Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 61 on 21 December 2024

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYOH SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU OM APYAYANTUM AMANGANIVAKPRANASYAKSHUH SHROTRAM ATHO BALAMINDRIYANICHA SARVANI SARVAM BRAHMAHU PANISHADAM MAHAM BRAHMANIRAKURIYAM MAMA BRAHMANIRAKARO ANIRAKARANAM ASTVANIRAKARANAM ME ASTU TADATMANI NIRATE YAUPANISHAD SU DHARMA TE MAI SANTU TE MAI SANTU OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HA RE HE OM 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. I am engaged in the pursuit of the Self. May they repose in me. OM PEACE PEACE PEACE BE UNTO ALL We are studying the seventh chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. It is called Bhumananda. In our last class, we started the ninth khanda or section known as Anna Brahma Upasana. What is this section about? Earlier to that, it is said that we have to meditate and meditation is possible only when we know and are convinced that there are certain things which we must obtain, we must become. Each soul is potentially divine but that is only information. But for that, we have to meditate. As we meditate, then our desire becomes strong. But the meditation itself requires conviction. That conviction that the teachings of the scriptures Vijnanam are the superior to any meditation that has been dealt with earlier. And then Narada, he understands it and then goes to the next question. Always we have to keep in mind, until Narada understood what has been taught, he will not ask further questions. The very thing that he is questioning, is there something superior, a higher step, a subtler thing, more pervasive thing, the cause. How can we meditate? What is the cause of real meditation? That is called knowledge. And what is the cause of this firm conviction in the teachings of the scriptures called Vijnanam? He says Balam, strength. Without strength, nothing can be achieved in this world or in the other world. Life without strength is death, really speaking. And Swami Vivekananda had a marvellous definition. Expansion is life and contraction is death. And he put the point so beautifully. Balam means strength. What does strength do? It expands. What does it expand? It expands or it helps us to manifest all our potentialities. Ultimately, any potentiality that we have, perhaps we are budding musicians or great statesmen or great writers, great in anything, but that is in a potential form. And we have the desire, we have the knowledge, but we will have to manifest it in life. And what makes it manifest? Strength. So strength is superior, Balam is superior to even knowledge. So one strong man can make hundred great professors free from him. I would say thousands or even nowadays millions. One thing we have to understand, we rarely think about this subject. What is it? We read newspapers and we come across people, we judge, especially the politicians and most of the politicians are very evil people, Rakshasas, Asuras. But the fact that we forget is that to become evil requires tremendous amount of strength. Even more strength is needed to become an evil person than to become a good person. Because first of all, a good person doesn't do any harm. So if we don't do anything, we don't require so much of strength. But to become evil, when do we become evil? Anybody who thinks I want to be good or I want to be evil, a mere thought, it is completely useless. Only that person who puts it into practice, translates it into day to day activity, he is called either good or evil. But to manifest evil, tremendous amount of strength, even more strength than to manifest goodness is required. Why? Because there is something called conscience within us and every human being has that conscience and if we have to do something, we have to suppress this conscience, you are doing something wrong, our conscience points out. To overcome it, we require tremendous strength. To do evil requires tremendous amount of strength. Every evil person knows that I am not the only evil person, there are many other evil persons and anybody could simply squash me. So I have to be extremely cautious. If you really observe, become a thinking person, you can notice if there is a thief, a murderer or a person who is thinking of murdering, often they are not foolish people. They know very well, if we are caught, we will be mugging in the jail, we have to suffer a lot and maybe whole life also. But they have that tremendous mental strength, I don't care, I will try to be clever but I will do what I want to do. To harm other person requires more strength. So either good or evil, to translate what we know to be what our desire, good or bad, requires tremendous strength. That is what we discovered in the last section. Then Narada understands this perfectly and asks, so what is the root cause of this strength and that is when the pancha bhuta brahma upasana starts now. Earlier we have seen the whole creation is nothing but what we call the manifestation of the five subtle elements called tanmatras and that creates the subtle world. But they become gross and when they become gross, they undergo a type of peculiar type of change or combination and that is called panchikarana. Of course in Chandogya, we only had got trivargi