Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.3.1.1-3 Lecture 82 on 01 November 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 to the Third Chapter of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad
So we are delving into the third chapter of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, which is called Munikāṇḍa, Yājñavalkyakāṇḍa or Tarka Kāṇḍa, logically trying to explain things. What does it mean? Yesterday I was giving in the introduction: This is very, very important for us to keep in mind this introduction. Whenever anybody gives an introduction, usually that contains, it should contain, all the essential points a person is going to discuss in future. We may not remember everything that a person speaks later on, but it is like squeezing the juice of a fruit, and Sūtra is one of them. So, these introductions are not merely to push a person into the morass of the subject matter, but it is to make clear, "My child, this is what is going to come, and if you listen and understand and keep in mind, then things becomes much clearer."
Rituals as Yajña: Overcoming Limitations
So what did we do? First of all, we were talking about rituals. And then I also made a distinction that these are ancient forms of rituals which are called Yajñas, Yāgas, Kratus, etc. But then, nowadays we do not know how to do them, but albeit we know how to do them. These modern ways of contacting, what is a Yajña? A Yajña is to remove the limitations caused by time, space, and causation, and to identify ourselves with the larger whole. That is called Yajña. That is what Bhagavad Gītā crystal clearly tells us: convert the whole life into a sacrifice, Yajña. What does it mean? It means all unnecessary things that are clogging our minds, our bodies, how much we stuff our body with poisonous things, and much more, how much we clog our minds with useless things. All these, we will be astonished. So we can squeeze the essence of this.
Knowledge as Expansion, Ignorance as Contraction
Whenever you are watching, I am giving you a hint: whenever you want to watch a video, try to look at the title. That itself will give away—more than 60% of the subject matter, in fact, it gives all the subject matter. For example, such and such a person was killed in the war, or such and such a thing has been discovered by some company. And that is itself is the greatest piece of information that we get, unless you want to delve into the information: what, where, why, how, how long it took, how does it cost? Important question we have to ask is: Is it going to be of benefit to me? Am I going to be benefitted? And is that within my sphere of quest? If it is not, just out of curiosity, you pass on. But if it is, then we will see how it goes about.
All knowledge is expression. Swami Vivekananda had put it so beautifully, even to study Swamiji would be more than studying the Upaniṣads, Bhagavad Gītā, Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Beautifully Swami Vivekananda expressed: Life is expansion, and death is contraction. What is that expansion? Our identification with the larger whole is called expansion—not expanding physically, materially, or even mentally, knowledge-wise. Larger identity, that is called expansion. And the less we identify with others, our selfishness grows geometrically, and that is called contraction, that is called death. What does it mean? It means we are increasing our ignorance instead of increasing our knowledge. Knowledge should take us to the realization that I am divine. Ignorance, that means possessions, take us further and further away, and to desire more and more. That is the problem we have to encounter to remove it.
Avidyā, Kāma, Karma
Now, what is all this to do with our present topic? Rituals, every ritual we do, call it Yajña, call it Pūjā, call it Tīrthayātrā, call it Japa Dhyāna, by whatever blessed name you call it, all are Karmas. Karma means activity. So activity is born, every activity is born of ignorance. Ignorance in the form of—as Śaṅkarācārya puts it so beautifully—Avidyā, then comma, then Karma. First, I think I do not have this. Therefore, a desire comes, "I must have that," and I feel I will be fulfilled, I will be full. And then we run after that object. And so, from ignorance, desire comes. That is called Kāma. And every desire has to be fulfilled through what? Through activity. And that activity is called Karma. Avidyā, Kāma, Karma. Whole of life is nothing but ignorance, desire, activity. Does it solve our problem? Directly, no. Indirectly, yes. Because every attempt at fulfilling our desire, it disappoints us. And that disappointment is also meaningful. Sufficient amount of disappointments, sufficient amount of dissatisfactions awakens us one day. And then they lead us: "I want alright, but I am not getting what I want in this direction, at this place. So I must look for it elsewhere." Then we turn inwards, from outwards to inwards.
