Chandogya Upanishad 5.3-10 Conclusion 173 on 17 January 2026

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.

Conclusion of Pañcāgni Vidyā

We have completed the beautiful study of the Pañcāgni Vidyā. And as I said, it is one of the most marvelous upāsanās. This upāsanā ultimately leads us to Brahman. How does it lead? Because when we are once convinced that human beings' life is nothing but going forward, coming back and again going up, down and sometimes reborn on this very earth—so when we perceive this endless transmigratory circle, then slowly vairāgya (dispassion), followed by or which follows discrimination (viveka), comes out and slowly, slowly our eyes will open.

Then is there someone else who is progressing? That means who is more pure, who is more knowledgeable and who is much more happy, even though such a person may lack any external possessions. And that is why India is blessed with lakhs and lakhs of saints at all ages, even this very age. It is said that in Varanasi, at least two or three jīvan muktas will be living at any given time. Maybe we may not recognize them, but their influence will certainly affect us if we open ourselves to it.

So the whole purpose of these vidyās, upāsanās, contemplations, have a definite purpose. I will discuss this one.

Introduction to the Summary

Now the time has come for summarizing this entire Chāndogya Upaniṣad. This Chāndogya Upaniṣad is a marvelous Upaniṣad, one of the biggest Upaniṣads. And slightly bigger than this Chāndogya Upaniṣad is Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. And this Upaniṣad, you can say, if anyone studies this one Upaniṣad—how a human being, a discriminating human being can guide his life, what we call in modern English language, the laws of life. How, if we live, we will be healthy physically, mentally, and morally.

If we can open our eyes and see that mental hospitals are increasing, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, all sorts of diseases are increasing in geometrical proportions. What is the reason? Wrong ways of living. Totally suppressing our potential power of discrimination. Every creature, especially human beings, have this power of discrimination.

So out of infinite compassion, the Lord Himself comes to us in the form of knowledge and that knowledge slowly guides us from wherever we are to the highest peak, which is jīva-brahma-aikyatva, complete union between the individual soul and the supreme soul. And every Upaniṣad leads to it.

The Beauty of Chāndogya Upaniṣad

But the beauty of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad is it contains such marvelous stories we have seen: story of Satyakāma, story of Upakosala, the vidyā called Saṃvarga Vidyā. How many wonderful stories are told and each story is only a peg to bring upon ourselves the inner core and that is what upāsanās do.

Place in Vedic Literature

So, this Chāndogya Upaniṣad is part of one particular Veda called Sāma Veda. Sāma Veda is one of the four Vedas and this Sāma Veda has two main Upaniṣads: Chāndogya and Kena. It is said we have lost nearly 90% of our Vedic knowledge. Probably less than 10% is available now. Even there, some people have counted 108 Upaniṣads. Some people even have gone counted as 200 Upaniṣads. But Muktikā Upaniṣad gives us the clue and it highlights 10 particular Upaniṣads. And Chāndogya is one of them. Bṛhadāraṇyaka, of course, is one of them.

However small, as we have seen in the study of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, and it contains only twelve number of mantras, but it is the most profound Upaniṣad, studying all the experiences every living creature has. And all the experiences are categorized into three states: the waking, the dream, and the dreamless.

The One Consciousness

And it is the one pure consciousness also called caitanya, ātmā, Brahma or Īśvara also, who goes through all these three states like a person and we all have to play what is called multiple personality roles. We may be daughters, sons, we may be parents, we may be patients, we may be doctors, we may be teachers, we may be students, we may be friends belonging to a particular club. At each different situation, one particular personality has to come up and it should not allow other personalities, though all other personalities are in the background, but one particular personality dominates in a particular role, situation, what is called in dramas, scene.

So we all have, but all these roles that we play can be in the waking state, can be in the dream state. Of course, there is no such playing of any role in the deep sleep state, but it is the same one being, one being as if creating the waking world, the dream world and the deep sleep world and playing with himself as it were.

The Divine Play

There is a beautiful song—I don't remember, probably Nañjīrul Gīti: "evī khelico, evī sāloy"—you are playing with this world as your toy and there is nobody else, only like a small baby. There is no beginning, there is no end. There is no rule, there is no regulation. So he is creating, he is destroying like children do on the banks of rivers, creating sand castles, etc., kicking them, again creating.

