Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 114 on 22-June-2025

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

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

Oṁ āpyāyantu mamāṅgāni vākprāṇaścakṣuḥ śrutra-mathu bala-mindriyāṇi ca sarvāṇi

sarvam brahma upaniṣadam māham brahma nirākuriyām

mā mā brahma nirākarot anirākaraṇam astva nirākaraṇam me astu

tadātmani nirate yau paniṣad su dharma te mai santu te mai santu

Oṁ śānti śānti śānti Hāre Oṁ

Oṁ 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

Oṁ ās ās ās be unto all

we have completed the 11th section of this Chandogya Upanishad of the 8th chapter real teaching is going to start only in this 12th section and this is called Asheri Atma, the unincorporal Self, the real Self real Atma, Brahman this is the subject matter of the 12th section

Prajapati starts teaching to Indra and what happened to Indra, this is the fourth stage first stage, let us recollect Indra realized though at first he misunderstood all the three occasions he misunderstood at first but after deep thinking he came to the right understanding

and right realization which was complemented by three times staying with Prajapati for 32 years which makes it 96 years so what was he doing his mind is becoming gradually pure now he has become a real Adhikari and we have seen in our studies class Prajapati started teaching the difference between the Atman and the body either we think our Atman is the body or we think the Atman is the rest of body which means all the three bodies gross, subtle and causal but this point is made very clear separate through the process of Neti Neti, Na Iti Na Iti not this, not this neither the body is the Atman nor the subtle body is the Atman nor the causal body is the Atman but he wants to tell that Oh Indra, whatever experiences you outlined you found out as the effects if we identify ourselves with any of the three bodies experiencing through these bodies three states of consciousness awakening, the dream and the deep sleep you can see you yourself have found out and that is correct understanding that so long as one is under the delusion that I am either the physical body

or mind or the causal body unhappiness, birth and death coming into contact with that which is pleasant and unpleasant birth and death, changes are inevitable because all these states are changes, all these changes apply to all these three states change means Anrita

where Prajapati had taught earlier, he declared that this is the Amrutam Amrutam means that which never changes, immortal Avayam, that means there is nothing to agitate the mind, no unhappiness

will ever touch a realised person who is called Brahmagnapurusha, that is the theme of every Upanishad as well as here also so we have gone through some of these Matras, we will just briefly go through them Here Prajapati had clearly distinguished between that which is eternal that which is changing all the time so O Indra, this body is mortal, always held by death that which is eternal that which is changing all the time held by death mortality is the very nature of the body which is physical, this body physical body is corporeal the body is inert, it doesn't know it is a body, same thing applies to the mind also, it doesn't have consciousness of its own but it thinks it is conscious because of the borrowed consciousness Sriram Krishna puts it beautifully when we are cooking vegetables when the water is quite hot the vegetables as if jumping up and down as it were, we are moving we are dancing but remove the fire and they will lose their movement beautiful way Sriram Krishna for every Vedantic teaching illustration like Kalidasa so fire means air consciousness vegetable that means everything in this universe, living so called on-living, all are jada only they do not have their own consciousness but where there is life we borrow that consciousness but we forget we borrow we are living by borrowed consciousness we are living with the help of consciousness but we think we are conscious beings that is what we say whenever we say my body is real that which is real in our definition is that which has got prana and it has consciousness and we are identified with it but then what is the problem as we all know Prajapati need not point out but to create dispassion so long as there is a body one cannot escape which Sriram Krishna puts it very beautifully even if Brahman descends into the net of the five elements he will have to weep like Sri Ramachandra had to weep so Prajapati continues then what is the speciality of this body why did God create because that is the best instrument for realising God as if God is playing a solitaire game himself as if for God his own real self as if in play even though he is fully conscious so Prajapati says Oh Indra this body is mortal always held by death so it is the abode of the self which is immortal and incorporeal what is the good side of this body it is the abode of the self we have seen it Brahmapuri whether you want to enjoy whether you want to suffer this body is the only

instrument how do we know if anesthesia is applied then we will not know what is pain but equally we will also not know what is pleasure atta means completely we are grasped in the very jaws fangs this gross body trapped in the fangs of the goddess of death

we think that Yamadharma Raja will come sometime in future when our time has come but we forget we are always trapped in the fangs of goddess of death that is in the what is called sphere of limitation of time time means death time is also compared to a serpent because just as a serpent so silently it comes and bites us when time is going to bite we do not know just look everyday news if we read them with Divya Chakshu divine eye then we can understand this truth is very clear I am just referring that Boeing Dream Airline