Every Activity as Pūjā
So what are we talking about? Every ritual, even as simple as eating food, sleeping, or taking exercise, everything is a Pūjā only, a what is called ritual only. Only we are not aware of it. But consciously when we want to turn some activities into a ritual. What is a ritual? Connect with a higher desire. And normally translated, it means "I want God." So then slowly we will have to overcome ignorance. Every desire temporarily overcomes desire. Every desire indicates, as I indicated yesterday, three things: the limitations of time, space, and causation. So every moment that we are breathing, our attempt is unconsciously expressed through those three Abhyāroha mantras. I want to overcome death, I want to overcome ignorance, and I want to overcome unhappiness. I want to be, in other words, Sat, Cit, and Ānanda. Or, in the words of the Taittirīya, Satyaṃ jñānam anantaṃ brahma. But there is a scientific way of doing it, or I would say spiritual way of doing it.
Stages of Pūjā Across Traditions
So yesterday I explained the stages of every Pūjā, any Pūjā, by anybody, by Hindus, by Christians, by Buddhists. That is why ultimately, if you recollect Buddhists' prayers, three prayers, three surrenders actually.
बुद्धं शरणं गच्छामि। Buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi।
संघं शरणं गच्छामि। Saṅghaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi।
धर्मं शरणं गच्छामि। Dharmaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi।
I changed it a little bit. Usually, it is first Buddha, then dharma, then saṅgha. But I thought over it, and so I said, ultimately dharma, that is the last one. So when dharma is realized, Buddha is realized, and saṅgha is also realized. What is Buddha? That realization that I am divine. What is dharma? I thought to be human is my nature, but now I realize, no, to be the infinite is my real nature. That is called manifesting the potential divinity. So Bhakti yoga is a ritual, Karma yoga is a ritual, similarly, Rāja yoga, Jñāna yoga are also rituals. What is the purpose of a ritual? To overcome desire. Normally people overcome desire by obtaining a desire, by enjoying the desire, but then every desire becomes a seed for further desires like Rakta Bīja. But then, the ritual, if it is properly done, then it helps us to overcome the limitations.
The Aśvalāyana Section: Eight Questions
And that is where in this particular section, which is called Aśvalāyana section, he was putting eight questions, and the purport of the eight questions is: How can the Yajamāna, the person who is organizing a great Yajña, let us say, a person who has—who is organizing a great Durgā Pūjā or Kālī Pūjā, and necessarily he has to employ priests. In those days, of course, four types of priests: Hotā, Adhvaryu, Udgātṛ, and also Brahmā. So, more or less, four—that is, four experts in all the four separate Vedas have to be employed because every Veda is involved in that sacrifice. I would say, how do we interpret it in our modern Pūjā? What is a Veda? It tells us, from one point of view, tells us what is my goal, how do I attain that goal, and what is the means of attaining that goal, and how do I overcome death? That is what is called death here. Time is death, limitation of time is death, everything comes into manifestation in time, everything remains for some time manifesting in time, and everything goes back from where it came into non-manifestation.
Purification and Sannyāsa in Pūjā
So the purpose of every ritual, every Pūjā, is to manifest our divinity. So the Pujari, as I explained yesterday, that is the aspirant, not employing some Pujari here, but himself doing the Pūjā, first he purifies. That purification reveals some higher truth. That higher truth is that what I am calling me and mine really belongs to God only. And that is called Sannyāsa. Sannyāsa means giving up all the false notion that "I am this and this is mine." Instead of that, the knowledge dawns that "I am God," and whatever I see, the whole creation is nothing but himself only manifesting. Sarvaṃ viṣṇumayaṃ jagat. The whole creation is nothing but Viṣṇu manifesting through the three states of waking, dreaming, and dreamlessness. So when a person, through this higher dawning of knowledge, realizes "My body belongs to the deity I am worshipping, the chosen deity I decided to worship," and my mind also belongs to him. And when I belong to him, then my, myself belonging to him, and whatever I seemed to have possessed also belongs to him only. And then there would be that tremendous, unstoppable expansion of joy, and that joy turns into worship. That is why when a lover embraces his beloved, then that beloved becomes the most enjoyable manifestation of happiness. There is no distinction. Just to—you recollect, when you see a lovely baby, then you feel like kissing the baby all over. That purity, that innocence, that pointedness, that complete ability to detach from everything and total dependence upon the mother, especially mother, that is what attracts us in a baby. So the beloved becomes or represents the manifestation of God. Who is that God? Who is that baby? Is nothing but manifestation of God only.
