Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 02 on 26 May 2024

Full Transcript

ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः

Oṃ jananīṁ sāradāṁ devīṁ rāmakṛṣṇaṁ jagadgurum pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ

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॥ हरिः ॐ ॥

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 hariḥ oṃ

Om

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.

We have started the Chandogya Upanishad of the Samaveda. It is one of the two biggest of all Upanishads. One is the Brihadaranyaka and another is Chandogya. This Chandogya Upanishad comprises the last eight chapters of a Brahmana from the Samaveda, Chandogya Brahmana. This Chandogya Upanishad contains eight chapters with 154 sections, 628 mantras in total, as mentioned earlier.

The Chandogya Upanishad has eight chapters, each with varying number of sub-sections. The first chapter includes 13 sections, each with varying number of verses. The second has 24 sections. The third contains 19 sections. The fourth is composed of 17 sections. The fifth has 24. The sixth chapter has 16 sections. The seventh includes 26 sections. And the last eighth chapter is with 15 sections.

Some of the scholars try to classify this Chandogya Upanishad into three groups. The first group comprises chapter one and two. What do these two chapters deal with? They deal with the structure and rhythmic aspects of language and its expression, which is speech and particularly the Upasana called Omkara Upasana or otherwise called Udgitha Upasana. The second group, according to these scholars, consisting of the third, fourth and fifth chapters. In this, there are more than 20 Upasanas and Vidyas on premises about the universe, life, mind, spiritual life, etc. The third group consists of chapters six, seven and eight. These three chapters mainly deal with the true spiritual metaphysical questions. What is the reality? What is the nature of reality and self? And whether such a thing really exists or not?

Because so many people doubt the very existence of God. And we also, devotees also, doubt too much about God. And not only we doubt about God, but we also doubt about His capacity to do any good. As I mentioned earlier, there was a Rabbi, that is a Jewish religious teacher is called a Rabbi. He was living in USA many years back. He had a very sweet daughter of eight years old. Naturally, he loved her very much and she became sick and died all of a sudden. And that brought a terrible crisis in his mind. Does really God exist? First question. Second question, if God exists, is He good and powerful? If He has got both these qualities, goodness and power, then something else should have happened. Maybe He is good, but He is powerless. Therefore, He permits His own creation because there is no doubt.

So the original creator of this universe is God only. Why do I say original universe? Because once He creates somebody and that somebody who was created now becomes the secondary creator. And that secondary Srishti becomes the third creator, etc., etc. We see in our life whether it is creation of lifeless objects or living objects. So when there is union of male and female, the parents are the causes, especially the mother. And so the offspring would be the effects. But the parents themselves, if we go on tracing back, they come from Saguna Brahman. And Saguna Brahman, in a way of speaking, is none other than manifestation of the Nirguna Brahman.

And as I mentioned umpteen number of times, every day we sing, “Srishti Stithi Vinashanam Shakti Bhute Sanatani”. The Divine Mother, otherwise called Shakti, otherwise called Saguna Brahman, is the real original creator. Is it not Nirguna Brahman? No. The being who has nothing to do with any activity, He is called Nirguna Brahman. But we have to understand it in a particular way, peculiar way, that when I look upon God as with activity, then we prefer to call Him as Saguna. If we look upon the same reality, then He has to be called as Nirguna Brahman. That's all. Not that there are two Brahmans. In fact, according to Advaita, nothing else exists excepting your Brahman. Whatever we are thinking, we are seeing, is like a similar way, an analogy. We have dreams and I, the one waker, seem to have manifested as multiple, the subject and object, the experience and the experiencer, etc. That is why from the Advaita point of view only, but from the realistic point of view, Dvaita point of view, creation is very real. Even dreams are very real. And there is a lot of logic in it. Yes, dreams can be very real also. They can be mere imaginations, but they can also be very real.

So, this is the formal division, Omkar Upasana, etc. The third group only with the nature of reality, nature of the Self. What is one of the specialities of this Chandogya Upanishad? It has got a Mahavakya and it is one of the most important Mahavakyas, even though all the Mahavakya. What is a Mahavakya? That statement by the Rishi which says that you do not exist, only Brahman exists. Therefore, you and Brahman, Jiva and Brahman are not separate. That sentence which gives this identity, “Jiva Brahma Aikya” Bodha, that is called a Mahavakya.