karana, that is if there are five bhutas, panchikarana. If there are three bhutas which in Chandogya we have seen, Agni, Apah and Pruthi. But we have to understand because in this very Chandogya, all these five are mentioned again and again later on after the sixth chapter and before sixth chapter also. So in some way this teacher Sanathkumara had only condensed all those five into the three but here also we get all the five elements are necessary. So that panchikarana. So strength, how do we get strength? So earlier also I told you whatever inspires us, whatever sustains us, that is strength and strength not only of the physical body and also our mind also. Not only that, if we open our eyes and examine, suppose you want to buy a car or a house or a fridge, anything, what are you going to, how are you going to buy? Do you think if you come to know this car is very weak, it will break down even within a few days, are you going to buy it? No. So the manufacturers are buying with each other, competing with each other, what do they want to do? So we will show you superiority in easiness of driving, our battery lasts longer and it gives higher speed, everything falls under strength. So every physical object should be strong. Will you eat food which you know will not give you strength? Will you read books which will make you only weaker and weaker? So consciously we want to enjoy, but we have some amount of discrimination, we want to enjoy at the same time. Intelligent people, common sensical people, rational people, logical people, they always choose what can do more good to me. So happiness is put in the secondary place, not in the primary place. Only fools place what is called instantaneous gratification or sense pleasure or pleasure or happiness, they will give first priority by hook or crook, but sooner or later we will all learn hook or crook will ruin our life, but that is why you can see people getting early in the morning and running even in that cold without much clothing because after some time, after half a mile or one mile because as you go on running, your capacity will increase and so your cold will also torment you more. So a person who just started, within five minutes he starts sweating, but a person who is doing it for a long time, even after one hour he hardly sweats, that means he has to pay the price in another way, but he is prepared to pay the price. Nowadays of course conveniences are there, there are mobile bicycles are there, exercise bicycles where you can even climb the mountains. This modern technology I have to admire on one side. So there is a motor what is called exercise machine where you go on walking for example or biking also, cycling also. In front there is a quite a big screen is there and actually you are seeing in front of you where you are climbing a mountain and just as it is in real life, it is really difficult to climb a mountain or more hardship is required, more strength is required, more hazardous. So also this bike stimulates that feeling and you don't feel. So seeing the visual pictures and also biking, you get the pleasure without leaving the room. This is the positive side of the technology that we have, but our subject matter is strength. How do we get strength? Simple examples I have already given you, but if we have to become strong, let us say in intellectual life, start getting inspiration from intellectual people by reading their lives and their achievements. If somebody wants to become an artist, then hang the pictures of the artist. Like nowadays young people, they want to play either badminton or football or basketball and then they keep their favorite hero's pictures. I think that is an excellent method. Every turn, every second, they are reminded this is my goal. I also want to imitate. If possible, I want to become like them or even better than. So if you want to become a great artist, then in that particular field, find out the pictures, read their lives, how they worked hard. I remember in this connection, a beautiful quote by a great man. I forgot the name, but he was the world's greatest piano player, but every day he will practice hours together. Someone asked him, a critic perhaps. So you are the world's expert, foremost player. Why do you need to practice every day so many hours? Then his reply is astounding. He said, if I stop practicing for one day, I notice the difference in my performance. If I stop for two days, my critics will notice it. If I stop for three days, the whole world notices the degeneration in my play. If that is the case, that is what Sri Ramakrishna in his own inimitable words, he says in reply to Totapuri's advice, a brass pot has to be cleaned every day, otherwise it will be getting stains. Of course, Sri Ramakrishna's first reply is, if it is a golden pot, but we don't go further than reciting that statement of Sri Ramakrishna, because even golden things, if we go on using too much and do not clean them, they also obtain stains and one day we require them to be completely polished. Even a gold pot also requires polishing. But what Sri Ramakrishna meant is, by gold pot, he meant a person who has realised God. It is 24 hours, unceasingly he will be having a vision of the Brahman, Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. So he