Overcoming Time and Death
So that analogy if we take, this person who realized what I used to call me and mine really belongs to God only, then he overcomes time. He overcomes time. Time in Indian philosophy is called death. Time means change. Everything is changing. And we—we know it. The—the eye that was yesterday is not the same eye today. Not even one second back what I was. So, I was a baby, I was crawling, I was a child, I was an adolescent, I was a youth, then I was a middle-aged person, old person, etc., etc. We know that what has gone, I cannot—I can recollect, but I cannot get it back. So, but this person, he overcomes because happiness is overcoming death, as I explained umpteen number of times. That is the purpose. So the Jīvātma becomes one with Paramātma.
Bhūta Śuddhi and the Seven Chakras
In the Pūjā, there is one particular type of ritual. Within that ritual of Pūjā, that is called Bhūta Śuddhi. That is purifying my concept of myself, wherein it is imagined the individual slowly rises, passes through all the six chakras, and finally merges in the seventh, which is named as Paramaśiva.
परमशिव सुषुम्ना पथेन मूलशृङ्गाटमुल्लास उज्ज्वलज्वलज्वल उज्ज्वल उज्ज्वल स्वाहा। Paramaśiva suṣumnā pathena mūlaśṛṅgāṭamullāsa ujjvalajvalajvala ujjvala ujjvala svāhā।
And then, when that Jīvātma comes back, he knows "I am Paramātma," and then he brings that Amṛta. He becomes a amṛtamaya puruṣaḥ, hiraṇmaya puruṣaḥ. That is the tantric way of expressing the spiritual progress. Same thing from the Advaitic point of view, especially of the point viewpoint of Yogavāsiṣṭha: saptabhūmikās, seven planes, roughly corresponding to the sapta chakras. The final goal is to become one with whom? Ignorantly, we say, to be one with Paramatma. But plainly put, in simple language: I know I am that Paramatma. Not that I have—I merged myself into somebody. No. I was the same Paramatma, am, will be the same Paramatma. But at this moment, I am ignorant of that fact. So I will become—not become means what? I will not become, but I know I was, am, and will be the same. I just remove that ignorance. Removal of ignorance is called removal of time. Removal of time is called overcoming death. Because once I know I am Śiva, immediately, if you remember the Nirvāṇa-ṣaṭkam:
मनोबुद्ध्यहङ्कारचित्तानि नाहं शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहं। manobuddhyahaṅkāracittāni nāhaṃ śivo'haṃ śivo'haṃ।
That is the understanding. That is the goal. And actually, every simple, even the simplest desire we have, is only to—to become Paramatma. That is: I lack—I have everything, but I lack one small something. So I desire that small something. For example, I want to eat a sweet. Why? That will make me fulfilled. Fulfilled means what? Filled to the full. That means what? I am infinite. I am Brahman. That is the idea. So not only every special ritual called Pūjā, in fact, every breath, what are we saying? Sohaṃ. When you are breathing in, you are saying so, that's why the sss sound comes in. And when we are breathing out, ham, this is called ajapā japa. Sohaṃ, sohaṃ, sohaṃ.
Conscious Activity as Ritual
So that is what has to happen, but when an activity is turned into a conscious activity, that becomes a ritual. So that is the main purport of these eight questions of this Aśvalāyana. And this is what is called atimṛtyu or that is called atimokṣa. Transcending the limitations called death is called atimṛtyu, means overcoming death. So death means here, bondage. Bondage arising from desire, attachment, ritual action pursued for personal gain, and identification with changing conditions such as day and night or the lunar phases. In other words, every attempt that we do is to overcome time. Time means sṛṣṭi, sthiti, laya. Every activity is to overcome this sṛṣṭi, sthiti, laya. Other words called time, as transcending time is what is called mukti.
Identity of the Officiating Priest, Faculty, and Cosmic Deity
So, Yājñavalkya teaches certain meditational techniques on the essential identity of the officiating priest, an individual faculty, and its cosmic deity. What does this sentences mean? Yesterday I told you, if a person is lifting or grasping something with the hand, out of ignorance he thinks, "I am the hand." When I am seeing, I don't say I am seeing. Only a jīvanmukta can say "I am seeing." All of us, what do we say? "I am the eye. The eye is seeing, I am the eye." The ear is hearing, "I am the ear." The tongue is tasting, "I am that taste." Etc. But, as I said yesterday, according to Hindu philosophy, every part of the human body, every single part of the human body, including the mind, they are all manifestations of the presiding deities as our individual mind, individual bodies, and within that bodies, ten organs: five of knowledge, or five of inputs, and five of karmendriyas outputs. So, what is the problem? Our identification that we are the body-mind complex. What is the solution? I am not the body-mind complex. That is why first a person purifies, then he gives up his identity. That means the person is now telling indirectly, "This hand is yours, this leg of mine is yours." He's telling the whole of me is you. Indirectly he's telling, because that is what we are. "This body is yours" means I, who am identifying with this body, is actually you. I, who am identifying with the mind, is actually you. That is the secret of every Pūjā.
God Worshipping Himself
So, what happens when a person consciously does this ritual, learning the secret of how to do a worship properly? Yajña is a worship, yāga is a worship, satra is a worship, every activity in fact is a worship, unconscious worship. Albeit through spiritual understanding we will understand, it is nothing but God is worshipping himself. And this is expressed so beautifully in a beautiful Bengali song—I'm not sure who wrote it: Khelicho e viśva-brahmāṇḍaloye ānamane śiśur matan. Like a baby sitting on the shore of a sea, taking some sand into his hands, he is playing, he is not paying attention to anything else. So, he is building castles, he is destroying castles, he is building, he is maintaining, he is destroying. Sri Ramakrishna puts it beautifully: Some baby is small child is wearing a beautiful cloth or cloth, and some passerby, he says, "Baby, would you give me that cloth?" He says, "No, my daddy has given me. I will not give it to anybody." But after a little bit, she feels tremendous urge to go to run into the lap of the mother. Instantly he throws away everything, because a baby doesn't even get happiness from wearing things. He becomes wearied out by wearing things. He wants to be free. Put the dress. So he throws everything away. Doesn't matter who is taking, who is not taking. He just wants to fly. And that is what happens when Pūjā is done properly.
Svakarmaṇā Tam Abhyarcya
When any activity which in Bhagavad Gītā Bhagavān Gītācārya, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says:
स्वकर्मणा तम् अभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं विन्दति मानवः। svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṃ vindati mānavaḥ।
Through the performance of one's own duties, one attains perfection. And in this connection, we can also put it a bit funnily: How does a child attain God? By being a child. Just be a child, forget the whole thing. And that's why babies are loved by everybody, because divinity is manifest in them. But then when we grow up, that innocence is lost, then what we are thinking, what we are speaking, and what we are doing, bear no resemblance to each other at all.
Purpose of Ritual Activities
So, what is the purpose of any ritual activities? One, first of all, they're conscious activities. Secondly, we are conscious that I am worshipping the divine Lord. Thirdly, as a result of this, faith will dawn, śraddhā will dawn. And he understands: I do not exist. It is only the divine Lord who is playing. That is what the child Mārkaṇḍeya understood when he saw found himself in the presence of the Lord Viṣṇu. The very breathing-in, the whole Mārkaṇḍeya was sucked in, and then he saw that it is nothing but pure Vaikuṇṭha in devotee's language. And he was thrown out. Then he found himself confused. "Where am I now? Where was I? Where am I? I want to go back from where I have come." So, this is the called evolution. That evolutionary urge is there within everything, including inorganic. What is the evolutionary urge of the inorganic matter? I want to become organic matter. How many beautiful ways our Purāṇas are trying to explain this.
Converting Every Action into Sacrificial Ritual
So, this is the essence of what we are going to discuss. What is the essence? I am, at this moment, ignorant of my true nature, and I wanted to become God. I can only become God slowly, but surely. And for that purpose, I would like to convert every action of mine, including breathing, into a sacrificial ritual. Paśyan, śṛṇvan, spṛśan, jigran, gacchan, aśnan, svapan, śvasan, nimiṣan, unmiṣan. Bhagavad Gītā, one of the ślokas says: whether you are breathing in or out, whether you are eating, whether you are walking, whatever we do, that is the tremendous worship. All over it is going on. That's what Swami Vivekananda unilaterally declared that when I open my eyes, I see universal worship is going on. Where is the worship going on? Every activity. An insect is born, that's a ritual, that's a Pūjā. It's growing up, that's part of the ritual Pūjā or Yajña. Everything is a participant, but every participant is none other than Nārāyaṇa himself, Brahman himself, divine mother herself.
Three Steps of Spiritual Practice
So, this is the goal consciously we have to convert our first convert unconscious activities into conscious activities. Second, convert the ignorance behind every action into a knowledgeable action. Thirdly, we have to start from where we are and slowly progress. This is called you can put it from a lower chakra to a higher chakra, from a lower kośa, Annamaya kośa to Ānandamaya kośa, or you can say like from waking state, merge the waking state into the dream state, merge the dream state into the deep sleep state, merge the deep sleep state into turīya avasthā. The final stage, it is not a stage, it is not a fourth stage, it is the Brahman, pure Brahman. This is the background.
Janaka's Debate and Yājñavalkya's Confidence
So, we will come to that. First two mantras. First Janaka performed many yajñas, and he wanted to progress in spiritual life. So, he organized a debate of the best knowers of Brahman, brahmajñānis. But there were many who were merely professors of philosophy, but no, because professors of philosophy don't know how to put questions. Only some of them, I think about eight of them, had put the questions. And who can put a question? So, if you are a lecturer and giving lecture, you find very few students who are ready to ask you questions. The rest of them go on staring at you and at others. And who are these questioners? They are struggling to understand what you said, and they perhaps may not apprehend full meaning of what you said. So, with regard to that, they will ask you questions. Apply the same here also. There were some who were sincerely had faith in the Vedas, were practicing the Vedic rituals, and obtained various stages of spiritual illumination, but still they have not reached the goal. Except Yājñavalkya, nobody else has reached the goal. So, Janaka's real purpose is not to have a scholarly debate, but to find out who is the greatest spiritual person, realized or not. So, he offered, whoever is the greatest knower of the Vedas—and he meant practically, not intellectually—"I will give him 1,000 cows, adorned with each cow with 10 tolās of 24-karat gold." And many from Kuru Deśa, Pañcāla Deśa gathered there, and then Janaka declared, "Whoever is the best among you, knowers of Brahman, can take away these 1,000 cows." Nobody dared because everybody knew everybody knew that "I am not the a knower of Brahman. I am struggling." That much they knew. But then the second thing that they knew, that "Maybe I do not know. There may be somebody who is the greatest knower of Brahman." Therefore, they were frightened. And as we have seen in the Taittirīya, dvitīyādvai bhayaṃ bhavati. Fright comes because the things I am an individual, I am not the universal. Universal becomes fearless, individual becomes fearful.
Yājñavalkya Drives the Cows
So, but here was Yājñavalkya smiled. Everybody was looking at everybody else's face. Yājñavalkya called one of his disciples, called Sāmaśravas—that means an expert in chanting the Sāmaveda—"You drive these cows to our ashrama." And then the others became highly agitated. So, they did not hesitate to ask: "Do you think you are the greatest?" And being completely fearless, and a knower of Brahman, he was making a little bit of fun with them. In a humorous banter. "No, no, no. I do not think I am the greatest, because even if somebody comes and tells I am Sri Ramakrishna Paramahaṃsa, any fool can declare that, or Ramakrishna himself might come and declare it. How do you know? How do I know? Because I am not Ramakrishna Paramahaṃsa. Only one Ramakrishna Paramahaṃsa can recognize the other Ramakrishna Paramahaṃsa." So, therefore, nobody were, but Yājñavalkya had that self-confidence because he also becomes sarvavit. Sarvavit means he knows the past, present, and future, and he also knows what type of aspirants they were, and what type of questions can come. An elementary student cannot question, "Explain to me the theory special theory of relativity." So, everybody's limitation will be there, according to what that person already knows. But a teacher knows everything. Therefore, Yājñavalkya, that complete self-confidence, bravely drives his cows home. And to a person, a disciple who is learning from him the Sāmaveda, that means he was a master of all the four Vedas. That indicates. And that self-confident smile.
Aśvalāyana's Eight Questions
So, now the others became a little bit agitated. And the first one that comes to question is Aśvalāyana. He himself happened to be the Ṛgveda chanter or priest. So he, he was also learned, he was also a sādhaka, and he comes and asks. What does he ask? He put eight questions, but all the eight questions can be divided into two parts. One is how can a person overcome death and become atimṛtyu? That is, through ritual. If somebody is performing a ritual, how can that rich—how should that ritual be performed so that the yajamāna, the person who is organizing a great yajña—let us say, a person who has—who is organizing a great Durgā Pūjā or Kālī Pūjā, and necessarily he has to employ priests. In those days, of course, four types of priests: Hotā, Adhvaryu, Udgātṛ, and also Brahmā. So, more or less, four—that is, four experts in all the four separate Vedas have to be employed because every Veda is involved in that sacrifice. I would say, how do we interpret it in our modern Pūjā? What is a Veda? It tells us, from one point of view, tells us what is my goal, how do I attain that goal, and what is the means of attaining that goal, and how do I overcome death? That is what is called death here. Time is death, limitation of time is death, everything comes into manifestation in time, everything remains for some time manifesting in time, and everything goes back from where it came into non-manifestation.
The Purpose of Every Ritual
So the purpose of every ritual, every Pūjā, is to manifest our divinity. So the Pujari, as I explained yesterday, that is the aspirant, not employing some Pujari here, but himself doing the Pūjā, first he purifies. That purification reveals some higher truth. That higher truth is that what I am calling me and mine really belongs to God only. And that is called Sannyāsa. Sannyāsa means giving up all the false notion that "I am this and this is mine." Instead of that, the knowledge dawns that "I am God," and whatever I see, the whole creation is nothing but himself only manifesting. Sarvaṃ viṣṇumayaṃ jagat. The whole creation is nothing but Viṣṇu manifesting through the three states of waking, dreaming, and dreamlessness. So when a person, through this higher dawning of knowledge, realizes "My body belongs to the deity I am worshipping, the chosen deity I decided to worship," and my mind also belongs to him. And when I belong to him, then my, myself belonging to him, and whatever I seemed to have possessed also belongs to him only. And then there would be that tremendous, unstoppable expansion of joy, and that joy turns into worship. That is why when a lover embraces his beloved, then that beloved becomes the most enjoyable manifestation of happiness. There is no distinction. Just to—you recollect, when you see a lovely baby, then you feel like kissing the baby all over. That purity, that innocence, that pointedness, that complete ability to detach from everything and total dependence upon the mother, especially mother, that is what attracts us in a baby. So the beloved becomes or represents the manifestation of God. Who is that God? Who is that baby? Is nothing but manifestation of God only.
Overcoming Time
So that analogy if we take, this person who realized what I used to call me and mine really belongs to God only, then he overcomes time. He overcomes time. Time in Indian philosophy is called death. Time means change. Everything is changing. And we—we know it. The—the eye that was yesterday is not the same eye today. Not even one second back what I was. So, I was a baby, I was crawling, I was a child, I was an adolescent, I was a youth, then I was a middle-aged person, old person, etc., etc. We know that what has gone, I cannot—I can recollect, but I cannot get it back. So, but this person, he overcomes because happiness is overcoming death, as I explained umpteen number of times. That is the purpose. So the Jīvātma becomes one with Paramātma.
Bhūta Śuddhi
In the Pūjā, there is one particular type of ritual. Within that ritual of Pūjā, that is called Bhūta Śuddhi. That is purifying my concept of myself, wherein it is imagined the individual slowly rises, passes through all the six chakras, and finally merges in the seventh, which is named as Paramaśiva.
परमशिव सुषुम्ना पथेन मूलशृङ्गाटमुल्लास उज्ज्वलज्वलज्वल उज्ज्वल उज्ज्वल स्वाहा। Paramaśiva suṣumnā pathena mūlaśṛṅgāṭamullāsa ujjvalajvalajvala ujjvala ujjvala svāhā।
And then, when that Jīvātma comes back, he knows "I am Paramātma," and then he brings that Amṛta. He becomes a amṛtamaya puruṣaḥ, hiraṇmaya puruṣaḥ. That is the tantric way of expressing the spiritual progress. Same thing from the Advaitic point of view, especially of the point viewpoint of Yogavāsiṣṭha: saptabhūmikās, seven planes, roughly corresponding to the sapta chakras. The final goal is to become one with whom? Ignorantly, we say, to be one with Paramatma. But plainly put, in simple language: I know I am that Paramatma. Not that I have—I merged myself into somebody. No. I was the same Paramatma, am, will be the same Paramatma. But at this moment, I am ignorant of that fact. So I will become—not become means what? I will not become, but I know I was, am, and will be the same. I just remove that ignorance. Removal of ignorance is called removal of time. Removal of time is called overcoming death. Because once I know I am Śiva, immediately, if you remember the Nirvāṇa-ṣaṭkam:
मनोबुद्ध्यहङ्कारचित्तानि नाहं शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहं। manobuddhyahaṅkāracittāni nāhaṃ śivo'haṃ śivo'haṃ।
That is the understanding. That is the goal. And actually, every simple, even the simplest desire we have, is only to—to become Paramatma. That is: I lack—I have everything, but I lack one small something. So I desire that small something. For example, I want to eat a sweet. Why? That will make me fulfilled. Fulfilled means what? Filled to the full. That means what? I am infinite. I am Brahman. That is the idea. So not only every special ritual called Pūjā, in fact, every breath, what are we saying? Sohaṃ. When you are breathing in, you are saying so, that's why the sss sound comes in. And when we are breathing out, ham, this is called ajapā japa. Sohaṃ, sohaṃ, sohaṃ.
Conscious Activity as Ritual
So that is what has to happen, but when an activity is turned into a conscious activity, that becomes a ritual. So that is the main purport of these eight questions of this Aśvalāyana. And this is what is called atimṛtyu or that is called atimokṣa. Transcending the limitations called death is called atimṛtyu, means overcoming death. So death means here, bondage. Bondage arising from desire, attachment, ritual action pursued for personal gain, and identification with changing conditions such as day and night or the lunar phases. In other words, every attempt that we do is to overcome time. Time means sṛṣṭi, sthiti, laya. Every activity is to overcome this sṛṣṭi, sthiti, laya. Other words called time, as transcending time is what is called mukti.
Identity of Priest, Faculty, and Deity
So, Yājñavalkya teaches certain meditational techniques on the essential identity of the officiating priest, an individual faculty, and its cosmic deity. What does this sentences mean? Yesterday I told you, if a person is lifting or grasping something with the hand, out of ignorance he thinks, "I am the hand." When I am seeing, I don't say I am seeing. Only a jīvanmukta can say "I am seeing." All of us, what do we say? "I am the eye. The eye is seeing, I am the eye." The ear is hearing, "I am the ear." The tongue is tasting, "I am that taste." Etc. But, as I said yesterday, according to Hindu philosophy, every part of the human body, every single part of the human body, including the mind, they are all manifestations of the presiding deities as our individual mind, individual bodies, and within that bodies, ten organs: five of knowledge, or five of inputs, and five of karmendriyas outputs. So, what is the problem? Our identification that we are the body-mind complex. What is the solution? I am not the body-mind complex. That is why first a person purifies, then he gives up his identity. That means the person is now telling indirectly, "This hand is yours, this leg of mine is yours." He's telling the whole of me is you. Indirectly he's telling, because that is what we are. "This body is yours" means I, who am identifying with this body, is actually you. I, who am identifying with the mind, is actually you. That is the secret of every Pūjā.
God Worshipping Himself
So, what happens when a person consciously does this ritual, learning the secret of how to do a worship properly? Yajña is a worship, yāga is a worship, satra is a worship, every activity in fact is a worship, unconscious worship. Albeit through spiritual understanding we will understand, it is nothing but God is worshipping himself. And this is expressed so beautifully in a beautiful Bengali song—I'm not sure who wrote it: Khelicho e viśva-brahmāṇḍaloye ānamane śiśur matan. Like a baby sitting on the shore of a sea, taking some sand into his hands, he is playing, he is not paying attention to anything else. So, he is building castles, he is destroying castles, he is building, he is maintaining, he is destroying. Sri Ramakrishna puts it beautifully: Some baby is small child is wearing a beautiful cloth or cloth, and some passerby, he says, "Baby, would you give me that cloth?" He says, "No, my daddy has given me. I will not give it to anybody." But after a little bit, she feels tremendous urge to go to run into the lap of the mother. Instantly he throws away everything, because a baby doesn't even get happiness from wearing things. He becomes wearied out by wearing things. He wants to be free. Put the dress. So he throws everything away. Doesn't matter who is taking, who is not taking. He just wants to fly. And that is what happens when Pūjā is done properly.
Svakarmaṇā Tam Abhyarcya
When any activity which in Bhagavad Gītā Bhagavān Gītācārya, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says:
स्वकर्मणा तम् अभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं विन्दति मानवः। svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṃ vindati mānavaḥ।
Through the performance of one's own duties, one attains perfection. And in this connection, we can also put it a bit funnily: How does a child attain God? By being a child. Just be a child, forget the whole thing. And that's why babies are loved by everybody, because divinity is manifest in them. But then when we grow up, that innocence is lost, then what we are thinking, what we are speaking, and what we are doing, bear no resemblance to each other at all.
Purpose of Ritual Activities
So, what is the purpose of any ritual activities? One, first of all, they're conscious activities. Secondly, we are conscious that I am worshipping the divine Lord. Thirdly, as a result of this, faith will dawn, śraddhā will dawn. And he understands: I do not exist. It is only the divine Lord who is playing. That is what the child Mārkaṇḍeya understood when he saw found himself in the presence of the Lord Viṣṇu. The very breathing-in, the whole Mārkaṇḍeya was sucked in, and then he saw that it is nothing but pure Vaikuṇṭha in devotee's language. And he was thrown out. Then he found himself confused. "Where am I now? Where was I? Where am I? I want to go back from where I have come." So, this is the called evolution. That evolutionary urge is there within everything, including inorganic. What is the evolutionary urge of the inorganic matter? I want to become organic matter. How many beautiful ways our Purāṇas are trying to explain this. So, this is synthesizer.
The Essence
Let's not worry about the exact minutiae, but once I give you the essence, I feel a great desire to eat a sweet. What is the purpose? I feel, in Vedāntic language, apūrṇa, I am lacking something. But if I eat that sweet, I feel I became temporarily... what happens? The moment I am experiencing that sweet, I overcome death. Death, as I said, is kāla, time. So I forget time. I don't remember time. Happiness and remembering of time is possible only when we are unhappy, when we are suffering. That is why holidays seem to move so fast. Whereas if I don't like a work, that seems to be time seems to be moving very, very slow. So what is the purpose of any activity? I must move forward to know that really I am that infinite pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ. I am also pūrṇam, whatever has come out of infinity, seemingly coming out, not really coming out, infinity cannot be divided, infinity is not the combined parts of infinite number of parts. Crystal clearly we have to understand this overcoming time is called overcoming death. Birth falls under time, sustenance falls under time, death also falls under time, but when we go beyond, for example, when you are in deep sleep, do you really feel that I was born, I am so and so, and I am of such and such an age, and I am working in this particular office, and I am a family person, and I have these problems, I have these happinesses? Nothing of that. You are not conscious about anything. Time is transcended in deep sleep. That's why there is nobody there, one without a second. Sad eva somyedam agra āsīt, ekam evādvitīyam. That's why everybody's goal is to be that all the time. But Bhagavān has created a golden window during this deep sleep, we experience that one, and nobody can deny the experience, and every day we have that experience. And many times, while driving, we do that experience. That also I explained earlier. But what I wanted to tell, time is death, and what we are struggling is to go beyond time, and time manifests in the form of time limitation, space limitation, and object limitation. Kāla vastu pariccheda. So when we do this ritual called yajña or pūjā, do you see, if you really do it, then you forget when you started, when it, it may be late noon, but you are so joyous, which of course is a rare phenomenon. So any activity must we not only can be, but must be turned into a ritual pūjā, worship of the divine Lord. That is called practice of the presence of God by Brother Lawrence.
Summary: How Ritual Overcomes Death
So this is the essence summary of more or less the few sections we are going to deal with. How does an ritual like yajña or pūjā save the organizer yajamāna, help the priest priests who are performing that to overcome death? That was the question. And then what was the answer of Yājñavalkya? He says, we are all at in the grip of ignorance, which makes us think I am separate, activity is separate, and the object is separate. And somehow to relate all these three things as the manifestation of one Īśvara, and then the distinction between the doer and the activity and the object, it is magically removed through the proper performance of the ritual. And at that moment, the person overcomes both limitations of time, space, and also object. He also advances in spiritual life. That means his identity becomes closer to the identity of Brahman. Satyam is moving nearer to truth, true knowledge, and infinity. Beautiful topic, we will discuss 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!