crash in Ahmedabad did the people know even once I come back everybody is thinking after few minutes the drinks will come food will come and then we will settle down we will have a nap we will have a chart but death has come but for one person death said no your time hasn't come so he did not die the devotees of Sriramakrishna must remember Sriramakrishna's the incident in the Sriramakrishna's life when Manimalik had come to him and everybody understood some terrible tragedy had happened when asked he said that my 25 year old young man young son had suddenly passed away the father 60 years old father is alive and the 25 year old young person is dead are we not seeing fetuses die children die youth die middle-aged persons die old people will die at any time death is ready to grasp so Sairamakrishna to assuage the grief of Manimalik he went into Bhava Samadhi came out slapped his thigh and started singing in his inimitable voice Gandharva Nindita Kantha Jeeva Sajo Jeeva we are all Jeevas who is a Jeeva one who thinks I am the body I am the mind I am these three gross subtle and causal bodies experiencing waking dream and dreamless that person is that being is called Jeeva but these bodies as I said they do not know we are Jeevas it is the consciousness deeply associated that is called Jeeva but even when we are deeply enmeshed we are aware becauselanguage betrays our experience my head what is happening my head is having splitting headache my head means my friend my house my son my enemy my friend whoever it is completely separate being as it were but then we forget and I am having splitting headache I and my go on interchanging the worlds so Prajapati is pointing out that fact which Indra earlier found out himself but Prajapati was emphasizing Sashariraha that means one who thinks he is the body now they contact with that which is pleasant or unpleasant now why it is impossible that it is to avoid them Sashariraha one with the attachment to the body Sashariraha means a living body Sashariraha means not merely living body Ram Krishna had a living body Swamiji had a living body Swamiji also had a body every Jeevan Mukta we can say has a body but they never say I am the body Mano buddhiya hankara chitta ninaham Shivoham Shivoham Sasharirasya satah being completely identified with the body priya apriya yo apahati apahati means elimination destruction now as the impossible the embodied self is always the victims victim of pleasure and pain so long as one is identified with the body there is no cessation of pleasure and pain no one can escape the six-fold changes that is what just now I said Brahman weeps falling into the net of five elements but in contrast to this body and identification with the body the problem is not the bodyproblem is not the mind problem is our deep superglued identity I am the body I am the mind that is the problem but the atman

is free from all these three states three bodies that is called a shariram there is no shariram pavasantam being in that realization that I am free from these three bodies and this is only linguistic teaching because a turiyatma doesn't go on saying I am free from the three bodiesI am free from the three states of experience a jiva mukta is never touched even by remember all the yogis give up their bodies joyfully o Swami Vekaranda voluntarily gave up his body what did he say to Shashi Maharaj who was at Chennai Swamiji gave up his body in Belur month he said ShashiMaharaj spat out the body as if our spit which means which is abominable abhorrent I don't want I became identified with the body for the sake of fulfilling the divine mother's mission that's all what happened an Akshay died in front of Sri Ramakrishna he said I clearly saw the soul being separatedlike a sword being separated from this cabal so here Prajapati uses this word uttama purusha remember smaaksharam ateyitoham aksharadapicha uttamaha ato asmi loke vedecha rathitaha purushottamaha that means I am the Brahman this is the fourthstage so Prajapati revealed that profound truth that the ultimatesoul is called uttama purusha free from any sort of mind or body he is the avasthatreya sakshi when not when he is in nirvikalpa samadhi even us when we are in deep sleep we don't identify even though potentially karan shreya is there so I am beyond thewaking beyond the dream beyond the deep sleep I am only a witness who says a realized soul kept by God for the welfare of the world he alone says a jeevan mukta alone ays so Prajapati is trying toemphasize the importance of the temporariness non-eternality limitedness of the body it is erishable trapped by death but the soul is distinct indestructible amrutaha abhayaha free from what is priya and apriya pleasant and unpleasant now a jnani a jeevan mukta this is called the stateof a jeevan mukta so a jeevan mukta is also called a jnani understands that though the body may experience painparabdha karma the I the atman is not the body and is therefore unaffected remember pramanamaharshi he used to say this body sarama krishna used to refer to his body as this body never as that is called paramahamsa vasta spiritual knowledge doesn't mean that a jeevan mukta body doesn't suffer he will not feel hungry he willhe can he need not eat these are all foolish ideas but

his perspective it removes all mental anguishes and naturally that a jeevan mukta jnani perceives all pleasures as his own enjoying the world collectively rather than individually like sarama krishna said after being forced to pray to the divine mother let me eat a little food

let some food pass through this throat srirama krishna was unable to swallow and mother showed why are you not eatingthrough all this we have to remember these are the inspiring examples how they also have the body but not bound by thebody and a jeevan mukta of course he doesn't say I have a body therefore he can never create a new karma and that state of the jeevan mukta is called turi avastha it is unchanging ever witnessing consciousness underlying all the three states of waking dream and deep sleep and that sakshi is always present this sakshi operates through the senses and mind and body without becoming impure by its association with what the body and mind does this mind for instance is called the divine eye divya chakshu remember in the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita

Arjuna wanted how to see Krishna in his real nature not even in his real nature in his manifested universal form and he said oh Arjuna you will not be able to see me I grant you spiritual eye even then he could not bear it the teaching so far we have seen core teaching is that a soul, a atman, a brahman is incorporeal asharira asharira means free from the three bodies which means freedom from all the three states of waking dream and deep sleep now Rajapati wants to illustrate this concept of ashariri with four examples so how does he do it ashariratva of atman or brahman shariro vayuhu then we have to add that word asharira ashariro abrahman ashariro vidyut ashariro stanayitmuhu though it is not there asharirani etani tat yatha etani amushmat akashat samuthaya paramjyothi upasampadya svena roopena abhinishpadhyante the wind is without any body the cloud also without body lightening is also without body and thunder are without all these without bodies now as these four examples only four many other are rising from yonder akasha and reaching the highest light appear in their own forms now I just mentioned other examples what other example even any one of us that's what bhagavad geta in the second chapter bhagavan says why are you grieving oh arjuna avyakta adi eni bhutani where from these all these creatures have come now they are visible they are interactable they are gross or they may be even subtle because every guna adjective quality is not perceivable by the physical body a good person a friendly person an inimical person enmity friendliness compassion sympathy these are qualities which cannot be perceived by the physical organ but mentally we can conceive of it so avyakta means non-manifest so we have come from avyakta and for some time we become vyakta are visible interactable experienceable and what we call death again we go back it is not non-existence we go back to that state this is the core teaching asharira now what do we mean by avyakta unmanifest if you take superficial meaning from in our last birth we did something that karma phala is waiting so that karma phala forced us to take a physical body that karma that unmanifest result of what we have done before that is called unmanifest but if you take the lakshyartha where from are we coming akasha sambhotha akasha vayur agni agne rapa adhyah prithvi prithivyam usadaya usadibhyo annam

annatrasamaya purusha so from the atman only we have to trace that is called pancha kosha methodology so go deeper and deeper and deeper and every time you go deeper the external husk like on the rice there would be on the paddy external husk will be there and that husk will be removed because it has served its function of protecting so long as the rice is not ripe it protected now its purpose is served now that becomes anatma this is the process of the bhregu how first he identified with virat then hiranyagarbha consisting of ranamaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vijnanamaya kosha and finally with ishvara which is called anandamaya kosha and he understood all these are but limitations, koshas finally etam anandamayam atmanam upasam kramya so that is the state of realization I am beyond

all these pancha koshas another model equally valuable model I am beyond the sthoola sokshma karana shariras I am beyond the gross subtle and causal bodies that means all the three states of experiences so here the idea that even though we don't see the self

its always with us in fact what we call existence is that self what we call our limited knowledge is that chit what we call our small pleasure that is called is anandaswaroopa so upanishad compares it with air clouds lightning and thunder see sometimes in the winter season or atom season sky is clear there are very few clouds and there are no strong winds but then then summer comes the rainy season begins the temperature starts rising lowly the clouds gather then there will come strong winds storms with high winds and lightning and thunder where from they have come nobody knows and where do they go back after a few milliseconds nobody knows from wherever they have come they will go back this is the universal law of cause and effect the effect must go back at some point of time into the and merge in the cause and this is the example given with that example now prajapati continues so first let us analyze this one so does this serene being rising from this body and reaching the highest light appears in his own form in that state he is called the highest person

so he is called the highest person he is called the highest person his english language is not very good he is the real person means reality o very beautiful meaning is there so what does he do when he reaches he becomes he realizes I'm Brahman there this realized soul

reaching his home what does he do he moves about laughing playing rejoicing be it with women chariots or relatives never thinking of the body into which he was born and for that an example is given as an animal is attached to a cart so is the prana attached to this body that is to say it is a beautiful description of if you take it that way an ordinary person but if we go bit deeper this is the description of Jeevan Mukta so Ramakrishna so life if we examine we say something very striking first of all we say Ramakrishna in certain at certain times he loses his body consciousness and his body becomes absolutely still eyes do not see their turn upward like the eyes of a lizard so we call it ah Ramakrishna is now in samadhi state and then slowly comes back to our normal state ah now say Ramakrishna

has come out of samadhi state there could be no other misunderstanding greater than this because once a person knows I am the atman that person never again falls into the trap that I am a human being Ramana Maharshi explains it he calls it sahaja samadhi very beautiful word nirvikalpa samadhi a particular state where the person is not conscious what is happening in this body and mind but sahaja samadhi means whether the person is in the waking state dream state or deep sleep state or samadhi state he is ever awake

to the fact I am Brahman he never forgets it cannot forget it that is the result that is why it is called sahaja samadhi that is his natural state one can never fall from that natural state we are also missing that sahaja samadhi but unable to recognize it we try to think I am the waker in the waking state dreamer in the dream state and sleeper in the deep sleep state that's a mistake so when a person reaches that state what happens samprasadaha samprasadaha means what that peace which passeth all understanding such a peace can never be described by any one of us the jiva muktas ananda cannot be described because Brahman cannot be described as well as Brahmananda cannot be described we can only take the words of the scriptures for granted so he says evam eva exactly in the same manner

that means this realized soul what happens he became samprasadaha he becomes absolutely serene when waking up or separating himself from this body what does it mean see we become free from body consciousness and we do not become free from body consciousness both in the waking and dream states even in dream we have seen indra's cogitation that I may feel unhappy I may meet desirable people or undesirable people etc. but here the deep meaning is sri rath samuthaya means being completely detached

and knowing well I am the atman that is called samuthaya means getting out of the attachment of the three bodies then what state is that it is called turya vastha here he uses beautiful word paranjyotihe jyotirajyotihe the supreme light what is that light aham brahmashmi upasam padya he understands I am brahman svena roopena and forever he abides avinish padyate and he remains exactly in his own form who such a person is called attama purushaha smakshara shkhara akshara one who is free from the body mind as well as from the status of jivatma kshara means that which is perishable akshara means that pure consciousness associated with the body mind body mind called jivatma consciousness so I am beyond both the jivatma state as well as the body mind state that is called uttama purusha

purushottamaha that is why it is called purushottamaya then what does he do now what does he do he experiences as brahman brahmananda brahmana sahasnute sarvan kaman vipashchita we have seen earlier where in brahmananda chapter brahmananda valley

very beginning and then what does this person do for people like us this is a kind of advertisement sattatra in that state pariyeti he moves here and there what does he do jakshat eating credon playing brahma manaha is sporting with what stri vihi va with beautiful woman

not an ugly old person but the most desirable woman that is not the meaning I will come to that yanayruva that beautiful vehicles he can run anywhere at the speed of mind like devendra's ayuravatha or devendra also has a chariot or the divine mother had sent a chariot to collect the soul of madhur babu or sriram krishna himself brought a chariot from he was a vaishnava you see from vishmaloka to collect the soul of balarambhasu gnati verva very dear relatives whom he used to love now upajanam smaran so now we are thinking of the body he doesn't think of the body we never remember because body is limited but here whatever he wants whenever he wants how much ever he wants you will get it so what does it really mean go on now I am a jivan mukta I will now enjoy any woman I want or if she is a jivan mukti that is a woman who obtained jivan mukti oh any man mr universe I will sport with him these are all childish ideas what it means is somebody is enjoying a husband is enjoying a woman both of them are enjoying that joy is mine somebody is moving happily in a vehicle or in a private jet or air force one gifted by somebody I am moving in that or he wants to see all the dear and near ones gnati vehi if some beloved persons or suddenly they come or I go and meet them how much joy I get so without remembering the body

whatever creature a mosquito is sucking the blood blissfully almost in semi-consciousness and that joy that pleasure is mine whatever pleasures we are all enjoying because he is never separate from us he is all of us so here prajapati gives a beautiful example

like if there is a cart either a horse or a bullock s attached to it so that the cart can be moved similarly what is it that moves this instrument called body mind prana sere re prano yukta ha that is to say so long as the jivan mukta so body is there prana is there but he never identifies with it he always feels that I am only just like the completely detached person I enjoy that is what Srirama krishna says am I not eating through everybody you remember that beautiful example when sriama krishna was coming by boat with some devotees to vaksaneshwar on the way everybody felt hungry so there was a little bit of money hey bought a pot full of sweets and they offered it to sarama krishna he ate the whole thing and everybody first thought what a person is eating everything himself but sarama krishna

was doing he was eating on behalf of everybody by the time he finished and belched everybody was satisfied then krishna took one grain of sticky rice and he said I am completely satiated satisfied and 101 rvasa and his disciples hefty fellows like vimasenas they felt one grain is forced into their mouth the whole thing will come out they felt so full and just ran away these are examples given how much bliss a jiva mukta is going to enjoy then we move on to the fourth mantra what does priyapati wants to illustrate through this fourth mantra we have a body we have a mind and whatever we are experiencing that is through the sense organs five especially five sense organs of knowledge but is the eye capable of seeing is the ear capable of hearing no if there is no if there is no atman if there is no prana and prana and atman I said always go together it is only the consciousness I am hearing I am conscious I am seeing I am smelling I am hearing I am talking etc etc so priyapati wants to draw even if you are thinking that I am the body really speaking body is a jada completely inert bereft of consciousness so this is what he wants to say then how does the body mind experience because of the presence all the time the atman in the form of chaitanyam is present it is through the help of presence of that consciousness we all experience

and then we mistake it the eye is seeing the ears are hearing the nose is smelling etc etc next this organ of vision lies inside the space in the eyes that's where the deity residing over the eyes akshapurusha the eye is the instrument through which the self sees really who sees the self even after seeing the eyes do not have the power of discrimination suppose it sees a snake or a angry dog running to bite us finish us the eye sees but it doesn't understand it only like a dumb animal conveys the information it is the mind also doesn't understand but with the help it understands this body is in danger so I have to run away or I have to protect myself fighting this or if I see a sweet I must go and enjoy it whatever we do it is the consciousness it is to bring this consciousness is the most important

thing even for a person who is not realized not to speak of a jeevan mukta that is everything is done by brahman that is what we saw clearly in the Kena Upanishad so if there is vision it doesn't belong to the eye it is the eye it is the self behind the eye that really perceives and conveys the understanding similarly the one who knows I'm smelling it is the self which understands what is the smell and does what is needed and if somebody says I am speaking you are not speaking it is the Divine Mother who is speaking the Atman who is speaking the organ of speech is the instrument through which of course the self speaks next to the one who knows I hear this is the self the organ of hearing is only an instrument through which the self hears this is to say like we saw in the Kata Upanishad

if you recollect so the Upanishad is saying the self is with us and the self makes use of the organs for its experience in the simple empirical world I see I hear I speak and what is that experience for because the self is pretending I am the body I am playing a

solitaire game with myself but finally I must evolve and go back to my own nature that is the purpose so this is the meaning how do we know that the self is working through the organs because if your mind is absent you even the eyes are seeing like some student sitting in a classroom with wide open eyes but they are in deep Samadhi state nothing goes through their ears earlier Prajapati had told Indra and Virojana that the person in the eyes is the self Indra and Virojana took it to mean that that this first the reflection then the physical body that is the real self but this is not what Prajapati really meant he meant that that there is a consciousness behind the every eye every ear etc it is that Akshipurusha that is really the self not the dumb eye they are called Golakas so Purusha here the word Purusha doesn't mean a male human being it means the self puri sethe that is called that which resides in this body controlling this body using this body or purayeti iti purusha he who is all pervading ahasra seersha purusha sahasra aksha sahasra path that is the purusha that

is the real atma all our organs servants of the self the person in the eye uses the eye to see and the person in the ear that he hears the that purusha residing in the organ of smelling uses that organ for smelling so if he wants to speak it makes use of the

mouth but unless that being wants is present none of these activities are at all possible even from our body point of view body is complete jada mind is also jada all the three experiences are possible only because of that chaitanya which helps us to think that

his body is aware alive conscious mind is aware alive and conscious this is prajapati's teaching and this is the essence of the fourth mantra another two mantras are there which we will deal in our next class.

Om Jananim Shardham devim rama krishnam jagad gurum padapadme tayo sritvah pranamaamimuhur muhoho

May Sri Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti Sri Ramakrishna