need not do anything, automatically it will happen. That is what it means. I am only just pulling it out a little bit, but we have to think, develop that capacity to think deeper. So every day we have to practice our meditation and one day if we do not, we notice and a few days if we do not, then we notice that we have come down, slided down far below where we were and Rajamahara Swami Brahmanji says, it will take a long time for us to recover the same thing. So here, what is the cause of strength? How do we get? What was the reply? That Annam. Annam means Prithvi Devata, the grossest of the thing. As long as we are identified with our body, the first priority is strength of the body. Strength also is of two types. One is what is called, we must become very strong. Muscles of iron, but that will not do. Nerves of steel, as we saw earlier, one strong man just by looking at people can make hundred learned people flee from him in fright. Some of them may even die of heart attack just by looking at them. What to speak of? There are utterly evil people, the very name of them, trepidation will come. So strength is needed and Sairam Krishna also connects it that in answer to the question put by some devotee, why did God create evil? Sairam Krishna gives a beautiful answer there. He says evil people are needed because as I mentioned earlier today, evil requires tremendous strength. So if there is a Jameendar and he has to manage his Jameendari, he appoints a very strong person Golak Choudhury and Golak Choudhury is very mercilessly cruel person and the tenants know that, land renters, they know it and therefore even hearing Golak Choudhury's name, not that they are seeing him, but just hearing his name, they start trembling in their own houses, in their own beds and then only things will go. This is sadly what is happening in the external world. There are countries who are doing unmentionable, unimaginable torture to people, but you know other countries have no voice even to tell. They are rushing to make friends with them because the country is extremely strong. One blow from that country and maybe these countries will disappear from earth forever. Whereas in India, we are only preaching Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti and this has become the Vishwa Shanti, right? That foreigners are renouncing and making fun also. What type of Vishwa Shanti? Everybody is, even every Tom, Dick and Harry are threatening our country. All because of what? They know that we are not strong, we are weak, we will not take it out on them, all in the name of goodness, etc. And Swamiji is dead opposed to it and says that other people should know that we are strong. Only after that we have a right not to strike. Until that time, if necessary, you strike them, then other people will come to know what is called strength. Easily, people will not accept strength, but if they find slightest weakness, they will start tormenting like mosquitoes. Anyway, how can we get strength? If it is physical, physical food is necessary. If it is intellectual, intellectual food is necessary. If it is what is called aesthetic field, then aesthetic food is necessary. If it is moral, moral food is necessary. If it is spiritual, spiritual food is necessary. And indirectly, Sanat Kumara is also pointing out that all strength comes from that element, grossest element called this earth. And as an example, he brings from the sixth chapter, so just as the father asked Shweta Ketu, now you fast, I will tell you why it is so necessary. And then he fasted for 15 days there and then he could not recite Vedas, he could not recollect Vedas, but as soon as he had started eating, again he regained his strength, formal strength. And immediately, like drinking water, everything he was able to say. So this is what we need to understand in this particular chapter which we have studied and I said some details are there. So this Bhu Devata is the grossest of the Pancha Bhutas and we have to fast because my mind which houses my body, which houses the mind is the outcome of the food. They are all consisting of the food only. Our body is food only. When mosquitoes look at us, when any wild animal looks at us, they are not looking a beautiful person, a professor of college looking how much flesh I can get from this person. So this Prithvi, first thing is the body is the very first instrument which can make us, take us to our goal or for the practice of Dharma. Dharma means strength in every field of life. Dharma means progress in every field of life. Dharma means expertise in every field of life. Dharma means perfection in every field of life. So also we have to understand God has given us Annam, but we have to eat it, we have to digest it. On our part, we have to develop this body so that it can digest what we eat. God is supplying food, but God has given us the body. This combination is called subject object combination. So God has provided air, but we will not survive unless we have strong lungs. How many people suffer from lung diseases, cannot breathe? People who are suffering from asthma, they can also breathe. God is not saying don't breathe, but because of some wrong thing we have done, we have developed this particular disease. So disease is our particular development. So therefore, it is necessary to keep this body first of all healthy and as I mentioned two aspects of Palam is there. One is called strength, another is called endurance. There are many animals who have strength, but no power of endurance. There are very weak people like Indian coolies etc. They have tremendous weakness, but tremendous power of endurance. They can go on and on and on. Swami said endurance, mere endurance is totally useless. We must have strength and we must also have the power of endurance and both will come from food only. So food is the superior because that produces Palam. So this feeding, inspiring, strengthening principle, the element that is responsible for the generation of any type of strength is called food and that is what is called in this particular khanda, annam. So Sanat Kumara, he gave this example here only instead of 15 days, 10 days and after again eating for 10 days, the person gets back this one. So the point is that we must become strong, we must become powerful, we must develop that specific strength called endurance and all this comes only from food and to the extent that we apply this principle, to that extent we will be successful in life and to that extent we enjoy life and this enjoyment is the phala or the result. That is what he says that so long a person is strength and so long as he lives in the worlds of strength and he gets freedom, that means whatever he can achieve through that power of strength, not merely physical, intellectual, aesthetic, moral and spiritual, he becomes free and the more we develop these divine qualities, these are all divine qualities, what is a divine quality? Whichever quality takes us or makes us become divine, that is called divine quality, not merely spiritual but divine quality. So this is the essence of this particular section that which gives strength is superior to strength and anything that is contributory for the attainment of this strength, that is also called food and this is the essence of what we discussed. So we have to eat food and this feeding that is called eating food is called feeding. So this feeding act, the element that is responsible for the generation of strength is food and that is what is meant by annam here. So this is what happens with this background. We will go and then again recollect the real Sanskrit words. What does it mean? Food surely is greater than strength, that is because it is the cause of strength. Therefore, if one doesn't eat for 10 days, even though he might live, yet verily he doesn't see, he doesn't hear, doesn't reflect, doesn't understand, doesn't act and does not realize. But with the attainment of food, he sees, hears, reflects, understands, acts and realizes. Therefore, O Narada, contemplate food as Brahman. A little simple meaning of these Sanskrit words. Annam is superior to bala, strength. Why? Because annam alone is the root cause of strength and Sanat Kumara himself gives the example. Therefore, how do we know? I am going to give you an example. Even 10 nights, that means 10 days. If a person doesn't eat, but he is still alive. Most people do not die by fasting for 10 days. But what happens? Even though he is barely alive, he can't see the truth. The teacher is teaching, but he doesn't grasp the meaning. Ashrota doesn't mean he is not hearing. Sometimes he can't hear, but even if he hears, he can't understand it and much less he thinks about it. Therefore, if he doesn't cogitate, think deeply, he cannot really understand. If he cannot understand, we have to supply akarta bhavati after every one of these epithets. Akarta bhavati, adrashta bhavati, ashrota bhavati, amanta bhavati, abodha bhavati, akarta bhavati. So he cannot translate his thoughts into actions. That is called akarta. Avijnata bhavati. Here avijnata means what? So through experience we understand. Simple example. I am thirsty. I require water. I understand where water is available and I put it into action. I obtain water. I drink water and I become re-strengthened and then I understand how water is very necessary. Next time I must always be careful not to lose the water. So I have to keep. Nowadays we carry in flasks, etc. Or if we are at home, it will be in a particular place. If we are traveling, inevitably, invariably, because contaminated water will be everywhere. So we carry our own what is called pure water bottles or whatever. So avijnata. This principle applies to every action. Only when there is strength, a person will be able to carry out all this and enjoys. So a person who doesn't have strength because he doesn't eat properly, even if a person is eating, but if he cannot digest, that is as good as non-eating only. What happens to that person? He cannot progress in life. That is the essence of it. And on the other side, annasya aaye. So aaye means obtainment. Annasya aaye. A person obtains food. That means he eats. That means he becomes strong. What happens to him? Then he realizes what should be done and he understands the words of the teacher, words of parents, words of wise people and he understands them. Then he thinks about them deeply and he understands correctly what is right, what is not wrong, what is not right. And then kartabhavati. He becomes ready to perform, to put into action what is good. Many times evil people also do evil things. But his understanding is, I am understanding correctly, this is the thing I have to do. I have to rob a bank. I have to pickpocket somebody's money. I have to harm or hurt or murder or kill somebody. Unfortunately, he thinks that is the right knowledge. Whatever it is, he becomes a doer. And after doing, he becomes a jnata. He becomes an experiencer. So if it is a good action, inevitably good result will come. If it is dharmic action, if not, inevitably sooner or later he understands. At first he may not be able to connect. Why am I suffering? I did not do anything wrong. No, then understand. Now I am not doing anything wrong. But long before I have done something wrong, there is an invariable relationship between the past and the present. What I had done and what I am now experiencing. This is called unarjanma karma siddhanta. And therefore narada annam upasva iti. Here also we have to bring earlier this one and say if a person is not strong, he cannot be a good student. So he cannot sit properly. When the guru calls, he cannot stand properly. He cannot serve guru properly. And if he cannot serve, then even if the teacher out of compassion tells him, he cannot listen ashrota. That means what? He is hearing some sounds, but understanding is not there. And even if he understands, he cannot think deeply to understand it in the right way. And if he cannot think deeply, he cannot determine what to do, what not to do. He cannot put it into practice. Therefore he will be a non-doer. And a non-doer will not be able to experience the happiness and the tremendous joy of life. And therefore he suffers. So the essence of this is that you must be strong. But the root cause of the strong is food. And food is to be understood as anything that inspires body, mind, intellect, aesthetic sense, moral sense, spiritual progress, everything. This is what Shri Ramakrishna used to tell in his simple words. There are people I know who are like flattened rice soaked in water. That means already flattened rice is very soft. And if it comes into contact with water or milk, it becomes very, very, very soft. That means there is not much strength in it. So such people, it is very difficult for them to really enjoy life. Having explained it, Sanath Kumar advises, now you must go and understand what you have heard from me. So he went, he became Manta and then he understood it correctly. That is called Real Upasana. Understanding correctly. Then he became strong. Then he understood strength simply doesn't come merely, it comes only from the food. But food itself has to come from somewhere. And therefore he says, Anna is very necessary. And as I mentioned, Anna means food. Food means anything that sustains our physical body, intellectual body, aesthetic body, moral body, spiritual body. So what would be the result? Two people, Sakami and Nishkami. A person who wants immediate results, a person who wants only God-realization. So for the first type of person, a strong person will enjoy life so long as his strength lies practically in every world where there is strength. Because he will be unobstructed so long as he is a strong person, whether intellectually strong, physically strong. For a simple example, Muhammad Ali was the greatest whistler and he was the greatest so far as the whistling world is concerned. So Shakespeare, so far as the intellectual world, dramatic world, poetical world is concerned, he was one of the greatest. Later on, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Longfellow, etc. In India, Kalidasa, Bhavagothi, Bharavi, etc. So such a beautiful poetry he created. But so long as people appreciate that poetry, he will be honored, he will be very happy because even the very expression of strength in any particular form brings a tremendous amount of strength. This is the essence of it. सलोकान् पानवतः अविशिद्यति यवत अन्नस्यगतम् So यव अन्नम् ब्रह्म इति वास्ते What happens? अन्नवतो वै सलोकान् पानवतो वै लोकान् अविशिद्यति He attains worlds where first class food, first class drink, everything is available. Why? Without drink, food will never be taken. I have not seen, you will not see in future also, wherever person is taking food requires water. Every creature takes some solid food, some liquid food also is necessary. But this glory of this liquid food is going to come to explain, to expand in the next chapter, next section. So wherever this food is available, inspiration is available, there यथा कामचारो भवते he moves without fear and without any obstruction. That means he becomes very very happy person. यव अन्नम् ब्रह्म इति वास्ते But if he is a spiritual student, then he becomes even more fit. Narada was one such person. So he having become strong through contemplation, he came back. अस्ति भगवो अन्नाग् भूयह इति Is there something greater than Anna? Surely, अन्नाग् भवा भूयह अस्ति, superior. Anna is not the final cause. Anna is only approximate cause, immediate cause. There is something superior than Anna and then Narada asks, please instruct me in that. With this, the ninth section is over. We are entering into the tenth section. It is called आप ब्रह्म उपासन. That is water. That is, if we take that five elements, Panchabhutas, we know that from the Atman, Atman manifested as space and space grossified himself still lower, more grossified because space itself is a gross manifestation. But from our viewpoint of view, it is a very subtle manifestation, subtlest manifestation, almost like Atman. But from the Atman's point of view, it is a step below. Therefore, the Akasha, then Akasha, it became even more grossified. That is called वायू or Air. Akasha means space and Air became even more grossified. Until these two, space and Air, they are not visible. They are feelable, conceivable, but not seeable, experienceable directly through the sense organs. Only वायू is we are able to experience through touch. So this अगनी, the moment you say light, light is अगनी, heat is अगनी. These are the two characteristics of अगनी. So whether it is the sun, it is the moon, it is the stars, it is the physical fire or is it the hydrochloric acid which digests our food, all these fall under the तेजस्तत्व or अगनी तत्व or the third भूत, third principle. So that is what Sanat Kumara wants to teach. आपो वाव अन्नात् भूयः. What भूयः means? Superior. Superior means what? Without waters, अन्ना cannot be produced. We all know you may have seeds of the first class plants, but if there is no water, it is impossible to make them seeds or plants or trees. It is impossible. That is why when we are searching for other worlds, extra terrestrial worlds, we have the first requirement is, is there water there or even if the water is hidden, is there any potentiality of getting water there? That is the first criteria because the water only has become this earth. In the beginning, it was water only but before water, it was in the form of fire. We will discuss slowly these things. So this is the idea. तस्माद्वाव what is called the अन्नात् भूयः. So भूयः is one word. भूयः meaning the same that waters are certainly the cause and more subtle, more pervasive and the root cause of what is called food or this Prithvi, entire Prithvi, entire gross cosmos. Everything that is solid has ultimately come out of liquid. The whole earth in its solid form has come out of a liquid condition. They say it was terribly burning. Slowly it became waters and the water solidified some part of the water. That's why even today I think probably two-thirds of the entire our cosmos or especially our earth is surrounded by water and now and then a bit of elements come out due to some action of the what is called elements, gross elements. So whatever is solid has come only from the liquid. Even interesting the Upanishad itself says from the man, from the father, from the mother, even the creation comes only from the liquid. When these two liquids, the seed in the form of cement and the seed in the form of the Ovam, when they mix together then slowly it solidifies itself but it is only in the form of the water only. So the whole earth in its solid form has is the outcome of the liquid condition which was existing earlier and the liquid or Apaha itself has come out from Agni and Agni has come out from Vayu. Just I'm forestalling, see how does this fire, how do you get fire? So you take a bit of wooden piece and then insert into another wooden piece and you go on churning it. Will it produce? Nothing will come out if air is not present. So what are you doing? By this fast movement you are what is called making the air very very rapid, rapidly moving and out of that air slowly heat comes out and that heat becomes fire and that fire liquefies. If you put anything, a solid piece of gold, solid piece of iron, solid piece of anything you put it becomes liquefied and we can only like children eat that liquid food and then when we eat food also when we put it into the mouth that also becomes what? Only liquid. The what is called the mouth produces so much of water and that water makes the food what is called swallowable, soft and then only when we chew also it becomes soft but it must be what is called mixed with the water that is what we call saliva and then only it is possible for it to go inside. That's why sometimes when food doesn't go then you take a big bottle of water. If we are not producing ourselves then you just push the water it becomes like a piston and then pushes the solid food down and when we are in a hurry also that is what we do. Not only our earth which is nothing but solid but everything that is material, everything that is solid in nature, anywhere in the whole cosmos was originally in a liquid condition and for that a most beautiful example will be Nasadiya Sukta. The liquid was once upon a time in a hot gaseous condition and so on and so forth and then there are subtler and subtler causes and residents behind the greater grosser expressions thereof. Therefore Sanath Kumara is instructing, Oh Narada, this thing called food which I say is superior to everything that I have mentioned up to this time. We have to understand strength and strength makes true knowledge possible and knowledge becomes possible through meditation. Meditation becomes possible only when our willpower is there and then it is possible only when we go on remembering. Remembering is possible when we use our mind and our mind thinking. Remembering is possible only because of the speech and speech is possible only because of the mind and the speech is the root cause of what is called Nama or the grossest object. Here Nama means entire physical world. So coming back this Nasadiya Sukta of which Swami Vivekananda was extraordinarily fond. So here there are seven mantras are there in the Rig Veda but this is the third one we are interested in. At first in darkness, hidden darkness play undistinguished as one mass of water then that which lay in void thus covered a glory need put forth by tapasya or austerity. Then we know the famous story 10,000 years back or some thousands of years back there is a tremendous flood all over the world indicating that the whole world was submerged in that waters. So the famous story goes there was one person he created a boat that is called Noah's Ark and he collected the seeds of every living creature that was there and then it is again the creation has started. So before this creation came this cosmos came out it came out of water only. So water is so very important. A person can live for a longer time without solid food but without water it is impossible and this water has come from fire and that fire has come from vayu. That's why without breathing person cannot live more than for a few seconds it is impossible. These are all marvelous truths. We have to first listen then think deeply and enjoy the result the knowledge that comes. So this is what is called in the watery state the whole cosmos was in a undifferentiated state and if life has to become possible this liquid principle is very necessary. As I said that is what we are searching scientists are searching and then as an example if there is no rain and this is the example given by the in this section by the Sanat Kumara in this 10th section. So if there is no rain there will be no food. So the coordination of the liquid element and the solid element is therefore necessary to produce that element called food. What happens when the rainy season comes? There would be clouds then there would be thunder then there would be lightenings and then people's heart becomes glad and then they say there is this bird called peacock seeing the clouds and it is also every animal is thirsting. If you just watch nature documentaries you will see how animals die how they migrate in search of water but when they see the thunder then the peacock starts dancing in joy anticipating plenty of rain plenty of water that means plenty of food that means life will continue strength will come life can be continued. Where there is rainfall people animals plants eatable kingdom animals the whole of nature becomes luxurious and joyful. Whatever has been mentioned earlier under food is once again repeated here by saying that all living beings there exist only because of food and water. So this is the meditation on the food the meditation on water will come a little bit later on but this is what we have to understand rivers seas actually seas so many God has provided so many seas and why did God provide it is all salty but even there how many creatures which are food materials for the the fish the whales the sharks and the so many names are not getting but so many so much of exotic food material the sea is producing there are so many plants also which is extremely food material at different depths of the ocean so much of food material is there but the most important thing is Bhagawan in the form of Agni Devata in the form of Surya lifts the water from this salt to laden water and then as I said there are millions of creatures who are adopted to this salt water in fact we also can live with without salt but we cannot enjoy that is why life without salt is completely useless that is why Jesus Christ says the word to the devotees the word to the salt of the earth that means all your goodness everything is compared to this salt and if sodium is lacking human life becomes very very very miserable so artificially we have to inject the sodium but the best thing is Surya Bhagawan lifts this pure water distilled water pure water and makes clouds out of it so that the air can blow them to the highest places and then he makes them descend in the form of rains not only at other places but especially on the mountain tops etc when that water comes down slowly it trickles it becomes small streams big streams rivers big rivers huge rivers and that is sustaining all of us therefore what is the root cause of the Annam. Annam is the root cause of strength and the root Annam is waters that is what is called Jala Tattvam or the second principle the Bhutam called Jala Bhutam that is also called Apaha, Agnera Apaha, Adhya Prithvi, Prithivyam Osadaya etc and that is going to be the understanding so slowly meditate upon Prithvi that means what you are a product of Prithvi. Prithvi is a product of water. Water is the product of fire or Tejas and fire is the product of air because without air you cannot even get up fire and that Agni is the product of Akasha. Agni cannot be where there is no space because where there is no space air cannot blow and space itself is the outcome of Atman. So taking one from the effect to the cause until we reach that our ultimate cause Brahman that is the purpose and that is the purpose of this Upasana. We will talk some more details in our next class. Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padmetayos Ritva Pranamami Mohan Mohan May Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna