experiencing a beautiful match and he is feeling as if it is going on here. Nowadays the broadcasters broadcast – some hesitation is going on somewhere, and you can see it in front of you, and there is no difference. Because whether you are even present where that cricket match is being played – that event is taking place – your eyes, your ears go out and gather the impressions and bring them to the present to the mind in the form of thoughts. And we alone know – the mind is a vast screen. On that screen these thoughts are projected, and the film is the mind. But the light is called reflected consciousness, and this reflected consciousness enlarges and makes all the impressions come to life, as it were – "I am seeing it."

Direct and Indirect Experience

So I am giving the essence: it does not matter whether you experience something through a phone, through a TV screen, or actually you are sitting somewhere – you are not directly experiencing sitting in front of a cricket match. You are indirectly experiencing only in front of a TV screen. Both are indirect only. Nothing is direct. You only know about your thoughts, and every thought represents the entire external – every object, any object in the entire external world. Even this thought "this is external" is also a thought only. "This is internal" – that is also a thought only. Mind‑boggling – but that is the truth. Even psychologists can tell you that, not to speak of spiritual people.

The Two Examples

So through these two examples, Paramātman's creation is described. So it is not impossible – He Himself is the material cause, He Himself is the intelligent cause – He is everything. For that, these two examples are given, and these two examples are not only found in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka – in the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad also, the same examples are given in some other Upaniṣads as well; they repeat the same things.

Mūrta and Amūrta – Visible and Invisible

The next point we have seen: this entire creation is nothing but pure consciousness. But that pure consciousness, looked at through the prism of time, space, and causation, appears to be an infinite number of objects. So time, space, and causation limit, and this limited experience of pure consciousness in the form of this entire creation is subdivided by this Upaniṣad: that which can be experienced by the eyes, etc., that is called Mūrta; and that which is experienced but not seen through the eyes, that is called Amūrta – visible and invisible. So both belong to the creation only.

Brahma Satyam, Jagat Satyam

And then the Upaniṣad, as we discussed earlier, made a categorical statement: just as Brahman is satyam, this world is also satyam only. But then why do they say it is mithyā? So long as we are not aware of the true nature of the cause which is Brahman, we experience separatedness: "I am a tiny object in comparison with the other objects." Suppose imagine there is a small ant – a big rock falls upon that ant. The ant – at least we know the ant is small, therefore it cannot withstand this big rock. But that is its nature – this is because of ignorance. But once we understand consciousness, there is no division: small and big, white and black, great and small, subtle and all‑pervading. This is all the mind's attempt to make an understanding of that pure consciousness.

The Roof Example

So the Upaniṣad wants to tell – Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says: once a person reaches the roof, understands what the roof is made of, he understands what the whole house is made of – the same material of which the roof is made, the whole house is made. Once a person realises Brahman, which is satyam jñānam anantam, then the realised soul understands everything – but it is nothing but limited; it is only Brahman. But if we do not have that knowledge, that is called we are ignorant – we are under the influence of ignorance. Ignorance means limited by time, space, and causation. We think everything is separate from everything else – very small, very small (aṇu), very big, huge, etc. And that will create many problems and repeated births again and again.

The Realised Soul Enjoys the Universe

That is why once a person realises the nature of the true cause, then the effects are also realised to be of the same nature. So such a person, after the realisation, enjoys this whole universe. So that is what is said here.

Neti Neti – The Method of Negation

Now we will summarise whatever is there. So in order to understand Brahman is the roof – the real cause of which the entire creation (sṛṣṭi) had come out – Brahman is pure consciousness. Therefore, whatever comes out of Brahman – manifestation of Brahman – must be pure consciousness only, like the sparks of fire, etc. So for that we cannot understand because we are overpowered by Māyā, ajñāna, avidyā, which is described as looking at Brahman, looking at ourselves, through the prism of time, space, and causation.

So satyam means this is called Vyāvahārika Satyam – this is true so long as I am experiencing it, but this is not the final truth. So for that purpose, you have to practise certain spiritual disciplines and go to the roof, which is to realise Aham Brahmasmi, and then only we will be able to understand there is nothing but Brahman.

Neti Neti – Not This, Not This

So for that purpose, what is it? Neti neti – as we discussed earlier, in the Taittirīya especially: "not this, not this." That is to say, am I the annamaya kośa? No. It does not mean annamaya kośa is different from me. As I mentioned in my last classes, not only am I annamaya, I am also much more. So once I realise in what way I am much more, you progress: I am prāṇamaya – prāṇamaya does not negate annamaya; prāṇamaya includes annamaya. Manomaya includes prāṇamaya. Vijñānamaya includes manomaya – that means it includes the others – and ānandamaya includes the previous four kośas of manifestations. And then we also realise this is also a work of the mind – that is why it is called ānandamaya kośa. Ānanda – pure bliss. Another name for Brahman is ānanda: satyam jñānam ānandam – ānanda means unbroken bliss.

The Story of the Bride

So for that purpose, here in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, the famous teaching Neti neti – nayati nayati – "Did I reach the goal? No." So Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa gives a beautiful example. There was a girl who was married. After marriage, her husband went away, and very few people could attend the marriage perhaps. Once her husband came to her house, and all the girlfriends of this girl (the wife who was married) gathered around her, and the bridegroom came with many of his friends. Maybe it was a special occasion, and he was sitting there outside chit‑chatting with others. The girls did not know who he was, because at the time of marriage the groom will be decorated in a special manner – everybody can recognise. But after that, that dress is no more necessary, so he is sitting like anybody.

One girl asks: "Is that your husband?" The girl smiles and says, "No." Another girl points to somebody: "No, no, no – neti, neti – not this, not this, not this, not this." Finally, only one man is left out, and some girl says: "Is he your husband?" She need not have asked, because there is nobody else left out – but she asked. The girl does not say anything; she keeps her head low, but a beatific smile spreads across her face, showing how happy she is. So everybody understands: that is her husband. So after negating everything, whatever remains – that is the truth.

The Thorn Example

But then, I have to tell you – as I told you also – Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's own example: the big thorn with the help of which all the other smaller thorns were completely thrown out – that also has to be thrown. That means that mind which is going through śravaṇa, manana, nididhyāsana, being instructed by the Guru – even that also will be thrown out. But he will not throw it out automatically – with the last thorn, this discriminating mind itself will get torn out. What remains – he does not say "I am seeing pure consciousness"; he says "I am pure consciousness." This is the process of Neti neti.

The Three Essential Points

So from these three important points, if we remember, then we have understood the essence of what we discussed so far.

First: Jagat Mithyatva

First, the Jagat Mithyatva – mithyā is mistaking half‑truth for absolute truth by dismissing this observable and objectifiable universe. Dṛśya prapañca neti neti proves that the universe is only a partial truth, not complete truth. That is why it is called mithyā. It is not called non‑existence – it is called partial existence.

Second: The Ultimate Reality of Brahman

Second, the ultimate reality of Brahman – Brahman alone is the cause; the Creator alone is the real truth. Everything else is partial truth – everything else is satyam, but not Satyasya Satyam. For that we have to apply that process of Neti neti through the process of śravaṇa, manana, nididhyāsana, etc.

The Bhakti Path

In the Bhakti path also – devotional path – exactly the same thing is repeated. How? When a person is meditating upon God, he says: "First, every devotee is a most wonderful person. So I am in every devotee – I see every devotee, and every devotee – there is no difference between me and any devotee." That is how Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says: "There is no caste difference among devotees." Slowly then it expands: everything happens by the will of God, so whatever happens by the will of God, God is for my good – not only for my good, for the good of the entire universe.

Why Suffering?

A very profound truth we have to keep in mind. If some country is throwing bombs upon another country, our viewpoint – ignorant viewpoint – is "this is bad." But we can, from the Hindu viewpoint, expand it a little bit – I will do it very briefly.

Nobody either suffers or enjoys except by accepting the resultant of their own past karma. Then it can be happiness, it can be unhappiness. Nobody can cause either happiness or unhappiness to anybody – our own karmaphala comes through the medium of other people. That is the first thing.
Second, that is not the only thing. So who is making this happen? There is somebody called Vidhātā – that is God – who keeps an eye on what a person has done. Such a God says: "It is better for you to be born here because that is the best chance for you." As we discussed today itself – not only to exhaust your prārabdha karma, but to create better karma. So whether we are happy or unhappy, a tremendous opportunity is given. Not only every birth, but every morning as soon as we wake up, God gives us 24 hours until the next day. So we will have to do certain things; we do not know what to do. For that, the scriptures are there, but the scriptures are difficult to understand. So there is a teacher, and the teacher is an experienced person and he understands the students and he tells us.
The point is: whatever happens in our life, it is for good. That is a point we have to understand. Nobody is making another happy or suffer – first point. And if we are undergoing suffering, it is natural for us to feel sympathy, and that is a very excellent spiritual quality that shows we have to share what we have, so that in future whatever we share will come back to us. That is what we discussed in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad: the only best way of saving food is to share it with others. Whatever food we share with others will be shared and comes back to us through the other people.

Questioning God

This is the point, and anybody who refuses to accept this view is not a spiritual person, because he is questioning God. This is the third point. If anybody claims "I am a strong believer in God" and then still says "Why is there so much evil in this world?" – then he is the most foolish, arrogant person in the whole world. You do not claim you have any faith in God. If God is the Creator, He is all good – sarva-maṅgala – and what God does, only He knows, and whatever He does is for the good of every one of us – no doubt about it. That is why it is called līlā – pretence.

Third: The Identity of the Self and Brahman

Brahma satyatvam – and in course of time, Jagat satyatvam – there is no such division called Brahman and the world. And then what is the third truth? The identity of the Self and Brahman – jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ – is an expansion of Śaṅkara's condensation of his entire teaching: Brahma satyam, jagat mithyā, jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ. That middle one is the problematic one – "this world is an illusion." And the idea we have about illusion is not a good idea – that is why it is a very horrible idea. Illusion means untrue. But the Upaniṣad says it is not an illusion – it is a half‑understood truth. So true – it is a truth. A snake is a half‑understood snake – that is how we have to understand it.

Everything – not only jīva means what? Every being, including a mosquito – not only a living being, even the non‑living – it all falls under the category of sat. Only cit and ānanda are not manifest here.

Why Deep Sleep Is Discussed

So why is deep sleep discussed? Ultimately, deep sleep is the best example to demonstrate that our waking individuality is merely an incidental transactional state. Similarly, the dream state also – by showing that we naturally resort to a state of formless, boundaryless awareness every night, deep sleep reveals that our permanent identity is nothing but Brahman. Even from a practical point of view, it is this: even if you are enjoying something very pleasant – intense happiness you are getting – it does not last much longer. But look at the wonder of this deep sleep – for nearly several hours, without the least bit of break, we enjoy the highest bliss. If that is not an exemplar, I do not know what else is.

The Neti Neti Methodology

So what is this Neti neti methodology? "I am not the waker. I am not the dreamer, nor am I the sleeper. I am the one who is the experiencer – follow these. Hence, I am the seer, not the seen." This is the essence of the third Brāhmaṇa.

With this, this third Brāhmaṇa – the inter‑section – is over.

Preview of Yājñavalkya-Maitreyī Dialogue

Now we are going to enter into one of the most marvellous sections – that is called the dialogue between Yājñavalkya and Maitreyī. We will start it 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!