Chandogya Upanishad 4.11-12 Lecture 141 on 27 September 2025

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

Opening Invocation

ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगदगुरुम पादपद्मे तयो: श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहु :

Om Jananim Saradam devim Ramakrishnam jagadgurum Padapadme tayoh shritva pranamami muhurmuhuh.

ॐ आप्यायन्तु ममाङ्गानि वाक्प्राणश्चक्षुः

श्रोत्रमथो बलमिन्द्रियाणि च सर्वाणि।

सर्वम् ब्रह्मोपनिषदम् माऽहं ब्रह्म

निराकुर्यां मा मा ब्रह्म

निराकरोद निराकरणमस्त्व निराकरणम् मेऽस्तु।

तदात्मनि निरते य उपनिषत्सु धर्मास्ते

मयि सन्तु ते मयि सन्तु।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥

oṃ āpyāyantu mamāṅgāni vākprāṇaścakṣuḥ

śrotramatho balamindriyāṇi ca sarvāṇi.

sarvam brahmopaniṣadam mā’haṃ brahma

nirākuryāṃ mā mā brahma

nirākaroda nirākaraṇamastva nirākaraṇam me’stu.

tadātmani nirate ya upaniṣatsu dharmāste

mayi santu te mayi santu.

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

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.

The Story of Upakosala: Background

We are studying a story of Upakosala. He was a disciple of Satyakāma Jābāla. He was accepted by Satyakāma Jābāla and stayed in the Gurukula with the Ācārya and his wife for 12 years.

Many others also joined him. After 12 years of intense teaching by the teacher, one day the teacher called everybody and gave them a convocation address, meaning: "You will have to now return back home."

That ceremony is called Samāvartana ceremony. Āvartana means returning. Samāvartana means returning very well.

Upakosala's Dilemma

Accepting this, teacher Satyakāma Jābāla did not call Upakosala, and Upakosala became depressed. Then the wife of the Guru Satyakāma Jābāla pleaded with her husband on behalf of Upakosala. But Satyakāma Jābāla just smiled and went away on a pilgrimage, not indicating anything about what he was going to do.

That made Upakosala very depressed. He gave up eating food. Then the Guru Patnī took pity upon him.

One day she confronted him and asked him, "My child, why are you not eating?" And he expressed, "I am very much troubled in mind because my teacher did not give me the same ceremony that he gave to others." The Guru Patnī must have consoled him and requested him again and again. But Upakosala decided to go on an Annaprasāna—what is called Satyāgraha. "I would not eat food."

The Teacher's Divine Plan

We also discussed that the teacher Satyakāma Jābāla must have been reasoning: "I have been completely absorbed and have become fit by the grace of God. I have been tending to the fires, the same fires that Upakosala was tending. And they have manifested themselves in the form of making them instruments of themselves—a bull, fire, and two birds. So my child Upakosala has been tending the fires. I know that.

And very soon I myself will teach him through the very fires that have taught me." A Brahmajñāni can do anything. His very Saṅkalpa—Satya Saṅkalpaḥ, Satyakāma Satya Saṅkalpaḥ.

Upakosala's Devotion and Appeal

Meanwhile, Upakosala was depressed. What did he do? He must have been serving the fires as "Agnir Brahma, Agnir Viṣṇu, Agnir Devo Maheśvaraḥ, Sākṣāt Paraṃ Brahma," etc.

And he went and wept in front of them: "How come I am not taught even though I have been so devoted to you? My teacher knows that."

How do we interpret this? What did Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa do when he was praying to the Divine Mother and did not obtain her darśan? He went to her temple and wept bitterly. Then he rolled on the ground: "Oh Mother, another day has passed and yet I have not obtained your grace."

Grace and darśana are the same thing, synonymous. So Upakosala or any other sādhaka would do the same thing. So he must have wept, and the fires—they knew, or Bhagavān knew through the fires—that it is time for us, just as we revealed ourselves to Satyakāma Jābāla. So it is time to reveal the truth, the real Brahma Upadeśa, and we will reveal.