So the one divine being called Brahman—call it God by whatever blessed name you want—he is playing with himself as it were. But that profound truth that he is playing with himself is completely hidden from us. We limit him by thinking he is separate from me. And because the moment I think I am not God, I am separate from God. Even if a devotee thinks "I am a devotee of God," he is still limiting God because two cannot exist. The infinite cannot be divided.

So that is the message of the Upaniṣads. And then only we will be free from all limitations of ānanda, limitations of existence, limitations of knowledge, limitations of happiness. When we think deeply, our body, our mind, these are the obstructions. These three bodies—the gross, the subtle and the causal—are the greatest obstructions.

The Law of Life and Evolution

Now, Bhagavān, He created, and He also created the laws of life and that law of life, whether we will or not, it takes us because that law of life created by the Lord is like an escalator and we have no option but we are standing, sitting, walking on that escalator. We are moving forward will-nilly until human birth. It is natural evolution. It may take millions of years. How many ages? The age of the water creatures, the age of the dinosaurs, the age of the plant kingdom.

Since millions and millions of unimaginable time scale, this evolutionary escalator is slowly bringing the inorganic into organic, the organic into the fully realized soul, and just like the sun who takes up the pure water, distills it into pure water and travels along this, carries it a long distance in the form of clouds, watery clouds and wind, and drops the rain at different locations, especially on higher locations. And the water slowly flows down and again at some point of time meets the ocean, the origin and again this śaṣṭi krama is going on. And that is why creation is eternal. It is not started at a one particular point of time.

Modern Science and Vedānta on Creation

Now the scientists are slowly erring towards this view. Previously, Stephen Hawking, he discovered what he called that the point of singularity, where there was, for whatever reason, we don't know. How it happens, we don't know, but the whole, there was a kind of explosion. Slowly, almost infinite energy started to expand itself with the greatest of speeds, mind-boggling speeds. And that is what we call the present creation. And it is still expanding on one side. And it is also contracting on the other side.

So for many years, that was the beginning of creation. In Bible also, we say that was the beginning of creation. But Vedānta and modern science completely confirm: no, no, it is not, there is no beginning there. So some scientists have come to the conclusion that what was there before the big bang? There must be something which caused this big bang because an effect cannot be without a cause. So maybe there are infinite number of big bangs.

They cannot tell creation is infinite because that comes into the realm of philosophy, religion. They cannot venture step inside that realm. But more or less that's what they are conveying. We do not know when it started, how it started, why it started, where it is going to stop. These answers will not come. And why cannot they answer? Because unless we find the origin, we will not know what is the point of involution.

The Duality of Existence

And everybody is taught that we are progressing, we are evolving, not only on the physical level, but on creative level, on mental level. Knowledge is exploding nowadays. On every level, there is such an explosion. But this world is a world of duality. Where there is good, there will be evil. Where there is life, there will be death. Where there is knowledge, there will be ignorance. Where there is good, there will be evil. And we see, however much we may get excited about the modern developments, so something can do good, something also, the same thing also can do evil.

So, this ever remains a mystery. Even God-realized souls, it is said, cannot penetrate into the secret of why God wants to create, why this creation has come, when did it start. But it shows you don't need all that information. You are suffering and you can be completely, forever, be free from suffering. Tāpatraya abhighāta jijñāsā—you start inquiring, is there any way out? That is where Vedas step in.

The Division and Classification of Vedas

And these Vedas was only Veda at the beginning and later on as it expanded, as the accumulation went on, adding more and more, human brains have become very limited. So they were forced to share only a small bit of it. And that is how Veda became Vedas.

So it is said, a great soul called Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, titled as Veda Vyāsa, came and edited all that knowledge that was existing and which he could collect in his own capacity until that time. And since Vedas are eternal, so there must be much, much more which has been lost. But whatever he could collect, collected, classified and divided them into four Vedas. And in course of time, these four Vedas have contained everything that is necessary.

The Four Puruṣārthas

And by that, what do we mean? Everything that a human being can ever want and can ever get fulfilled. And these are called puruṣārthas, human goals. What are they? Dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa. Dharma, the right means of acquiring. Acquiring what? Artha, the means for enjoyment. After acquiring the means, one has to enjoy them. But that is also—the acquisition must be preceded by dharma. The acquisition or the enjoyment also must be preceded by dharma.

And finally, the person wakes up to the reality: this is an endless abyss. We are digging our own grave. Then the person turns into himself. All this time he is looking outward. Now he is looking inward. And he soon discovers that there is a brilliant jyoti light in the very midst of the heart.

The Light Within

Hṛdaya-kamala-madhye rājitaṃ nirvikalpaṃ

Sad-asad-akhila-bheda-dhītam eka-svarūpaṃ

Prakṛti-vikṛti-śūnyaṃ nityam ānanda-mūrtiṃ

Vimala paramahaṃsaṃ rāmakṛṣṇaṃ bhajāmaha

That Rāmakṛṣṇa has to be substituted by Brahman. So there is a daharākāśa—we have studied in this very Chāndogya Upaniṣad. And in that daharākāśa there is a... this body itself is called Brahmapuri and there is a heart. Cave. It is called a cave. Cave means that which is hidden, not easily discoverable. But after some time we are bound to discover it and then we find inside it is filled with what? Jyotir ājyoti, which jvalasrīdi kandhara.

And then like a moth which cannot keep itself away from immersing itself into the light, burning itself, ātmāhuti—individuality is totally merged in the totality. And that is what is Sāṃyabedānāñji, beautifully put it, is one of the most meaningful jñāna ślokās on Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. And that is what Chāndogya Upaniṣad wants to tell.

Sat-Chit-Ānanda

This man soon discovers that there is something which is satyam, which is jñānam, which is anantam and ananta anantam: ananta sat, ananta jñānam—infinite existence, infinite knowledge, infinite bliss. And once he sees that light like a moth, he cannot keep himself away from it.

So out of compassion, a divine Lord is playing this marvelous game, closing his own eyes with his own hands as it were, and slowly peeking and then completely removing, finding out the truth. And this nityā and līlā are going on all the time.

Structure and Content of Chāndogya Upaniṣad

So, this Chāndogya Upaniṣad as well as one of the most marvelous Upaniṣads, which is one Kena Upaniṣad, both belong to Sāma Veda. As I said, these are only main Upaniṣads. Each Veda contains many what is called smaller Upaniṣads. And by that, I do not mean their content is small. However small an Upaniṣad, but it contains the full purport of every other Upaniṣad.

All the Upaniṣads, they are called Vedānta. Vedānta means the very essential teaching of Veda, which is "tat tvam asi." Then, through certain methodology, the person realizes that Brahman—brahma asti must be transformed into brahma asmi: I am that Brahman.

Eight Chapters

So, this Chāndogya Upaniṣad, which we studied, belongs to the Sāma Veda. It is divided into eight chapters. Each chapter is called a prapaṭhaka and each containing multiple sections and multiple mantras. These chapters present deep spiritual teachings through symbolic stories, philosophical dialogues, and meditative insights.

So, this Upaniṣad covers themes such as the significance of Oṃ, the unity of the individual self with the Supreme Brahman, and how to attain to that state and attain liberation. So, each chapter builds upon the previous chapters, guiding the seeker from external rituals to inner realization. And this Chāndogya Upaniṣad has a total of 627 mantras. Of course, I have not counted, but someone who did this research heard mentioned, so I have copied it from there. So, it stands as one of the longest and most profound of the Upaniṣads.

What is an Upaniṣad?

But before we begin a summarization, let us deal with a clear idea of what the Upaniṣads really teach. Even though we have discussed it so many times, we have to remind ourselves. So, first of all, what's an Upaniṣad?

Śaṅkarācārya's Definition

Śaṅkarācārya's definition of what is an Upaniṣad: So, first of all, what is an Upaniṣad? It is part of the Veda and generally it occurs at the end of some Āraṇyaka. Therefore, it is called Upaniṣad, Vedānta. Anta means two meanings are there. The word anta can be interpreted in two ways: that which comes at the end and that which is the very essence summary of that particular chapter.

So, usually they come at the end of the Āraṇyakas. So, saṃhitā, Āraṇyaka, then upāsanās, that is there. Then finally, the Upaniṣad, which is called sannyāsa, or sannyāsāśrama. But sannyāsāśrama need not be only a formally renouncing monk. Anybody, so many householders, in our own Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa tradition, so many householders like Nag Mahāśaya, like M., etc., they realized God. There is absolutely no doubt about it.

Were they sannyāsins? Absolute sannyāsins. They lived a life of householder, but it is only from outside point of view, they are householders. But what is the house they are living in? Brahmapuri. And they are completely contemplating. And by the way, Vaikuṇṭha can also be called daharākāśa, where devotees can go and to their heart's content. They go on visualizing. There will not be one single second which will separate them from the saguṇa Brahma. That is called Vaikuṇṭha.

Etymology of Upaniṣad

So, these Vedas are, what is called definition of Upaniṣad, the very word Upaniṣad, another name for the Upaniṣad is called Vedānta. And the word Upaniṣad is divided into three parts: upa, ni and sad. Upa means approaching nearer and nearer. And when we approach, for example, a blazing fire, as we approach, two things happen. First of all, all the cold that we are suffering, as we progress, the cold decreases, the heat increases, our body itself acquires the quality of the fire. Then, if someone with cold touches this body, heated body, they will also get relief.

So, like that, slowly, slowly, slowly, as the person approaches the fire, he becomes closer to fire, he becomes more like fire. And finally, when there is no differentiation, no point of space between them, which also means no point of time, immediately he becomes fire. That's why I funnily sometimes say, when a corpse is burning at Maṇikarṇikā Ghāṭ, if somebody wants, they can cook their food like any other fire. It is just fire.

So, it becomes one with fire and it gives the same result as the fire. So, upa means nearing, slowly approaching. That is how the word upāsanā also comes. We will explore it soon. Ni means niśeṣa—completely. There would be no difference between Brahman and ourselves. Sad means that which destroys ajñāna, māyā, difference between the jīva and Brahman. And jīvātmā realizes, I am not jīvātmā, only I am paramātmā, I am Brahman. That is the meaning of the Upaniṣads.

Universal Paths to God

And this becoming one with God can be attained, as Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa so clearly demonstrates, through any path, through any sect. It doesn't matter which path we follow. Infinite can be reached through infinite ways, infinite pathways. Yato mat tato path.

The Three Divisions of the Vedas

Now, all the Vedas are divided into three parts. Very important for us to understand. All the Vedas are divided into three parts. Usually we say every Veda is divided into two parts. First part is called karma-kāṇḍa. Second part is called jñāna-kāṇḍa.

Karma-kāṇḍa: Preparation

Karma-kāṇḍa means preparations for the final preparation, preparations for the final preparation, like PhD. So right from the kindergarten nursery until a person passes MA or MSc, such a person, that is the purpose of the karma-kāṇḍa. But once he will become qualified to become a PhD, and by passing through that PhD, he becomes an authoritative person.

So karma-kāṇḍa is meant not as a trap, but as a way slowly to progress. Because progress has to be done from wherever we are. And for different people, we are at different distances from God. So each one of us, depending upon our faculties—four faculties—we have to adopt a particular path. And that is where a teacher's guidance is absolutely necessary.

The Importance of the Right Path

I have heard so many people fascinated by jñāna-mārga or Brahmaṇa Mahārśi and go on practicing "ko'ham" (who am I), go on meditating. After several years of meditation, who am I, the final conclusion they come is: I am stupid, I am an idiot, I am a worthless fellow, I am the most unhappy person in the world. There is nothing wrong with the path. Something wrong. That path is not suitable.

Just as accidents happen to a person who is a slow driver, trying to take the fastest route, that is what happens to this person. And even that analogy is completely wrong analogy. There is no fastest, there is no slowest. Everything depends upon our sincerity, our receptivity and God's grace.

Two Parts of Karma-kāṇḍa

So, Vedas are divided, as I said, into first two parts. This is a general division. But our Ācārya has to divide the karma-kāṇḍa also into two parts. One, first of all, man cannot live without action and therefore he is a ritualist. And man must become a ritualist, must go through this phase of ritualism because every man at the beginning is only full of desires, unfulfilled desires.

And fulfillment of desires cannot be had by imagination. It can be only had by acquiring—saṃjānāti icchati kriyate. First he knows what he wants, he has knowledge, then he desires, then he acts. These are the inevitable steps.

Pure Rituals

So the first part is the Vedas promise: Man, what is it that you want? You want higher happiness, longer lasting happiness, better quality happiness. I am promising you, I will give you. So, what I am supposed to do, sir? So you do this. For example, svargya kāmo agnihotram juhuyāt—he who is desirous of heaven must perform this agnihotra ritual.

And how do we know that we reach—just like a scientist's experiment? No scientist will know until the experiment is complete whether what he is expecting to achieve has been achieved or not. But he doesn't start blindly. What is called an educated hypothesis. He gathered all the facts and he explored other ways.

So man also explores: Can I be healthy and happier through what I have been doing? No, I am perhaps following wrong things. How do I conclude? First, I judge by the result. I am not happy. I am not healthy. So there must be a cause. And just like an unhealthy person has to approach a doctor, an unhappy person also approaches a counselor or psychiatrist.

Like that, we have to approach a guide and that guide tells, you do this. If the patient questions, how do I know this thing works? He says, you will not know. Others experimented and they had the results. You have to experiment. You can't know how to swim unless you fall into the water.

So this person, willy-nilly, with some faith, he does. And surprisingly, he becomes healthier, he becomes happier. Then slowly the faith, śraddhā, grows in him. So this continues for a long time.

The Fruits of Ritual Practice

We have seen in the Muṇḍakopaniṣad, for the first seven mantras, the Muṇḍakopaniṣad goes on explaining that if a person is solely devoted to mere rituals, then the Agnis, the fires into which he was offering, then oblations, at the end of his life, it is said, they welcome him. "You are welcome, you are welcome. We will conduct you to your deserved higher places of enjoyment."

But we should not stop with that interpretation. Even in this life, if a person is born in better family, more wealthy family, more good family, more knowledgeable family, more morally advanced family, it is all because the person deserves it. There is nothing called accidentally person winning a lottery ticket, accidentally falling into a wrong family. That is called karma siddhānta.

So this person experiences and with each of this experiment, the mind also becomes purer—citta śuddhi. Then at some point of progress, the teacher tells him, Vedas tell him: now you want still higher result? Of course, yes, nobody denies it. It is an inbuilt tendency to seek higher and higher happiness. Then this person, he asks, how can I have? Then now you have to combine, meditate. You must have that devatā jñānam.

Building Faith Through Experience

And then this person has faith. How did he have faith? Because he had experimented, he has experienced it. So that is what is called the proof of the pudding is in eating. The same way this person experienced it, he knows it. Whatever is said in the Vedas is absolute truth. Every letter is true. And then he says, okay, now I am ready for a higher type of ritual—rituals combined with upāsanās.

Stories of Spiritual Progress

And we have seen some of the stories. So many wonderful stories we have explored. So for example, Satyakāma Jābāla, he was having satyam, truthfulness, as his very cornerstone of his very character. And when his Guru asked him to which caste you belong, he did not hesitate. He did not, what is called paint over. He told the naked truth, stark truth. And immediately the Guru satisfied: Only a Brāhmaṇa can speak such a truth.

So, satyam cannot be maintained. As I told you many times, one good quality requires the support of many other good qualities. So one bad quality cannot be sustained unless it is supported by other bad qualities, good or bad. So the whole gamut has to be there. So that is what happens in all these lives of the saints that we see.

The Role of Upāsanā

So this person sits, and what is the purpose? That slowly to make the mind meditate upon the God with certain qualities. Now earlier he was only after higher enjoyment. Now he realizes that I have to purify myself. I have to acquire certain qualities and that is the only way for the highest happiness.

As his mind becomes pure, his understanding becomes deeper, like a more cleaned mirror reflects the object in front more clearly. So he understands, I am not what I seem to be, but there are also so many spots, impurities, crystal clearly perceived through this mirror of a purified mind.

Acquiring Divine Qualities

And the purpose of upāsanā is first to get rid of all these negative qualities which is called āsurī sampad in the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā and to acquire daivī sampad. There is no shortcut. "I join a particular religion and I have faith and if I lead a more or less good life, then through that faith God will keep me on the right side." This is only for the beginners.

You read whether the Imitation of Christ, Practice of the Presence of God or Introduction to Devout Life, any of these classics, you will see how hard it is to become a real spiritual person.

The Path of Yoga

So this person slowly guided from mere physical activities called rituals to add now mental, more importance given to contemplations where cittaikāgratā, concentration of the mind, then śama dama, control of the thoughts. That is why that is called really yoga—citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ.

And slowly, as he progresses under the loving guidance of an experienced teacher, he finds out really that what the teacher said is absolutely true. Already he knew the truth of the Vedic words. Because a traditional teacher doesn't teach anything new. What Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa taught is nothing but pure Upaniṣads. That's why Swami Vivekānanda said, "I have never spoken anything but the teachings of the Upaniṣads. Only maybe in modern English language. Nothing else I have spoken."

Progressive Realization

So, slowly he progresses. He combines now less dependence upon external rituals, more time spent in contemplation, and which leads him slowly to completely identify with the mental contemplation which is called vānaprasthāśrama. And as he progresses, then slowly the truth which is within his own real nature starts manifesting.

When we have studied Satyakāma Jābāla story, he was obeying his guru. That was the ritual. But he was also contemplating with complete faith in his guru. He was tending to the fires. And what is called fire is not external, something blazing, but it is the representation of the divinities, adhiṣṭhāna devatās, presiding deities.

So the gods pleased with his devotion, steadfastness, purity, devotion to truth, slowly he manifested. They came in the form of the bull in the form of Agni Devatā, Vāyu Devatā and two birds, etc. Same story is repeated in the story of Upakosala also.

Truth Comes from Within

So that is how the truth which is within comes out. And that is the crux of the matter we have to understand. However great a teacher, he cannot impart truth, implant the truth inside our mouths, hearts, inside our minds. He can only convey it and he can also help us because he will be leading the life himself, which is a great inspiration. That is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa calls cultivate holy company, satsaṅga.

Then this person slowly advances as he becomes purer. Then the teachings of the teacher now become real. That is called realization. He understands: Previously, I was accepting by faith. Now I know by experience, they are all true.

Confirmation by the Guru

So by that time, as we have seen, Satyakāma reached his Guru's place, his Guru Gautama. He said, "Your face shines like the knower of Brahman." And then he teaches him exactly the same thing, what the fires taught. Fires means what? The manifestation of gods, manifestation of Īśvara in the form of the gods.

And that is what exactly the teacher, when the teacher teaches, it is not the physical body that teaches. It is that divinity which is awakened within him through the help of grace of his own guru. That is why they are called sampradāya gurus, ācāryas. And that's why when we pray, so Śaṅkarācārya, from there, even before that also, ācārya madhyamam—through this unbroken tradition of the gurus, the teaching is coming down. And if anybody claims, "I don't belong to any sampradāya," you have to be careful about that person.

So this person, the guru confirms whatever you have realized through your upāsanā and exactly repeats what those four fires have said. And Satyakāma himself became a knower of Brahman and which he passed on to Upakosala through the same methodology by asking him to tend the fires.

Summary of the Teaching Method

So what did we discuss? Vedas are divided into two parts: karma-kāṇḍa and jñāna-khaṇḍa. Only when a person first practices rituals along with developing certain good characteristics, sad guṇas, then only he will succeed. Then he will experience the promised result. He is convinced whatever is written in the Vedas is true.

And then at the right time, the teacher introduces a higher type of ritual. It is a mental ritual which is called upāsanā. And through that he progresses. And the final progress, the final realization can come only through the grace of God. That again is indicated by Satyakāma Jābāla's. The fires—God, assuming the fires of the gods of the fires—taught him slowly, slowly, little by little, until his knowledge was complete. And if there is any lingering doubt, his teacher confirmed that you are a true Brahmajñānī.

The Progressive Path to Realization

Beautiful way we have to understand this progressive help that is given by God in the form of karma-kāṇḍa. So karma-kāṇḍa has two parts: pure rituals first, second is rituals with appropriate meditations. When a person progresses through that, then he has to approach the teacher in the traditional way and śravaṇa, manana, nididhyāsana has to come through and then a teacher teaches him "tat tvam asi" and he realizes "aham brahmāsmi."

The Essential Role of Grace

But important point to note: unless God is gracious, unless the Divine Mother is gracious, nobody can realize Him. That is the idea. And there are wonderful points which we will talk about in next class.

Closing Prayer