Chandogya Upanishad 4.10 Lecture 140 on 21 September 2025 Q&A

Question: Understanding kaṃ brahma and khaṃ brahma

Student A: Maharaj, in today's class the khaṃ brahma that you have mentioned, where it is mentioned twice. I just want to make sure I got it correct. The first khaṃ brahma refers to the external manifestation of akasha?

Maharaj: No, no, no, first, first, first, kaṃ and khaṃ. Just like there are two alphabets, ka and kha. kaṃ k-a-ṃ, khaṃ k-h-a-ṃ.

Student A: Ok, and the first one means the external space Maharaj, external manifestation?

Maharaj: No, no, kaṃ means Sukham. In Vedantic terminology, kaṃ means Sukham. Sukham means Joy. Joy means objective enjoyment, limited enjoyment, objective. Every objective enjoyment is a limited enjoyment.

Student A: And the second kha, khaṃ?

Maharaj: kha means Akasha, but here Shankaracharya clarifies it very beautifully. So the Akasha that we know as one of the five elements, Panchabhuta, is it Brahman or is it an effect? It is an effect, and an effect is always considered in Vedanta as limited. And that which is limited can never be Brahman, because Brahman is completely unlimited. So we have to understand it in a different way.

Then this Akasha word is used three times: BAHYA AKASHA, CHITTA AKASHA and CHIT AKASHA. Here it is referring to the CHIT AKASHA. CHIT AKASHA is Brahman and therefore it is Brahman. But what is the point here?

We are thinking if we are eating a sweet, my enjoyment is coming from this sweet. So long as we think our happiness is coming from an object, the object becomes Brahman. You understand? Without that object, no enjoyment. When we understand no object can give us happiness, it only removes the obstruction between my own Ananda and myself. That is called Knowledge, then it becomes Brahmananda.

To rephrase, if we think that happiness is coming through the instrumentality of an external object, it is called kaṃ. When we understand it is coming from within ourselves as our own nature is coming out, that is called khaṃ.

Student A: So in the five Anandas that you have explained to us Maharaj, from Vishayananda until Dharmananda.

Maharaj: There are Karyanandas, limited Anandas. Every limited Ananda should not be equated with Brahman.