Divine Teaching Through the Fires

In the case of Satyakāma Jābāla, they came in the form of a bull, fire, and two birds. In the case of Upakosala, they directly spoke to him. So what happened as a result of Upakosala's intense yearning for truth? The fires, or Bhagavān in the form of the fires, came together and taught Upakosala worshipping Hiraṇyagarbha and worship of Īśvara.

Because nobody can attain to Nirguṇa Brahma unless a person passes through the Saguṇa Brahma. One cannot attain Nirguṇa Brahma Vidyā. Saguṇa Brahma Upāsanās are the means, just like a staircase consisting of many stairs are the means to reach upper floors.

Ancient Methods of Worship

What we have to note here is that in ancient days, people were of such high calibre they used to worship the five elements: the Ākāśa, the Vāyu, the Agni, the Āpaḥ, and the Pṛthvī, and some of their manifestations in the form of the sun, the moon, the lightning, etc. That is what we are going to see, and we have seen earlier also in the case of Satyakāma Jābāla—all the four directions indicating the space Ākāśa.

So the same thing is being repeated here. As a result of this person's readiness—nobody can receive anything unless a person is ready. Even if God himself wants to come, we will not be able to receive anything because even God cannot make us receive.

But God is all-powerful; can he not do it? Yes, that is how he does it. He will first prepare the devotee. When Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa blessed people, "May your consciousness be awakened," some had visions, etc. But there is no mention that we have to carefully note—that all of them attained Brahmajñāna.

The Teaching Process

What did they attain? As Swami Vivekananda, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa through the instrumentality of Swami Vivekananda gave out his message in the thundering voice of Vedanta. We all heard it: "Arise! Awake!" And then he did not continue the next step. He said that "you reach the goal."

So that is what he stopped—not till the goal is reached. But how to reach the goal? That's what he explained in his talks. Similarly, when Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa prayed, then the Mother revealed herself. Then also she confirmed the same revelation in the form of gurus, teachers, in the form of scriptures, etc. We have to understand.

The Path of Awakening

But the Kaṭhopaniṣad is very helpful to us to continue what Swami Vivekananda said. First awake from the world of delusion. One must have that what is called waking up: "I have been asleep all this time."

Just like how many wonderful dreams have passed! How many lives I have wasted! Tulasīdāsa expresses it in his beautiful song: "How many aeons, yugas have passed like a dream." This doesn't mean a person becomes dejected. No. He becomes aware that "I have been roaming in the realm of delusion and illusion." Then jāgrata—then awakening. "No, I must get out of this."

And then only what to do? You must seek. And that is because the person was awakened. Because the person has become intensely imbued with yearning—deep yearning. So he will be longing, praying to God.

God's Readiness to Help

And God only comes in the form of a Guru. When we say "Guru is Brahmā, Guru is Viṣṇu, Guru is Maheśvara," we have to understand: when we are ready, God is ever ready. He is always ready.

"When is my child going to wake up? Then he will be hungry. Then Mother has already prepared the food. Waiting."

There is a beautiful song, "Govinda Dāmodara Stotra." So he says: "My child Kṛṣṇa, oh Kṛṣṇa, as soon as you awake, Mother Yaśodā is waiting for you. She has already prepared many delicacies for you. She has been anxiously waiting: 'When will my child wake up? And when will he turn his face towards me? When will I have the opportunity and I will become joyful by just feeding him?'"

He becomes happier. When the child starts drinking milk with voracious appetite, who gets more joy? The child drinking, or the mother feeding? We have to understand that.

Divine Love as Maternal Care

That is why in the Vedas, God is described like a cow who has given birth to a calf. And it must be an Indian cow—though it can be a Western cow also, actually. Because these people separate the cows from the mothers and never allow the cows to go to the mother again. How much the mothers must be burning for a touch of their children! We do not have any inkling of understanding about it.

That is why in the Vedas it is said: "Like a mother cow that goes out for grazing, but its ears are tuned: 'When my child becomes hungry, then that feeble voice, even from miles together, I can hear.'"

Actually, I have seen this sight in Cherrapunji. We had a cow shed and dairy farm there because we had a hospital, etc. And I was interested to observe the cows. I used to go one day. One cow gave birth to a calf. And next morning, after milking, the cow had to be taken for the grazing ground. And then it was about 9:30. I entered into the cow shed.

And the calf must have been hungry because the servants would not allow it to drink stomach full. So it must have been—it was morning—making a low voice. Nobody could hear it outside the cow shed. But then within a few minutes, I saw its mother with uplifted tail running into the cow shed like a mad cow. And when it came—fortunately no servant was there, I was the only person—then it went, and the calf joyfully started suckling the mother. And I don't know—we cannot understand—and the mother cow was licking the calf all over. And how much joy it must be experiencing!

So this is a description: God, the creator, will be running after us. "When is my child going to look for me?" As soon as the child becomes awakened and becomes alert and calls, "Oh Mother!" and waits, immediately the mother comes. No mother gives to the child condensed milk—only milk suitable.

That means the teacher, when the child is ready, gives the instructions to the student to do manana. And that is how the progress must start. That is what is also described here.

The Fourth Mantra: Teaching of Brahman

So in this fourth mantra we have already seen, but just to recollect: So they said, they taught, "The prāṇa is Brahman. That is, joy—sukham is Brahman. Ākāśa is Brahman." And then the brahmacāri replied, "Prāṇa is Brahman, but I did not know sukham and Ākāśa is Brahman."

And without the help of ācāryas like Śaṅkarācārya, it's very difficult. Why is it so difficult? As I was mentioning, in the ancient days they did not have temples. They did not have these deities like we have today—Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, etc. Nature, and nature itself is taken as symbols of Brahman.

And so the five elements, the sun, the moon, the stars, the lightning, etc., have been their main focus. This is what we saw in the chapter on Satya—the story of Satyakāma Jābāla. And in Chāndogya Upaniṣad, practically in every sixth, seventh, eighth chapters, that is being repeated here. And very difficult for us to understand.

The Nature of Divine Beings

That is, "Śaravaṇa Kṛṣṇa is Brahman." Everybody who realizes Brahman is none other than Brahman. So therefore, worshipping a liberated soul is equivalent to Brahman. But for that, we have to start to look upon one person, to begin with, as God himself.

So "Mātṛ Devo Bhava, Pitṛ Devo Bhava, Ācārya Devo Bhava." As the baby is totally dependent upon mother, a baby doesn't even depend upon father. Then mother is God—literally, not figuratively. Then, as the baby grows, then father takes him, takes him out, protects him, teaches him other things.

So next, our attention, our target practice will be: "My father is God. My God, for me, he is the God. My father, my mother are Gods for me." And then, as the student, he enrolls himself in the Gurukula. Then "My Ācārya is the Brahman. Ācārya Patnī will be the Brahman." Next—"Ācārya Devo Bhava."

Then you expand it to whomsoever you come into contact with. Keep this in mind, because that is how we are going to do it.

Understanding Happiness and Brahman

So "sukham" means in Sanskrit, or in Vedanta, happiness. And every happiness that we derive is very limited. But every happiness is only a manifestation of Brahmānanda. Only Brahmānanda limited is called lower happiness.

For example, you can go to the ocean, and the ocean doesn't say, "You only take one thimble full of water, one spoonful of water." The ocean says, "Take as much as you want." But how much a person can carry back depends upon what he had carried with him as the utensil, as the vessel.

So in this case, our mind is the vessel. Our concepts are the vessels. Our understanding is the vessel. So that is why Swamiji says, "As man grows, God also grows."

The Five Elements as Support

But slowly start being sustained by this earth. Earth comes in the form of man and sustained by water, and sustained by fire, and sustained by the oxygen, and sustained finally by this space. Because when I have energy and I want to express it or expand it in the form of activity, I need space. Even to move a finger, I need space.

So that space is called God. God created all these so that we can slowly reach him back. So first of all, these are ancient Vedic symbols. Very difficult—we have lost that art of understanding and contemplating upon them. But we are accustomed only to these, what we call our Saguṇa Brahma in the form of, especially if it is India—Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara.

