Chandogya Upanishad 3.4.1-2 Lecture 123 on 26 July 2025

Sanskrit Invocation

Oṁ jananīṁ śaradāṁ devīṁ rāmakṛṣṇam jagad-gurum pāda-padmetayōśritvā praṇamāmi-mohurumō

Oṁ āpyāyantu mamāṅgāni vākprāṇas cakṣuḥ śrutra-mathu bala-mindriyāṇi ca sarvāṇi sarvam brahmau paṇiṣadam māham brahma nirākuriyām mā mā brahma nirākarot anirākaraṇam astva nirākaraṇam me astu tadātmani nirate yau paṇiṣadsu dharmā te mayi santu te mayi santu

Oṁ śānte śānte śānte

Hāre he Oṁ

Translation

May my limbs, speech, vital force, eyes, ears, as also strength and all the organs become well developed. Everything is the Brahman revealed in the Upanishads. May I not deny Brahman. May not Brahman deny me. Let there be no spurning of me by Brahman. Let there be no rejection of Brahman by me. May all the virtues that are spoken of in the Upanishads repose in me who am engaged in the pursuit of the Self. May they repose in me. Om. Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all.

Sandalya Vidya Study - Chandogya Upanishad

Introduction to Sandalya Vidya

So in our last class we started studying about the Sandalya Vidya. It is a beautiful Vidya and many Acharyas, teachers consider it as a Mahavakyaya. A Mahavakyaya is a statement by the Upanishads which indicates the oneness about the individual soul as well as the universal soul.

And even though we have completed the Chandukya Upanishad, we did not explore some of the first chapters which are full of the Upasanas. From the first chapter until the end of the fifth chapter, there are many Upasanas beautifully described there.

And the Sandalya Vidya as taught by a great sage called Sandalya, we find it in the third chapter, fourteenth section, four mantras are there. Then in the fourth chapter, the first few sections, we get what is called Samvargya Vidya. And again we also get the story of Satyakama Jabala. I was thinking I would like to discuss because many times I have mentioned that story. I would deal with it after completing these two Vidyas.

Understanding Vidya and Upasana

As I mentioned earlier Vidya means Upasana. Upasana means with tremendous faith and great concentration, with the absolute desire to become one with the aspect of God contemplated upon by any sincere spiritual aspirant is called Vidya or Upasana. Both mean the same thing.

We get famous Vidyas or Upasanas, contemplations, many, but there have been selected thirty-two Vidyas by many people. So the most important of these Upasanas which can help us not only to understand intellectually, but we can also explore them, studying them in the light of the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.

What is Sandalya Vidya?

So what is this Sandalya Vidya? As I have given in the introduction in my previous class that this is an Upasana on the all-pervadingness of Brahman. This particular Sandalya Rishi, he must have been a great realised soul, and every realised soul can speak only the same thing.

Sri Ramakrishna beautifully illustrates that all Jackals howl exactly the same way. Because truth is one, anybody who realises truth cannot speak other than that truth. And that truth is only one. So Brahman is one, truth is one, and that is indicated in the Sandalya Rishi, and we have to believe in him.

The Nature of True Devotion

I mentioned many times, how do we have belief? Is it because we admire a person? No. We usually admire many people with talents, a person who could sing very well, who could act, who could speak, who could converse, as we say, the soul of the party. But that is, admiration is no indication of true devotion.

Devotion inevitably transforms our life into that of the person whom we are trying to contemplate. In fact, there is a wonderful book called, The Imitation of Christ. In that book, the very title, Imitation means, you follow the same path. We follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and we are bound to reach Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ said, I and my father are one. That means, what we call in our state of little intellect, that he is the son of God. By the way, it is also called, Avata Parusha. The son of God is none other than pure Brahman. Brahman with name and form, you can call as the son. But if we take the Taittiri Upanishad, it can be a mother, father, any teacher, anybody who guides us, helps us understand better, and thereafter, anybody, any object that we come across.

The Essence of Sandalya's Teaching

So this is a Upasana. This is called Sandalya Vidya, because Sandalya Rishi had taught it. As I said, we don't know to whom or to how many or when he taught. But it is just mentioned here in this third chapter, fourteenth section.

And the essence of his teaching is, Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. In fact, his teachings start only with this statement, Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. All this is merely Brahman.

And then this Upasana or contemplation emphasizes a calm, peaceful contemplation of Brahman as the origin, substance, sustenance and dissolution of all of this creation. Everything is Brahman. Everything comes out from Brahman, is sustained by Brahman, and ultimately returns back to Brahman.

Preparation for Contemplation

But meditating on Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma requires extraordinary mental purity and both physiological and psychological preparation. In other words, the body-mind must be made a fit instrument. Without that, it is not possible or it takes a long time. So for that purpose, every scripture takes us step by step. So we have to prepare.

Part of the yoga system is to make our body and mind fit instruments for this realization. But to practice spiritual disciplines, it requires tremendous amount of faith. And that is emphasized here, that is called Kratu.

Understanding Kratu

Kratu means will, Kratu means action, Kratu means strong determination, Kratu means meditation, which alone can shape our life and experiences and transform us slowly. Willpower is something which is within everybody and it can be developed to an extraordinary degree. And according to Swami Vivekananda, the very essence of education is the development of this willpower.

Brahman as Light and Self

And then as mentioned earlier, according to Sandilya, both our body and mind, what we call individual soul, they are none other than manifestation of Brahman, but they are the most fit instruments for the realization of Brahman. And this Brahman is also described as bharupa, effulgent. Effulgent means light, bha means light.

What does light do? It gives us knowledge. If it is darkness, we cannot get knowledge. If it is light, it can help us obtain knowledge. But even then, even if there is light, we should not close our eyes, we should not close our mind, we should be able to observe everything minutely. And to that extent, our knowledge also will be great.

And Brahman is our own self. Because if Brahman is everything, then I am also Brahman, you are also Brahman, everything else is Brahman.

Meditation on Akasha

And to contemplate on Brahman, Brahman is compared as Akasha, as the space. Just as space is one, infinite, unattached, indivisible, so meditation on Akasha is very helpful in finally comprehending the nature of Brahman.

And here also, just as we studied in the Narayana Suktam, Purusha Suktam, long time back, What does it mean? If you see, wherever we see, a head is God's head. Wherever we see hands, legs, that means the entire body, entire mind, it is nothing but Brahman only. Only I and you, we do not exist. Only Brahman in the form of names and assuming the forms and names of all these objects is doing. That is indicated here.

Everything is Brahman's Action

Sarvakarma, if anybody is doing, he is doing. That is the essence of Brahmarpanam also, as I mentioned earlier. And if anybody says, I desire this, that is only Brahman. Because any function of the mind is possible only with the help of the consciousness. In fact, consciousness takes the shape of the thought form. That is why everything is done by Brahman.

All desires belong to Brahman. All desirers are also Brahman. And wherever we, all smells that we get is Brahman. And everybody that smells is also Brahman. And every taste is Brahman. And everybody who tastes is also Brahman.

Is the exposition or explanation expounding? Sarvam khalvidam brahma. Other than Brahman, nothing exists. A subject and object both are nothing but Brahman.

Practical Vedanta

And this must become a practical application, which Swami Vekaranda calls practical Vedanta. What is it? So long as we are not in deep sleep, all our thoughts from waking should be upon Brahman or our chosen deity. Saguna Brahma.

In fact, as we discussed it earlier, Saguna Brahma alone can be thought of, meditated upon. Nirguna Brahma, nobody can think of Nirguna Brahma. So let us try to keep all our thoughts on God.

Examples from Poetry and Scripture

There is a great Kannada poet, his name was Purandaradasa. He says, Krishnana enabarade. Should you not remember Krishna once? When you wake up, say Krishna, remember Krishna. When you are walking, so dhariya nadu vaga. When you are walking, take Krishna's name. You can walk, you can also take God's name.

Whatever work you are doing, you can take God's name. When you are churning the milk, govinda damodara madhaveti agre kurunam. So all the gopis, they get up in the morning, krishna krishna. That is the only thing they remember, nothing else.

And when they start churning the milk, previously put into curds in order to bring out the butter, govinda damodara madhaveti. If you get bored taking one name, God has got thousands of names. Vishnu sahasranama, Lalita sahasranama, Kali sahasranama, Shiva sahasranama. In every religion, Allah has got 1000 names.

So that should be the practical Vedanta. That is to say, everything is Brahman, nothing exists excepting Brahman. And because of ignorance, we think, I exist, you exist, other things exist, everything exists, and God also exists. As if He is one of the, among the many. No, everything is God. Ishavasya Upanishad confirms it.

The First Mantra Analysis

With this background, let us delve deep into this third chapter, 14th section, very beautifully called Sandalya Vidya. The mantra is, there are four mantras in this, and the first mantra goes like this. We have already started discussing, but we will go into a little more detail to recollect.

Verily, all this universe is Brahman. From Him do all things originate, into Him they do dissolve, and by Him is everything sustained. Upon such a Brahman, one should meditate with a tranquil mind.

Understanding "Sarvam"

So this word sarvam indicates that we are seeing many things. But we are seeing many things, not as Brahman, but as everything is totally different from everything else. Not only that, everything is different from its own self because of time. A young plant, a mature plant, an old plant, a dead plant, this applies to everything in this world.

So why do we see this? This is called Saguna Brahma Upasana. This is contemplation on the personal God or God with qualities. Why not? Because Nirguna Brahma, there is nobody, there is no Upasana, so it is beyond conception.

That is what Sri Ram Krishna says beautifully. Everything becomes polluted because it comes out from the mouth of a person. But nobody could tell what is Brahman. So Brahman as Nirguna Brahma cannot be contemplated upon.

The Three-fold Process

But we are seeing this world. How are we seeing? I am this particular individual, you are an individual, and everything is a separate object. Everything is different from everything else. There are three types of differences, Vijatiyya, Sajatiyya and what is called Antargata, Swagata, Veda.

But here we have to understand when we are looking at our spiritual practice. Remember, all this teaching is first the teacher tells what is the goal and then he tells what is the path, what is the methodology by which one realizes that truth. Each soul is potentially divine. But how to manifest that divinity, finally become that one with that divinity.

So for that purpose, the second statement, Brahma tat jalani iti. So that Brahma, everything, so they say tajjam tallam tani iti.

Breaking Down "Tajjalan"

• Tajjam - tatjam, jam means to be born, tat jalam, everything is born from him
• Tallam - la, tallam, la means is mainly a thing in whom finally everything merges back because every effect must go back
• Tani - anithi means that which is maintained as its own nature

In fact, even we should not use that word must go back because it never becomes anything else. A wooden furniture, a wooden chair is always a wooden wood only. It never becomes gold or iron or silver or anything else. Only we forget to emphasize it is a wooden chair.

If we go on saying it is wooden chair, we become continuously aware. That is what we need to do here that when this chair, that means particular shape and name is broken, then it say it is no wood. Before the shape, it was wood and when it is broken, it is wood and so long as it retains the name and form, it is nothing but wood only.

So anithi means that which is maintained as its own nature. So tajjam, tallam, tani iti, tan, tan, an actually, shanta with a tranquil mind, upasita one should contemplate.

The Practice of God's Presence

How? So practice of the presence of God. As many Christians were taught that whomever you see, so Christ can come in the form of a human being, a man, a woman, a dog, anything.

If you remember the famous story of Tolstoy, how God comes three times in the form of an old woman, a hungry boy and a dog and the devotee who was a cobbler would not recognize him because we think God should have only that particular form. That is the greatest obstruction to spiritual progress.

I feel like thinking of God in a particular way, that is absolutely fine, but I should not say God can only be this and not anything else. So everybody is calling on the same God, everybody is wanting only the same water.

Say Ramakrishna's that beautiful, what is called parable, there is a lake, it is a marvellous parable. What is it? Nobody can live without water. So nobody can live without God. But everybody according to their training, birth, place, they choose to God, some as Christ, some as Buddha, some as Muhammad, etc.

So we have to understand as Shiva, Ramakrishna, these are all localized names given to God for the sake of familiarity and practice. But one should not say that God cannot be anything else.

The Three Aspects of God

That is what he said, God is the creator, God is the sustainer and God is the recycler until we become liberated. And every day, the devotees of Ramakrishna, every day, wherever they are, throughout the world, they are supposed to sing this song. Which is song?

So, where from I have come, from God, where from you have come, from God, where from everything has come, from God. And we are living in God and we go back to God, whether we want it or not, whether we are happy or not, we have to go back to God because that is the law of the cause and effect.

So, let us accept it and then let us try to approach God because God means deathlessness, God means pure knowledge, God means unbroken happiness.

Developing Peace of Mind

Shantaha, first of all, our mind should become imbued with these noble ideas. We should stop harming other people. We should start loving them. That is what Jesus Christ says, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But that is the second teaching. First teaching is, Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart, with all thy will, with all thy power. Then only one will succeed in looking upon the other as God. That is very important.

So, as we go on practicing spiritual disciplines, we become more and more peaceful. And that is what Bhagavad Gita says, that is called the state of prasada. The food that is offered to God and distributed among devotees, that is called prasada.

But his Bhagavad Gita defines prasada. So the mind becomes absolutely serene, calm, quiet. Then only our thoughts become absolutely unbroken. And that alone in the end can lead us to which is called, etc.

The Power of Will and Faith

So, this is the first meaning. In fact, we have already discussed about it. Then the second part of it, There are three points in this second part of the first mantra.

In this world, look at any person. Look at any person. Take him, study him and observe him. According to his will power, he becomes what he is. If a person is bad, he decided to become bad. He believes in becoming bad. He practiced how to become bad. But the root cause of all this, he believes that wickedness alone pays, and goodwill doesn't pay, whatever the reason.

Just as a person's will power comes, is caused by shraddha, faith. And shraddha comes through daily practice. This is the most marvellous truth. If you decide to become somebody, a musician, a speaker, a prime minister, whatever, you have to go on practicing every day, and then slowly the belief will come, like exercising a muscle in the gym.

As we go on exercising, then slowly our muscles become harder and stronger, and one day we reach the height of our ambition.

The Cycle of Will, Faith, and Action

So kratu means will power. Will power depends upon what we believe in, and what we believe in as reality depends upon daily beliefs in so many actions. So it starts with a small step, a small thought. That is why it is said earlier, upasitha.

So a person should go on developing those thoughts, just as we have seen. This is called practical vidanta. So just look at any person, and you can understand more or less. He may be a third-class person, he may be a second-class person, he may be a first-class person, he may be a superior person, but whatever he is, is all because of his will power.

The Result After Death

And then what happens? According to our will power, which is dependent upon our faith, even if this person dies, tatha itaha praitya, having died from here, what does he become? Bhavati. He becomes exactly what he wants to become.

If a person believes, I am divine, and practices it, not merely believe, and then goes on striving by God's grace, he becomes God. But if a person believes that this world is evil, everybody is selfish, so unless I exercise my power and crush everybody else, nobody will help me, he will become that, he will become an asura.

Just like Prajapati, he taught the same truth to Hirochana, but because of his kratu, his faith, he went and taught, and he practiced it. Just think for a second, what do you think he will become next birth? He will become only a stronger demon, greater demon than what he was.

Because as we go on practicing, just as we go on practicing in the gymnasium, we become stronger and stronger, so when a person goes on practicing, with thought of course, then actions, then he becomes that.

The Importance of Right Faith

So a good person becomes a better person, a wicked person becomes even more wicked, so a virtuous person becomes even more virtuous, a sinful person becomes even more sinful, Therefore the Rishis and Delia advises, develop the right faith and practice it, and through practical Vedanta, your faith in the course of time becomes what you call, you will develop tremendous Shraddha, like Nachiketa, Nachiketa is an embodiment of Shraddha, Ramakrishna is an embodiment of Shraddha, and Swamiji is an embodiment of Shraddha, Every saint is an embodiment of Shraddha.

Shraddha means what? Sathyam. We have to connect to those two. Any person who believes in the scriptures, he believes that everything is God, and he becomes God. That is how we have to slowly manifest our potential divinity as practical divinity.

The Final Realization

So then a day will come, he realizes, Truly everything is Brahman, and if he opens his eyes, then what does he see? He will see that Sarvam Kalvedam Brahma. Whatever he sees, it cannot be anything else, because besides Brahman, there is nothing else.

This beautiful thought in this, as taught by Rishis and Delia, was beautifully embodied in the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Whatever is glorious in this world, prosperous or powerful, know that to be a manifestation of a small spark of my own splendour.

That is, indirectly stilling. If a person is existing, it is me existing. It is my existence. If a person has knowledge, it is my knowledge. If a person is happy, it is my happiness. So all this is Brahman. That is what he says.

Meditational Mantras

And then there are so many, in Vishnu Sahasranama, we get so many hymns, or rather, they are called meditational mantras. Say for example, we have got in Vishnu Sahasranama, I salute Lord Vishnu. I salute Lord Vishnu, who is the ruler of this whole universe, and whose body consists of these three worlds.

If you remember the story of Vamadeva, that is Vamana, Bhagawan as Vamana, he asked three feet, meaning what? I am Bhoho, I am Bhovaha, I am Subaha, accepting me, nothing else is there. So that was the praise he bestowed upon Bali Chakravarthy, that you do not exist, only I exist.

That feeling is called complete self-surrender. So Bhagawan Vishnu said, just like Sri Ramakrishna asked Giresh Chandra Gosha, give me your power of attorney, Vakalna Madhav, and Bhagawan Vishnu in the form of Vamana asked, give me three feet of land, wherever you can go, it is all comprised of three feet. Bhoho is earth, Subaha the heavenly world, and whatever exists in between, called Bhovaha.

So then that means what? Vishnu absorbed Bali. Bali means sacrifice. Sacrificing what? I do not exist. That is called true sacrifice, giving up the feeling that I am, only thou art, I do not exist, only you exist. Immediately he became one with Bhagawan Vishnu.

Cosmic Form of Vishnu

So this meditational mantra says, Bhagawan Vishnu's feet are the earth, his navel is the sky, his breath is the wind, the sun and the moon are his eyes, the four directions are his ears, the heavens are his head, fire is his mouth, and the ocean his abode. Tri-bhuvan abhapusham, Vishnu isham namami.

Sri Ramakrishna's Teaching

See what Sri Ramakrishna says in his gospel. Sri Ramakrishna is talking with Dr. Sarkar. He says there are three kinds of devotees, superior, mediocre and inferior.

• The inferior devotee says God is out there. According to him, God is different from his creation.
• But the mediocre devotee says God is the Antaryami, inner guide. God dwells in everyone's heart. The mediocre devotee sees God in the heart of everybody.
• But the superior devotee sees that God alone has become everything. He alone has become the 24 cosmic principles. He finds that everything above and below is filled with God.

Sri Ramakrishna continues, know that God is in all things. So you know, one becomes a jivanmukta only by realizing God is the sole actor in the three worlds. I am a mere instrument in his hands.

Sri Ramakrishna continues, all troubles, all want of peace come from the notion I am the doer. I am a free agent, meaning I am the individual soul. Whoever knows God, sees that he himself has become this world, its creatures and all that. Exactly the same thing.

God's Three Functions

Then Sri Ramakrishna says, God does three things. He creates, He preserves and He dissolves. And then he says, I see that the Lord dwells in everything. He pervades man, birds, bees, plants and trees. He manifests in the sun and the moon, in water and dry land, in everything.

God's grace is essential. Only with God's grace can one fix one's mind fully on Him. Shanta Upasitha. Shanta means what? Obtaining the prasadam of God. That is what Sri Ramakrishna said.

It is Lord Hari who is the master. Sri Ramakrishna continues, it is the Lord Hari who is the master. And He Himself is the servant. This is the attitude of a man of perfect knowledge. What a beautiful teaching.

Swami Vivekananda's Experience

Then the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna must recollect the incident in the life of Swami Vivekananda. Because whenever we study these scriptures, we must pause and say, do we have any parallel incident that is tallying with these teachings of the scriptures?

Then by God's grace, pray to God, your memory will come. Because when I am talking, then your memory, yes, yes, I remember this having read. But without somebody giving a clue, perhaps you may not remember. Sometimes you might also.

So, towards the end of his life, Swami Vivekananda started seeing Brahman everywhere. So one evening, the other disciples, the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, were all sitting under a mango tree in front of Swamiji's building. And the topic was about Brahman. Someone was talking about Brahman.

So at that time, Swami Pramanandaji, he went to the Ganges to fill up a pot for the worship of Sri Ramakrishna with Ganga water. And he just reached the place where the gurubais were sitting. Just at that time, Swamiji went into a very peculiar mode, highest mode.

And he said, "Brahman, where do you see Brahman? Here, here, here is Brahman." That's all. As soon as he uttered those words, he himself became silent. And then the description goes, everybody's mind has risen to the highest point. The other disciples, they could merge themselves in the Brahman.

And others who do not have that much of capacity, but their mind was fixed only on their chosen deities. But here comes Swami Pramanandaji with a pot filled with water. He just reached the place and he heard these words and he became still.

Fifteen minutes passed. Nobody stirred even a little bit. Then Swamiji's mind came down. He said, that is enough. And immediately that experience vanished. Then Swami Pramananda's mind came down. He moved to the shrine room along with his Ganges water. Everybody's mind came down to a far lower position, but not like our mind because that experience they had.

So, not only like the Sandali Rishi, Swami Vekananda has experienced it himself, but has the capacity like Sri Ramakrishna to bring other people's mind also at least to a great height.

Detailed Analysis of Tajjalan

So, Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. And it is said, three reasons are given. How can this world be this Kriyashmi Brahman? Because this world came from Brahman, and this world is sustained by Brahman, and this world is again taken back into Brahman.

So, that is beautifully expressed in a very cryptic type of statement here. He said, tajjalan. This word tajjalan is divided into three parts. So, the commentators give us. Otherwise, jalan means water, tajjalan means those waters. That is the superficial meaning we get.

The Three Components

Tajjam - tatjam, tat is retained. Only that word ja, tatjam, tasmat jayate iti tajjam. All things are born from Brahman. Jam means to be born.

Tallam - tasmin eva liyate iti tallam. All things dissolve into that original cause, their own cause. That is called lam. Lam means liyate. Lam means dissolution.

Anithi - means the cause of sustenance. So, it is called tadya. It means teshtatihi. It remains. Brahman, because of Brahman, everything is sustained.

Just like the earth sustains all of us. It is our, what is called, background. Below us, there is earth. If there is no earth, it is not possible. This concept we will discuss in the Taithriya Upanishad when we come to those Panchakosha Vyvarana.

But here it means Brahman is the origin. Brahman is the power of sustenance. Again into Brahman or unto Brahman, everything goes back.

The Wooden Furniture Analogy

Just like wood is the cause of furniture, wooden furniture. And wood only will be there. All the time the furniture as furniture. The chair as chair. The table as table. The door as door exists. It is nothing but wood.

So, like that Brahman is the cause of sustenance. And ultimately, as just now we discussed today, when something, some object is broken, it just goes back. When a chair is broken, it is simply called, no more called chair, but called wood.

So these are the three words, Ja, La and An. Ja means creation, La means dissolution, and An means what is called sustenance. Therefore the word is Tajalan.

And we have to keep our mind very peaceful. And there cannot be any likes or dislikes, friends or enemies. So that is what we need to understand it.

The Second Mantra - Nature of Brahman

So with this, the first part is over. What is the nature of this Brahman? That is described in the second mantra of this Chandilya Vidya.

Mano mayaha, prana sharero, bhaarupaha, sathya sankalpaha, akasha atma, sarva karma, sarva kaamaha, sarva gandaha, sarva rasaha, sarvam idam abhyatva avaki anadaraaha.

He who is permeating the mind, who has prana for his body, whose nature is consciousness, whose resolve is infallible, whose own form is like akasha, whose creation is all that exists, whose are all the pure desires, who possesses all the agreeable odours, all the pleasant tastes, who exists pervading this entire creation, who is without speech or any other sense organs, who is free from agitation and eagerness.

This is how we must continue our what is called meditation.

Breaking Down the Attributes

Mano mayaha - According to Vedanta, the body is inert, the mind is also inert, but the mind has got more part of the sattva guna. What does sattva guna do? It reflects the consciousness. So the reflected consciousness, the consciousness which reflects in that sattvika part of the mind and it becomes one, makes the mind think, I know everything, I can think, I can think deeply, I can come to a decision, I can command, I can enjoy, all the thoughts are made aware.

We become aware because of that consciousness. This fact also we discussed in Kena Upanishad, every thought reveals the consciousness. So that is what is said here, Mano mayaha. So one should meditate upon Brahman, the light that is reflected in the mind as the mind.

Prana shariraha - Whenever we see a living creature, Prana, and living creature is seen to be active, and action requires energy, and that energy is the resultant of prana, and that prana shariraha, so Brahman manifesting as pranamaya kosha or sutratma.

Bharupaha - And then bharupaha, Brahman manifesting in the mind as knowledge, in the form of knowledge, bha means light, bharupaha means form of the light, form of the light means what? In this class simultaneously as soon as there is light, we come to know the knowledge of all the things that are illumined by the light. So light always stands for knowledge. So Brahman is that light.

Satya sankalpaha - And Brahman is satya sankalpaha. We discussed it in Chandogya earlier, that is whatever desires arise, determinations arise, they are all because of Brahman.

Akasha atma - And he is as infinite as the sky, akasha atma.

All Actions Belong to Brahman

And whoever is doing anything, any action, in the form of prana, activity, energy, it is Bhagwan sahasra, sahasra akshaha. Anybody who is seeing that act of seeing, God is seeing. A person is smelling, God is smelling. Person is hearing, God is hearing. Person is tasting, God is tasting. A person is touching, God is touching.

Sarva gandha - So he is manifesting both the enjoyable objects and also the enjoying individuals. Sarva gandha. That means all the objects of five sense organs, that is the shabda, sparsha, roop, parasagandhas, that we get in this external world, they are all manifestations of nothing but Brahman, called adhibhautika.

Sarvarasaha - All the enjoyments that we derive, it is all from Brahman only.

Sarvamitam abhyatah - In fact, there is nothing which can be excluded from Brahman.

Avaki - And he is beyond any speech.

Anadharaha - He is as calm as the in unshakable mountain.

Conclusion

So we have to see that whatever we are doing, it is nothing but Brahman. Whatever exists, nothing but Brahman. So this beautiful thought, a little more details, we will talk about in our next class.

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Om jananim sharadham deviham

Ramakrishnam jagadgurum

bhaadapadmetayosritva

pranamami mohor mohoho

May Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vekananda bless us all with bhakti.

Jai Ramakrishna.