How many Mahavakyas are there? Infinite number of Mahavakyas, literally hundreds are there, but four have been chosen from important Upanishads. One of the Upanishads is Chandogya, where it comes, Tat Tvam Asi, Tat Tvam Asi. Tvam Tat Asi. Tvam, you the Jiva. Tat, that Brahman. You are that Brahman, and Swamiji translated it as each soul is potentially divine. Brihadaranyaka is very closely related to our Sampradaya, Sri Ramakrishna Sampradaya, because Totapuri Maharaj has taken Sanyasa from Sringeri Matha, that is why they are called Puris and Puri Matha, the Mahavakya, only one, which is called Aham Brahma Asmi, Prajnanam Brahma, I am Atma Brahma.

So, I just classify them in a particular order to make it a little more meaningful other than that there is no special significance. So, Prajnanam Brahma, I am Atma Brahma, Tat Tvam Asi, Aham Brahma Asmi and generally I add a fifth one, Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. In that order. Why that particular order? So, where is God? For that the answer is that Prajnanam Brahma. Prajnanam means consciousness, the distinction between the living and non-living is not absence of consciousness, but non-manifestation of consciousness.

So, existence is there, Chit and Ananda are hidden, unmanifest, but where there is Sat, there should be Chit, where there is Chit, there should be Sat and where there is Ananda, you see even in our day-to-day life, if I say I am happy, only when I am conscious, I can experience, any experience is possible only when we have awareness. So, I have to know not only I am aware and it is a beautiful awareness, I am happy, I am fulfilled etc. So, that is why it is called Prajnanam, I am alive, how do I know, because I am conscious of it, if I am unconscious, others may be conscious of me, but I may not be conscious of others.

So, this is the methodology, then the doubt comes for the student, where is that and who, where is that consciousness and then the Guru has to point out, I am Atma Brahma, you know there are two components in you, one is Atma, one is Anatma, so body-mind that is called Anatma or I have also funnily put it, so Brahma Jnana, Brahma Jnana, Brahma Jnana is consciousness, Brahma Jnana is identity with the body and mind and this whole world etc. So, when the student looks puzzled, you are telling consciousness is Brahma, what has it got to do with me, because you are not to identify yourself with body-mind, but identify yourself with the only conscious part, consciousness part of it and that is called Jivatma, so in the Jivatma, Atma is there plus Anatma, a combination of Atma and Anatma is called Jivatma, if it is collective, it is called Ishwara, otherwise it is called individual, Yakti.

So I am Atma Brahma, where is that Brahman, each soul is potentially divine. Then when we progress further, then the teacher, his teaching becomes more relevant to us, then he says, “Don't go on searching here and there, claim yourself that Tvam Tat Asi, “Thou Art That”, you are that Brahman and then through Sravana, Manana, Nididhyasana, then the Sadhaka, the student, he is not a mere student, he has become a Sadhaka, he wants to personally claim, call it realization or Darshana, whatever. Then he says “Aham Brahmasmi”, “Now I know, I claim”, “I thought I was somebody else, but I was never anybody else accepting Brahman all the time. Not that I have newly become Brahman, I was, I am, and I will be, but temporarily I have become mad”, madness means assuming a separate identity, but if a person upon this realization doesn't come back to this body and mind, then the problem will not arise, but there are so many who come back or who have been made to come back by God's will, such people are called Jivanmuktas, for them, how do they look upon? Sarvam Khalu Idam Brahma.

So these are the five Mahavakyas and the third one, Tat Tvam Asi comes in the sixth chapter, nine times it is repeated and the chapter also starts with Sadeva Soumya Idam Agra Asit, the teaching in the sixth chapter starts with the Brahmajnani addressing the fifth disciple, actually they were father and son, Uddalaka Aruni and Svetaketu, but Svetaketu was, as I mentioned, he was very proud, we will come to that when the time comes, so he understood that there is something, I thought I was all-knowing, but I know nothing actually, to know to have Brahmajnana is no Jnana at all, it is dangerous Jnana, it is Ajnana actually, every Brahmajnana is only Ajnana.

So he understood it, he became humble, he approached as a student of Brahmavidya, Atmavidya is supposed to approach, otherwise simply this is my son, whether he is fit or not, I will teach him, that's not going to happen, because this is not any Vidya, even how to thread a needle, that also Yogya Shishya, even how to pick pocket, so Yogya Shishya should be there, otherwise a dull student, not only will be beaten very soon on the first attempt, but he will bring terribly bad name for his Guru also, because after being beaten, then he might blurt out the name of the bigger pickpocket, okay.

So the teachings are “sadeva somyedamagra āsīd”, Sadeva, Soumya, O soft-hearted one, or a fit disciple at the beginning, pure existence without any manifestation, Srishti means manifestation of existence with Nama and Rupa, name and form, and therefore it starts. This teaching Tat Tvam Asi and Thou Art That is repeated at least nine times, because the disciple has got almost nine times doubts, every time it is said you are that, oh so please teach me further, clarify me further and so the father goes on and this repetition is also is Abhyasa, again and again, is one of the ways to determine what is the real purport, import of anything, any knowledge.

In the last three chapters the goal is self-knowledge, Tat Tvam Asi is the teaching of Sage Uddalaka to his son Śvetaketu, the father removes the doubts that arise in his son and teaches Tat Tvam Aasi, Śvetaketu, addressing him as Śvetaketu, that was his name, so every Jiva is perfect like God, but every Jiva is not conscious of his true self, therefore the Upanishads are using Śvetaketu as a pretext, remember we are not studying a story of a person, this is presented in the form of a story, as Sri Ramakrishna used to present so many, we used to call stories parables.

Every story that we get in the Upanishads and we get plenty of stories and there are also books available. Stories from the Upanishads. In brief, very beautiful books are there. The Upanishads are using each story as a pretext to show Brahmavidya to all beings like us, and this is in the chapter 6. The 7th chapter also speaks of Brahmavidya only, as I said 6th, 7th and 8th, they all speak only Brahmavidya. In the 7th chapter a Guru and importance of Guru is very much emphasized. Without Guru it is impossible to get knowledge. Who is a Guru? A manifestation of God only. God only comes in the form of a Guru, so that the teaching can be given out of God's compassion to a human disciple in the form of a human being, but Gurus can come not only in human form, but even in the form of non-human beings. Remember the story of Satyakamajabala that fire, bull and two types of birds have taught him. You may wonder how can that is? No, they are only what we call by seeing them when he was ready, he could intuit the lessons there, so as a great poet says that to see the whole universe in a dew drop early in the morning on the smallest of the flower petal, so when our mind is ready, we can learn the lesson and this is graphically illustrated by a story of Avadhuta and when questioned how did he become so enlightened and then he says “I had 24 Gurus”, of course there were some humans also, at least one prostitute, public woman, was also there, a young girl was there, and birds were there and nature was there, so when we are ready nature has a lot to teach, in fact we all learn only from nature.

I'll give you a small example, the logic starts like that, if you want to study logic, so how do we study the logic? Plato or Socrates is a human being that is the example, and all men are mortal that is the Siddhanta, therefore Socrates is a man and therefore Socrates is mortal. That is the nature of this world where there is birth, there is growth, there is old age, there is a disease, there is death, these are called changes, so if we observe the nature. Some changes are good, some are not good but we can become enlightened, but we have to be ready, otherwise nature will not teach anything at all. It is just like standing in front of a mirror and looking at the reflection of ourselves, so we go on dressing whom? Ourselves, nature is meant to be a reflector of each one of us, so if our neighbours are good friends that teaches us one lesson, if they are noisy, disturbing, vicious, evil kind that teaches us another lesson, so every experience that we go in this world has only one purpose and that purpose is how we can mould our life, manifest our divinity and get out of this net of Maya, Maya Jala.

So in the 7th chapter there was a great Rishi, he was in fact called the Manasa Putra, the spiritual son of Brahma, the creator, was called Sanatkumara and none other than our great sage Narada Rishi, he approaches him and then he expresses, “Guruji, please teach me Brahma Vidya” and very, very interesting chapter, all chapters are interesting only but this chapter is also quite interesting. The Guru asks him, “So far how much have you learnt?” and then he says, “I studied all the Vedas, all the Upanishads” and those Upanishads must contain Chandogya Upanishad, and it must contain the 7th chapter! Anyway, I am just making a bit of fun. So then so many other Vidyas, not only spiritual, but secular also, everything, how to find out whether there are precious stones, diamonds or how to cure snake bites, how to dance, how to sing, how to compose poetry, every available. Narada was a living, walking, moving encyclopedia of all the knowledge that existed and in the past all the knowledge has been divided into 64 branches, Gandharva Vidya etc. Nakshatra Vidya, that is Jyotish Shastra. Astronomy, Astrology, everything.

Then Sanatkumara asks, "Oh, you seem to know everything but what brings you here?” and then Narada expresses, “It is true, but I am only a knower of words and their literal meaning, not the inner meaning, I know the Vachya Artha, not the Lakshya Artha, and I have heard only when a Sadguru teaches a Satshishya, then realisation will take place. So I am approaching.” and then a most marvellous discussion, a thorough analysis of the entire psychology and what prompts each one of us to do any action and even Sadhana is one of the most noble, noblest of all actions. So how to proceed and progress in the right way, rationally and having taken shortcuts also, so that is possible only when a person had trodden the same path and they had taken many disciples along with and showed them the path, made their life blessed, so also I want to be blessed and categorically the 7th chapter says - without the help of a guide or a Guru, it is impossible to realise. We can get at best to the Vachya Artha which is difficult even for most of us, not to speak of Lakshya Artha.

So 15 types of Sadhanas, spiritual Sadhanas, from one to the other. They are called also Upasanas, for example Nama Upasana, Vak Upasana, Sankalpa Upasana, Asha Upasana and Annopasana, Prana Upasana, the final 15th Prana Upasana and then the Prana is none other than Brahma, this is the essence of the 7th chapter. Then we come to the 8th chapter, what does this 8th chapter contain? Again Brahmavidya, but now a beautiful analysis of every living creature, the waking state, the dream state, and the deep sleep state. We have become I am sure very thoroughly conversant with this because of the Mandukya Karikas that we have been studying in the past.

So there was a great soul called Prajapati, I am only briefly telling, hinting what is to come. Foretelling. Prajapati is none other than Brahma and he announced, “Those who realize the Self, Atma Vidya, all their desires will be fulfilled!” That is called beautiful advertisement. So if you buy this one, all your desires will be fulfilled. So each one of us, we are suffering from non-fulfillment of desires. So by knowing this, every single desire will be permanently fulfilled. Kritsna Karma-Krit.

So then there were two types of people, one was a non-spiritual person, another was a sincere seeker, one is called Virochana or Asura, another is called Deva, Indra. So both these people have chosen one one representative and they both approach, and then Prajapati, he wanted to make them ready. So he says, live for 32 years as one of the Brahmacharis and they lived and then the teaching starts with the experience of the waking state and then now you attain Brahmavidya, and then they go away satisfied and the Virochana, he went and “I know Brahman, his body is Brahman, worship the body, enjoy to your heart's content, especially beautiful mangoes that are going to come out now” and that is how he ever since that time, so those who follow Virochana, all of us, that is worshippers of the body mind, but Indra on the way, he thought he understood, he started doing Manana, he found defect, he came back, again 32 years, again he was taught and again he was going back, again he found problem, again he approached another 32 years and then he thought he understood and then he got doubt and then he came back for the fourth time, “Okay you have almost only 5%, Chitta Suddhi has to be done”, so another 5 years, 3 into 32, 96 plus 5 years, 101 years.

That is why Sri Ramakrishna says, nowadays if a fellow is suffering from fever, the old Ayurvedic medicine by that time it takes place, the fellow will be expiring, first perspiration, then Ayurvedic medicine, then expiration but for that “Guptas mixture”, just swallow one painkiller or what we call an Anacin tablet here and then your this fever will go. Headache will go, body ache will go etc. The gospel is supposed to be that easy teaching. Teaching is easy, practice is exactly the same thing.

So he was given that none of what I have taught is really sadvidya, brahmavidya, and you are that Brahman, and then this time he became a realized soul. Indra becomes a realized soul, how many times God alone knows because in Kena Upanishad also, we get that he was one of the people, maybe he was a different Indra, that is what we have to presume. That is how the 6th teaching for Śvetaketu, 7th teaching for Narada, 3rd teaching for Indra, these are the 3 chapters which deal with.

Now from the 1st to the 5th chapters of the Chandogya is nothing but full of upasanas beginning with Omkara Upasana, another name for Omkara is called Udgita, so the question comes, Upanishad is supposed to only deal with what we call Brahma Vidya, why is it so full of these things, in a way of speaking it is absolutely right, that is not the Brahma Vidya, so why are there so many upasanas and in the Vedas we get two things, we have to understand the distinction between them, one is called Upasana, another is called Vidya, so for example Sri Vidya, Gayatri Vidya etc. is there, so there is a slight difference, both are upasanas only, one is elevated upasana, another is normal type of upasana, there are different types of upasanas are there, which I am going to take up very shortly.

So why are there so many upasanas, every upasana is a stepping stone for Brahma Vidya, so what is a upasana? That is let us say upasanas are like steps leading to the roof. Let us remember Ramakrishna started his sadhana with the worship of the Divine Mother Kali, there are so many aspects of Mother Kali, Smashanakali, Bhadrakali, Chinnamasta, Dhoomavati etc., so it is nothing but Saguna Brahma Upasana.

So before we discuss a little bit about upasanas, let us see how the Vedas are divided, this is not a new knowledge, because if you have been consistently attending my talks, you would have known, this is just to remind ourselves. Usually Vedas are divided into two parts and the first part is called Karma Kanda, second part is called Jnana Kanda and the Karma Kanda means various types of rituals. In these various types of rituals, there are further division is made, so one can do mere ritual, one can also combine a ritual, Vedic ritual, not any ritual, Vedic ritual which is strictly we have to adhere to all the rules, regulations, how to approach, where to sit, facing which direction, what should be the implements etc., etc., but along with that what is called two types of upasanas are also prescribed. One is called Auxiliary Upasana to any particular Karma, this is called Karma Angi Bhuta Upasana ("part of any particular Upasana"), but there are some Svatantra Upasanas ("Stand alone Upasanas") and they are called really speaking at Vidyas ("Videos like Panchagni-vidya, Gayatri-Vidya etc. Hundreds are there but popularly 32 Videos are taken notice of").

So Karma Kanda consists of not only rituals but also Upasana and while pure ritual yields a limited lower type of result, the same ritual combined with a Upasana gives much better result, long lasting, much higher type of result if it is combined with a Upasana and the second part of it is called Jnana Kanda, that is a person through these rituals, Karmas and Upasanas both, so remember Vedas divided life into four Ashramas. First stage is called Brahmacharya Ashrama, where a person has to learn what are the ways of life, what should be the goal of life and learn about this Karma Kanda and also theoretically Jnana Kanda. Study, that is the main emphasis.

When a person enters into Grihasta Ashrama, naturally a person has desires and desires only fall under two categories according to Sri Ramakrishna, that is sex and money, Kama and Kanchana, so a Grihasta will not become a Grihasta, a man will not become a Grihasta, if he does not have a desire, where exceptions are there, where to obey the parents or to continue the lineage, one is forced to do that, one of the brightest examples of this is in the Bhagavatam. Kapila, Kapila's father, he was not willing to marry, he wanted to lead a Sannyasin's life but Bhagawan Himself wanted to be born as his son and so He compelled him to get married and then this father of Kapila, he extracts a promise, as soon as a child is born then give me permission to take Sannyasa and run away from this Grihasta Ashrama. Then this Devahuti was his wife and this Devahuti gave birth to this Kapila, Kapila was supposed to be an incarnation of Vishnu, and then as soon as Vishnu is born in the form of Kapila, the father takes leave and then goes away.

Now what happened, this Kapila grows up and his mother was grieving, so he gives a beautiful what is called Sankhya Yoga, which has nothing to do with the Sankhya philosophy but it is pure Jnana Yoga as the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is so named. So, the Jnanam here means Atma Vidya, so the Grihasta Ashrama is meant for the performance of this Karmakanda, especially in the olden days. Nowadays of course, the only Karma they do is money earning Karma, some people, there are a few people definitely everywhere, they do this Gayatri Upasana, Pooja, etc., etc., no doubt about it. Then there are Swatantra Upasanas and the third stage of life called Vanaprastha Ashrama is purely this Swatantra Upasana, Upasana means mental contemplating through the mind, there are many Upasanas are there and that is the exclusive, Vanaprastha Ashrama is reserved only for practicing this for what purpose, so that the mind first, it is called Chitta Suddhi, mind becomes pure, purity means it doesn't have any desire, any other desire excepting the desire for realizing God and for that purpose slowly get rid of all the dross, all the impurities.

So purity of the mind, concentration of the mind, then enlarging one's view, not only we normally look and live and judge everything from purely from an individual point of view, no, the ability to stand in the shoes of everybody else, that is called Chitta Vaishalyata, expanding so that we can identify ourselves with the larger whole and that is the main job in the Vanaprastha Ashrama and then the mind becomes one-pointed, that means only one desire is there and now if the person is ready, I want to become one with Brahman and for that Upanishads are the guides and Brahma Sakshatkara and obtaining Moksha as a result of this Brahma Sakshatkara, that is the exclusive privilege of the Sannyasins. Of course anybody can mentally also become a Sannyasi, that is a different issue.

So in the modern times, I was mentioning, if you remember, some Rishis married like the father of Kapila, Shri Ramakrishna, he was married of course before when he took Sannyasa and the usual custom is to go away far from wife because temptations might come but Sri Ramakrishna kept holy mother, his wife, with him for purpose to establish Adarsha Grihastha Ashrama, how to be an ideal householder, not only an ideal student, an ideal householder and an ideal Vanaprasthi, an ideal Sannyasi, Sri Ramakrishna represents all these beautiful ideas.

So from the Grihastha to Vanaprastha is full of what is called Karmangi Bhuta, Karmas, that means Vedic Karmas and then Upasanas, both in the Brahmacharya and Grihastha Ashrama, pure Upasanas in the Vanaprastha Ashrama and when a person is ready, he should take to the study of the Upanishads which is the exclusive prerogative of the Sannyasins, as I said one can be also mentally a Sannyasin, it need not be an external ritual itself.

Now I will come back to this Upasana, there are types of Upasanas, I did discuss these things quite elaborately in other contexts but I want to recollect ourselves before we enter into this briefly, into the introduction to this Chandogya Upanishad and I have to summarize this chapter 1 to chapter 5 because as I mentioned I am only going to talk about selective chapters which are none other than 6, 7 and 8 but equally important is the spirit of the Upasanas. What is Upasana? Preparations for Brahmajnanam is called Upasana, simple meaning and nobody can jump into Brahmajnanam without this Upasana. Remember Ramakrishna also started his what is called way to Brahmajnana with pure idol worship, anyway everybody has to start.

So what is the meaning of Upasana? Like Upanishad, Upa means near, near to whom? Nearer to one's own self, so that practice which brings us nearer and nearer to the knowledge of our own true self that is called Upasana. Asana means what? Usually what do a person do if he is working in an office? There is a special office, say a higher office officer or executive officer, CEO, he sits in his chamber, he has got a special seat, nobody is permitted to sit there and then he will carry on all his business there. Similarly this Sadhaka who has become prepared and he is slowly approaching that Asana and that approaching nearer and nearer to one's own self is called Upa. Asana means do discharge your sadhanas, practice your sadhanas, that is the meaning of Upa plus Asana. Similarly we also say Upavasana, that is plain meaning is that a person, what does he do? He goes on fasting, either he drinks water only or some light fruits etc. But heavy food is avoided, that is called Upavasa, Upavasana. Upanishad is a beautiful word, so here also Upasana means that type of living which will bring us nearer to God.

So Sri Ramakrishna used all the five types of Upasanas because usually Upasanas are divided into either five or six types and the sixth one sometimes we include in one of them, and so we take the help of certain external symbols and they are of two types, iconic and aniconic. What is iconic? Means crystal clearly, even a child can understand, this is the image of Narayana or Shiva. That is why our temples are full of this iconic, so Pratimas, this is also called Pratima Upasana, what is a Pratima? Worship of images or Vishnu image, Shiva image, Kali image etc., so this includes, this is called iconic, so worship anthropomorphic images of Gods, Goddesses which are called Pratimas, a Pratima may be a picture drawn on a piece of paper or cloth, sometimes on silver, on copper, gold etc., so a three-dimensional idol, that is important, that is to say that we see like a human being, like Hanuman, images etc., they can be made out of any type of material of clay, for example when Durga is worshipped, Kali is worshipped annually, then out of clay they make, but usually in the temples they use only stone, sometimes what is called Panchalinga, in our Hyderabad ashrama, they say Ramakrishna's image is made up of Panchaloha, five types of metals etc., this is called iconic.

Then there is something that is called aniconic, what is this aniconic? That means there is no three-dimensional picture, but Yantras, Mandalas, symbols, for example cross, usually Jesus is kept on the cross, no, many people wear just a cross, and Omkara is such thing. So what is the meaning of Pratika Upasana? Going towards Pratika, a representation, Pratika means representation and earlier I was talking about Pratima Upasana, there also Nama Upasana is there, that's why I said five or six types of Upasana. What is Nama Upasana? As just now mentioned, Nama means name of God, a mantra with or without Beja and continuously doing, for example singing Bhajans also falls under Nama Upasana, if we sing keeping God in mind, Bhajans, not simply opening the mouth and then thinking something, but only the sounds are coming appropriately, that is not singing Bhajans, with meaning, concentration, with Bhakti etc.

Sri Ramakrishna had to give a slap to Rani Rasmani because she was listening, but she was not, her mind was elsewhere, but when Sri Ramakrishna or Swamiji used to sing, they sing only identifying themselves with the essence of that song, then Nama Sankirtana also belong to this group, for example Hare Krishna movement, what do they say? Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, so what did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu preach? Nama Sankirtana, what did Sri Ramakrishna do in his life? Mostly Nama Sankirtana only, it could be of Shiva, could be of Vishnu or it could be of the Divine Mother, Sri Ramakrishna also propagated Nama Sankirtana, Nama Upasana, Nama Upasana, also called Shabda Brahma Upasana. Holy Mother's most precious teaching, Japat Siddhi, if you go on repeating with complete faith, the mantra becomes alive, it is called Mantra Chaitanya, this is beautifully illustrated in the story of the way of a pilgrim, you remember perhaps a Russian orthodox monk writes his autobiography, so this is called Nama Sankirtana.

So the anaconic group as I said Yantras, Mandalas, Saligrama, Shiva Linga, Water Pot, what does Water Pot represent? Many forms of Gods or Goddesses, but especially in Bengal, this represents Mother Shitala. Even now if you go to Kamarpakur, the Mother Shitala that was worshipped by Kshudhiram etc. and also by his children's children etc., so it is still there, so these are the what is called Pratima Pratika Upasanas in which is also contained this Nama Upasana.

Then we get Sampad Upasana, Adhyasa Upasana, Ahamgraha Upasana. What is Sampad Upasana? So you take an inferior object, you just take a piece of stone, for example Saligrama or Shiva Linga and you superimpose, this is Vishnu, this is Rama, this is Shiva, so it is only a piece of stone, a special piece of stone, but at the same time it has no special value, that's why nobody will steal it and then superimpose upon it a higher reality that is called Sampad Upasana, make it rich.

Then the second Adhyasa Upasana, so that is a superior symbol like the sun, like the moon, like the fire, like the mind etc., so when we are meditating upon Ramakrishna or Rama or Kali, we are actually practicing Adhyasa Upasana, Ramakrishna is not the body-mind, Ramakrishna is what we call the Parabrahma, but because he was such a great soul, so we superimpose upon his body-mind etc., that superior thing that is called Adhyasa, Adhyasa means superimposition, like we superimpose a snake upon a rope, it is a negative example, but the positive example also they give that silver upon a silver shell, it is shining very white and somebody can mistake it, anyway it doesn't matter, it is called Adhyasa Upasana.

Then there is another Upasana called Ahamgraha Upasana, that is Shri Ramakrishna meditated upon Hanuman, he became Hanuman, Aham Anjaneyo Asmi, Hanuman Aham Asmi, Aham Radha Asmi. So identifying oneself, Aham Brahma Asmi is called Ahamgraha Upasana. Holy mother meditated on Sri Ramakrishna and became Sri Ramakrishna, Swamiji became Shri Ramakrishna, Ahamgraha means self-grasping, self-identification, so these are the important type of Upasanas are there and these are irreplaceable, therefore they give us the capacity to reach the roof, about which we will talk in our next class.

ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः

Om jananīṁ sāradāṁ devīṁ rāmakṛṣṇaṁ jagadgurum pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ

May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti.

Jai Ramakrishna!