In Christian countries, Jesus Christ. Even they have no idea of God. Jesus Christ is the magnifying glass through whom we can have some idea of God. Kṛṣṇa is a magnifying glass through whom we have an idea of God. So also Rāma. So also Rāmakṛṣṇa, etc. If it is a Muslim country, then Allah should be the dvāra—means the doorway to God should be.

The Meaning of Sukham and Ākāśa

So we have seen that "sukham" means happiness. "Ākāśa" means sky. Sky means what? Space. Space means what? Not the created element called Ākāśa, but here it means the Ākāśa—pure consciousness. And pure consciousness, this is such ānanda.

So that we experience through an instrumentality as an external object, that is called "sukham." And it won't last, because what comes also disappears.

"Yo vai bhūmā tat sukham..." That means Brahman is manifesting not only as the creation but as the sustainer, protector of the entire universe. And Brahman alone will take us back when the time comes.

Upakosala's Understanding

So Upakosala said, "I understand Prāṇa." Why? How did he understand? Because he understood prāṇa is the only one which keeps everybody alive—whether it is a human, an animal, insect, plants, birds. Prāṇa is the root cause.

Upakosala doesn't mean prāṇa means individual prāṇa, but collective prāṇa. Collective prāṇa is called sūtrātmā, which is a part of Hiraṇyagarbha. But then later on, Hiraṇyagarbha is a product. So Hiraṇyagarbha, as Ākāśa, is also a product. Ākāśa is a product of Ātma.

So whose product is Ākāśa space? Īśvara—Saguṇa Brahma. In Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's words, Śakti—Divine Mother. Because sṛṣṭi is always associated with the female. It is not gender, but it is the phenomena.

So that is what he said. But the fires, especially the very first fire, taught him. Gārhapatya Agni taught him: "So sukham is Brahma. Prāṇa is Brahma. Sukham is Brahma. Ākāśa is Brahma. And there is no difference between these. They are all manifestations of Brahman."

With that, Upakosala: "Now you will have to do upāsanā. And what we gave you is instruction. What you need to do is manana and nididhyāsana." And he did it. And then he must have understood it, because I told you many times: unless the first step is climbed, the second step will not come. Especially in spiritual life—in every life, but especially in spiritual life.

So Upakosala, he said, "I knew that prāṇa is Brahma, that happiness and Ākāśa. I did not know that they are also both Brahman. But I will do the upāsanā." This is what we have seen in our last class, and that was the 10th section of the 4th chapter of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad.

The Teaching of the Second Fire (Section 11)

Now the second fire is going to teach something in section 11. So next, the fire—the first fire taught him, Upakosala. What did it teach? The earth, fire, food, and the sun are my forms. In other words, all these—pañca—only he did not mention.

So it starts with the earth, and the earth came from waters—āpaḥ. But it is not mentioned here. It is said fire—earth is the effect, fire or Agni is the cause. And this earth manifests itself in what form? Food. And this food is produced by whom? By the sun. The sun produces the food.

And the fire and foods are of different types: bhakṣyam, bhojyam, lehyam, etc. Some foods have to be chewed. Some have to be gargled or taken in. And some can be drunk. So like that, some juice—you just drink it, especially mango juice.

So like that, the sun and the moon together, they produce food. By my power I sustain the entire creation in the form of the sun. Without sun, there will be no plants, no life. Sun means energy. Energy comes in the form of plants, etc. And these plants are made full of juice by the moon, and that we gather that harvest, and we cook it. Some of the foods—some can be taken raw, etc., like fruits, etc. And then some have to be licked, some have to be swallowed, and some have to be drunk. That's why food is divided into six parts we call it.

But Bhagavān says, "Both I am the supplier, I am the cooker, and I am also the digester of food. This is how I sustain. We are given pure energy to conduct our life so that we can go back from where we have come—to God."

The Four Aspects for Contemplation

So what did it say? You will have to contemplate these four. What are these four? And all these are manifestations of Āditya or the Sun God, who himself is manifestation of Hiraṇyagarbha only. And then, having said, "Now you look upon the earth as Brahman, the fire as Brahman, the food as Brahman, and the Sun as Brahman." That is what we have to understand.

Everything that we experience through all our five senses is nothing but manifestation of Brahman. And if you do one by one—start with Pṛthvī, that is the earth, then progress to Annam, progress to fire—Agni, progress to the Sun.

Then what is the upāsanā? Śaṅkarācārya gives clarification: in whatever way we worship God, we become that aspect of God. If someone worships God as splendour, the person becomes splendorous. If someone worships God as full of wealth, he becomes wealthy. If someone worships God as health, he becomes healthy.

That's why many people with weak eyesight worship the Sun, looking at it, staring at it. So whatever way we think—contemplation means thinking deeply, excluding every other thought—when the person's very personality becomes identified in that particular respect. So start with Pṛthvī because that is where we are. Annam—this body we have seen already in Taittirīya Upaniṣad. Then progress from earth to Annam, Annam to Agni, Agni to Āditya.

The Revelation and Results

Then what revelation comes? "Yaḥ eṣa Āditye puruṣo dṛśyate sa aham asmi sa eva aham asmi iti."

So the Gārhapatya fire is telling: "You have tended, you have contemplated upon me, and I am manifesting as the earth, as the fire, as the food, and as the Sun." And then further confirmation by the Gārhapatya Agni: "Yaḥ eṣa Āditye"—that consciousness, pure consciousness which is manifesting in the form of the Sun—"sa aham asmi"—I am that Āditya, I am that Sun, I am not different.

The last word after Annam is Āditya. It's telling that is the root cause of every creation, sustenance, and withdrawal. Here Āditya means Hiraṇyagarbha. So that through contemplation of the Āditya—and you must have identified you are contemplating on me and I am manifesting in this form. And if you go on contemplating on me, then I and Āditya—that is Hiraṇyagarbha—not different. So since you are contemplating on me, you and me and Hiraṇyagarbha are one and the same: "Aham Hiraṇyagarbha Brahma asmi."

So in this Pṛthvī, earth, Agni, the fire, Annam, the food, Āditya, the Sun—look upon each one of them as manifestation of Brahman, as manifestation of my own, that is Gārhapatya Agni. That is called contemplating Gārhapatya Agni.

The Results of This Practice

What does a person do? Again, two results are enumerated. The person who has some desires left out—and at the beginning every spiritual aspirant will be having only that—some unfulfilled desires. As he progresses, his desires become less and less, and his only desire will be: "I want to be united with my mother and father who is none other than Brahman himself." But by stages.

So what is the result? That is what is being told now in the 11th section: "Aparā puruṣaḥ kriyante upāvartantāṃ bhuñjāmaḥ asmin śyā loke amuṣmin śyā yaḥ etam evam vidvān upāste."

So Upakosala, whoever—not only you—if you contemplate upon me as the Pṛthvī, Agni, Anna, and Āditya, you will get result. What result?

"Apahate pāpakṛtyam"—that is, all your sins will be destroyed. You will never be able to do it because as you identify with myself, and then I am the whole creation, you are not going to hurt yourself. You are not going to cheat yourself. You are not going to harm other persons. You are not going to look upon other people as different people and try to steal from them, because you know "I am everybody," because everybody born in the Pṛthvī is the child of Pṛthvī, everybody who is eating is the child of Pṛthvī, everybody who is taking help of the fire is the child of fire, child of the sun—ultimately child of Hiraṇyagarbha. Hiraṇyagarbha is the mother and we are all the children.

Such a person cannot do—he cannot even think, he cannot speak, he cannot do anything that is immoral, hurtful, harmful, anything that is negative. In other words, adharma is never possible for him, just like for Yudhiṣṭhira adharma was never possible.

Then "lokī bhavati"—in this world he shines with tremendous splendour, and everybody will recognize him. "Sarvam āyur veti"—he leads a full, healthy, happy life. "Jyog jīvati"—jyog means splendour, tremendous jyoti. From Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's body, tremendous light used to come. With great effort, after tremendous prayer, the Mother had withdrawn that external light so that "let me have only internal light," oh Mother, he prayed, and Mother fulfilled his wish.

Such a person is recognized as a person before whom everybody bows down his head automatically. Like the five disciples of Buddha—they decided not to get up, not to receive, not to bow down, but as soon as Buddha came near, involuntarily they got up, involuntarily they did śāṣṭāṅga praṇām, involuntarily they showed the best place for him to sit, because such is the splendour, the light that had surrounded him. And those five first disciples could recognize it: "We were misjudging this person, thinking that he lost his capacity to do extreme austerity, but then we know he reached the highest goal. Even after all this, we could never even reach." Then Buddha started his mission.

So "jyog jīvati"—everybody will respect. Then Śuddhi Rāma used to walk in the streets. Rāmakṛṣṇa was telling that everybody jumps up to his feet, and then until he passes, they dare not look at or sit down. And when he is taking bath, nobody will step into that ghat. Such was the involuntary respect because he was an upāsaka of the Rāma, upāsaka of Mother Sītala Devī, Śiva, etc.

Not only that, all the results—if this person, if he happens to be a householder, he will never beget inferior children. "Aparā puruṣāḥ" means inferior children—never they are born. Apara means lower, inferior, unworthy—no, because such a person will produce only great people. Look at Śuddhi Rāma—every one of his children are endowed with some great spiritual aspect, whether it is Rāmakumār, Rāmeśvar, not to speak of Rāmakṛṣṇa, Kātyāyanī, Sarvamañgalā. It is worth reading their lives.

Divine Protection

Then he says the fire—fire is—what is he telling? That we will see that this upāsaka, this contemplative will never ever beget any unworthy child. Why? Because "I am—we the fires whom you have been tending, worshipping, contemplating—upabhuñjāma." Such a vidvān, even his children—upabhuñjāma. Usually the word bhuñjāma means by eating, swallowing—no, here bhuñjāma means protecting. We the fires will protect, even if he does not know. We will be protecting him that no harm will come. Where? As long as this person lives, as long as his children live. So we are going to protect him.

Not only that, "asmin śyā"—so long as he lives in this world—and then after, then "amuṣmin śyā"—when this person departs from this earthly world, that means his body falls, even in the next world, other world, higher world, we are going to carry him. We ourselves have seen in the, again, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, that there was a contemplator of Agni, and he has done a lot of Agni—what is called Agni upāsanā. The time for passing away, giving up the body, has come. Then as soon as he passes away, that jīvātmā is merited higher lokas. Then Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad says all the fires will come in the form of divine beings: "Welcome, welcome! You deserve it. We are there to conduct you to the highest loka." Then there is—this is incomprehensible—they carry him to a higher loka. From there, somebody takes over better than themselves, higher than themselves, to still higher loka, still higher loka, until he reaches either Āditya loka, the world of Sun, or the world of Moon, etc. This is what is being repeated here.

Not only we protect this person or persons—whoever does the same upāsanā like this Upakosala—then we will protect him in this world, and he will live a glorious life in this world, and he will never lack anything because we surround him and protect him.

Example of Divine Protection

Holy Mother, when she was a child, she was so shy she wanted to go early morning for bathing, and she could not step out even at that age. Then later on she was telling, "From somewhere suddenly eight girls used to appear, and then they escort me—four in the front, four in the back—and then I had no problem. So as one of them, I go, all of us take bath, and they bring me back safely home, and then they go. I never enquired where they live, where they stay, and from where they come, where they go. And until I grew up, I used to see them. Even after that, there were—from the Devi loka there is Golapamā and Yoginīmā—they were part of the Aṣṭa-sakhīs. So everything is marvellous. Rādhā was part of the Yogamāyā because Mother led such a life."

And the same thing will happen to anybody. "Vayam tam upabhuñjāmaḥ"—we protect in this world. And when the body falls—not prāṇa falls, body falls—the jīvātmā, sūkṣma śarīra, kāraṇa śarīra departs, and then we conduct that person's divine body—whatever he deserves—higher lokas we conduct. And it is not only this Upakosala. "Yaḥ etam evam vidvān upāsti"—anybody who does the same thing, follows the same footsteps, follows the same path, we will be doing the same thing. It is what he said. With this, the eleventh section is over.

The Teaching of the Third Fire: Dakṣiṇāgni (Section 12)

Now we will enter into the twelfth section. Now Dakṣiṇāgni—I have given you, please refer back what is Dakṣiṇāgni. It is a fire when the Agni upāsaka, contemplative fire, faces the east, he keeps a special fire, and uncooked food has to be offered according to Vedic instructions. As I said, we have lost all those things now. So that is called "Anvāhārya pācana." Anvāhārya means uncooked, pācana means uncooked. So that food is offered—that means raw grains, etc., are offered into this particular fire, a small fire that is kept on the right side. Facing to the east means this fire will be towards the south. That is why it is called Dakṣiṇāgni.

So now the Dakṣiṇāgni, important part of the three Agnis, is teaching: "Athāha enam anvāhārya pācanaḥ anuśaśāsa"—we follow the same that we have done. Only thing is that look upon these as Brahman, as Hiraṇyagarbha—that alone changes.

Again four: "Āpo diśaḥ nakṣatrāṇi candramās iti." Upakosala, look upon waters, look upon all the space—all the four corners or directions: east, west, south, north. Though it is not mentioned above, below, and all the corners where the east and west, the east and south, south and west, west and north, north and east—we call in Sanskrit, for mnemonics, Āgneyī, Nairṛtī, Vāyavya, Īśānya—those are the five corners. That means wherever you look, it is nothing but Hiraṇyagarbha only.

So look upon waters as God Hiraṇyagarbha. Why? Without waters you cannot live. Along with food, you require water also. And wherever you see anything living or non-living is maintained by Hiraṇyagarbha.

And nakṣatrāṇi—when you see the stars, they have a secret function of sustaining this universe. All they are shining—twinkle, twinkle, little star—they are not little stars, because they are such a distance they appear to be little stars. Really, there are suns which are billions of times more powerful, more extensive than our own cosmic Sūrya. And our Sūrya is slowly dying because anything that is born is going to die. And don't worry—not going to die tomorrow, only later on.

Candramā—and according to Vedic ṛṣis, the moon absorbs the sunlight and it fills with the sweetest juice—rasa. Every plant—they are called auṣadhi—"puṣṇāmi ca auṣadhīḥ sarvaḥ somo"—means candramā, moon. Rasātmakaḥ—if the mango is so flavorful, so sweet, it is all because of this. Any medicinal plant is so effective, it is because of this.

So this is what the, what is called, Dakṣiṇāgni is teaching. And what happens? We will see. Anybody who does the upāsanā of all these—what are all these things just now we have seen? What are the four things that we have seen just now? Āpaḥ—waters, diśaḥ—all the directions, nakṣatrāṇi—the stars, and candramā—the moon. Look upon water, look upon space, look upon stars, look upon the moon as Bhagavān Brahma, but Saguṇa Brahma, so Hiraṇyagarbha.

And then says this Dakṣiṇāgni says, "They are all my manifestations. And if you can do this one, so that puruṣa—that pure consciousness which is seen in the moon—candramasi yaḥ eṣa candramasi puruṣo dṛśyate—I am. I am manifesting in the form of that candra, then in the form of the all the directions, in the form of the stars, as well as in the form of the waters."

So that divine consciousness seen in the moon is me. "Sa eva aham asmi"—and I am only that being, and that being is me. I am Dakṣiṇāgni. I am also candramā, āpaḥ, nakṣatra, and all the directions.

And whoever does this—"evam vidvān"—again same result: he leads a very healthy, happy life because this Dakṣiṇāgni in its manifestations protects him in this world, and he will get only dhārmika people, spiritual children, and we will protect them also. And when the body of this upāsaka—whose upāsaka? Dakṣiṇāgni upāsaka—falls down, then that Dakṣiṇāgni will conduct him slowly to the world of that moon, where he will also realize: "Aham Dakṣiṇāgni, aham candra, aham candra-rūpeṇa Brahma asmi, Dakṣiṇāgni Brahma asmi, aham Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ asmi."

Closing Prayer

ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगदगुरुम पादपद्मे तयो: श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहु :

Om Jananim Saradam devim Ramakrishnam jagadgurum Padapadme tayoh shritva pranamami muhurmuhuh.

May Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna!