Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 80 on 23 February 2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYOH SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU OM APYAYANTUM AMANGANIVAKPRANASYAKSHUH SHROTRAMADHU BALAMINDRIYANICHA SARVANI SARVAM BRAHMAHU PANISHADAM MAHAM BRAHMANIRAKURIYAM MAMA BRAHMANIRAKARO ANIRAKARANAM ASTVANIRAKARANAM ME ASTU TADATMANI NIRATE YAUPANISHADSU DHARMAH TE MAI SANTU TE MAI SANTU OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HA RE HE 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 In our last class, we were studying the topic called Sukham, which is slowly leading us to the infinite happiness. But the point is that we are all in search of Sukham only, consciously or unconsciously. That is the topic of this 22nd section. YADA VAI SUKHAM LABHATE ATHA KAROTI NA ASUKHAM LABDHA KAROTI SUKHAM EVA LABDHA KAROTI SUKHAM TU EVA VIJIGNASI TAVYAM ITI SUKHAM BHAGAVO VIJIGNASA ITI So well, O Narada, every activity of every Jeeva is propelled by Sukham or happiness. Yesterday, briefly we discussed some of the laws of happiness. And every Jeeva longs to be as happy as possible and as much as possible and as long as possible. That is the very nature of Jeeva. There are some obstacles to happiness. What is the first obstacle? The instrument. So on the individual level, this obstacle is called avidya. On the cosmic level, the same avidya is called maya. It is very important for us to keep this distinction because maya is common and equal to every Jeeva. But avidya right from the amoeba to the highest evolving soul, infinite degrees of avidya will be there. That is why we need to know this distinction. So there are some part of these individual ignorances. There are some special ignorances are there. What is the very first of these ignorances in the avidya? So very few people are aware of the workings of one's own mind and ignorance about not only one's own self, about anybody else. Transactions will be impossible if we come to know both our own ignorance and the workings of the other people's minds. We are superficial dealers. We see the skin of anything and then we are attracted. What is within that skin? That is why there is a saying beauty is skin deep. That's all. But there is real beauty has nothing to do with the skin. It has something to do with goodness, with beauty and with unselfishness. Satyam Shivam Sundaram. These are few well-known things are there. So one of the greatest obstacles from the individual point of view is called powerlessness. The inherent limitations of our own body, sense organs, mind act as a check on our pursuit of happiness. They limit our happiness. Not only that, scarcity. Supposing we are okay, but can we get in abundance whatever objects are available in the world? That also scarcity is there. Some places food scarcity, some places water scarcity, some places cleanliness scarcity, some places powerlessness are being ruled by ruthless power mongers. So many obstacles are there. So what does all this imply? It implies that we are seemingly forever separated from the boundless ocean of Satchitananda which is the basic cause of unhappiness. This boundless ocean of Satchitananda means what? Infinite happiness. By using the word infinite, we have to understand that infinity means that which is everywhere. It is never absent and it is available for everybody as much as one wants. But what is our problem? Even though we are submerged in it, we do not see any of that because our instruments are limited. So to overcome these obstacles and realize true happiness, certain key laws of happiness have been enumerated. We have discussed two of those laws. The first law of happiness states that all beings, every being exists at different level of consciousness. So here consciousness means chit and the chit of everybody, a mosquito's chit, an amoeba's chit, a monkey's chit, a gorilla's chit and an ordinary human person's chit and a highly evolved human being's chit. They are all there at different levels. These levels have been roughly classified into seven according to Tantra called Chakra and they are also roughly classified as five according to one model which is the model adopted by Taittiriya Upanishad. But according to Mandokya Karika, the same topic but it is divided into three states of experience that is Jagrat, Swapna and Sushupti. Now the important point is so different beings exist at different levels of consciousness and for every level of consciousness there is a definite and fixed degree of happiness. Not only that, at every level of happiness various beings exist at various sub-levels of each level of consciousness. For example, we have divided happiness into roughly five categories. The lowest of it is called Vishayananda. Even if we take that a person's mind is body-oriented which Ramakrishna says, our whole soul identity is with the body and mind only, especially with the body. And this body level is again subdivided into two, Aham and Mama. My body and my possessions, comes there. Even though it is common division but a pious man, rich man, so even if a person is very rich and he is not thinking about God but he can have tremendous amount of worldly happiness because the quality of things he possesses is much, much superior to a slum dweller who is only living in the most unhappy surroundings, circumstances. So not only five levels of consciousness but infinite number of sub-levels of consciousness at each level of consciousness and according to whichever state, whichever level and sub-level consciousness that person's happiness is completely fixed. He cannot get anything better than that. Not only that, we also have seen that this consciousness is working simultaneously on two levels. One is called individual level, popularly called as VST microcosm and another is called the universal that is called macrocosm called Samasthi and both VST and Samasthi are irrevocably, inseparably related and Taittiriya Upanishad speaks of both the levels. So but our relationship that is the VST's relationship with the Samasthi, the individual's relationship with the universal, with the cosmic determines our fate irrevocably. Simple example, when it is summer season, it is very, very hot. When it is cold season, very, very cold and everybody in that region has to experience same amount of cold. If I am living in Varanasi, Ramakrishna Ashram will not be giving Bangalore weather and if we go outside, if you go near the Ganges and there will be much cooler breeze will be there and if a person is staying in an enclosed apartment then the heat will be terrible but heat is the same, cold is the same. Even though it is the same but every individual doesn't have the same type of experience. There are some who have got heaters, who have got air coolers or air controllable temperatures are there. So depending upon what we are using, then each individual's happiness will be totally different from the other. Not only that, even if a rich person is sitting in an air-conditioned room and he may be worrying and then he is as worse as even the person who doesn't have or a person, I have seen persons here, terrible heat 140 degrees, they are working whole day, back breaking work, laying the roads or repairing the roads in that outside sun practically from sunrise to sunset. But then you know human beings have the capacity to adopt but what is the point we are discussing? Even though externally things are same, every individual's experience depends upon the facilities he have and the facilities are determined by one's own past karma and also it depends upon our state of the mind. If somebody is worried then happiness will evaporate not only through heat but through worry. So that is the first law of happiness. Second law of happiness states happiness is totally independent from any or all external events. It has nothing to do, depends upon our what is called circumstance. Simple example, even if a person is lying down in the terrible shadow when the heat is more than 140 degrees but if the person is completely in Sushupti, he doesn't experience anything. If a surgeon is cutting his body which is so very painful, he will not experience any pain at all. On the contrary, everybody experiences uniformly indescribable happiness and so it is called Anandamaya Kosha. So this second law of happiness asserts that the degree of happiness associated with each level or sub-level is independent of any external event or circumstance. That means what? That means one's level of happiness is not determined by external circumstances but is determined by one's internal state of consciousness alone. This is called Chakra. So then there is another division called internal and external. As long as a person remains at a certain level of consciousness, that person can only access a degree of happiness natural and fixed to that level of consciousness regardless of any circumstances which are external or internal. Then what is this important point? That is where the Karma Yoga steps in. What is the role of Karma Yoga? So this principle is the basis of Karma Yoga and we have to understand it. So what does it say? Work does not create happiness. Work does not create happiness. Is it useless? No, it is not useless. It has a very important role to play. What is that role? What does Karma Yoga do? Work only brings out the happiness that is already within. How? Not by bringing happiness but by removing the obstacles to the happiness which is already existing. Simple again. I am going to give a small example. Hopefully it is right example. Supposing you are very hungry and then plenty of your favorite food is stocked in your refrigerator and you know anytime you can go and access it but then some refrigerators have locks. Suppose some member of the family locked it and go away or you yourself locked it and you have forgotten where you have kept the key and you are locked out. Sometimes people they keep the lock inside the car and they are locked out. So like that you have that but there is a terrible obstruction. So you will have to find out, search furiously and then if you are lucky you will get otherwise you have to break open the fridge but food is there but then this yoga is necessary. Which yoga? Karma Yoga. What do I mean? That if you are very angry, terribly irritated, it will take that much longer to find out the key. So that is why a monk is a key. Why is a monk so happy or should be happy? Because he handed over the key to God and says you keep it safely. When I need you come and open it for me. This is called Sharanagati. So a monkey, we are all monkeys, our minds are like that. Now don't blame me. This is what Swami Vivekananda had said. So a monkey who hands over this key to God is called a monk and any monk with a key not giving it up, he behaves like a monkey, he or she. We have to remember this. So this Karma Yoga, that is Karma Yoga does not create happiness but it helps us in removing the obstacles because happiness is like that food material in the fridge full of it. Nothing is lacking but we lack the key and that key is the key to the secret of how to obtain that happiness. Karma Yoga, it unlocks the door by not expecting anything and truly when we do not expect anything, whatever comes that is the most marvelous thing. It gives so much of happiness. So when we are expecting something, that means this expectation is called appointment. Then this we have appointment with some event, with some person, with some place, with some circumstance, expecting it, that is called appointment. There is likelihood that we may be disappointed but a Karma Yogi does not have any appointment. He is a free person. I just do it, let God take care of it and that is the key to his happiness. So the third law, now we have to delve deep into the third law. What is it? Removing obstacles. The third law of happiness states that effort is needed not to produce happiness but only to remove the obstacles to happiness. So this law emphasizes the importance of our attitude in achieving lasting happiness. What is Karma Yoga? Ramakrishna gives a very beautiful example. So keeping in mind a Jnani Karma Yogi and a Bhakta Karma Yogi, Ramakrishna compares them, the young one of a monkey and the young one of a cat. Especially Ramakrishna advises, you have to be like a kitten. What does it mean? It means the kitten knows that whenever I am in trouble, I just cry, I mew and wherever my mother is, her eyes are completely tuned to the sounds that emanate from its young one and immediately it will come, wherever it is. I have seen, I have described one, what is called video that is on the YouTube, Devanathan Baro. There was a lioness, it has a few cubs and it is asleep, the mother is asleep and these with boundless energy, they were all playing and they came near to the, down a rock and then vividly that person is telling us in this documentary that they came near and they saw something moving. They did not know it was a spitting cobra, that is it spits poison into the eyes. Then they wanted to play not knowing and it spit some poison and it was extremely painful and they were crying with pain. In an instance, the mother came jumping down, it takes less time for it to come down than for me to describe it and then it saw and it understood and then now the snake directed its before it could do anything, the mother regardless of the pain it can encounter, other times it would have run away but now its young ones are in danger. Just jumped and then caught hold of the head of this and then it just killed it in an instant. What is this illustration for? Even though the mother is asleep, very seemingly asleep but it is highly alert, so let there be thunder, let there be another sound, it will not wake up but the slightest whimper from the young one, immediately it pays attention and instinctively, automatically it comes and does what is absolutely necessary. This beautiful fact has been described in the Art of Love by Eric Fromm and it is very important. I also talked about it many times but it is very relevant for us. So a farmer and his wife were living in a village and the husband is completely occupied with farming and the wife has given birth to a baby and the baby is sleeping in between the husband and wife, they were sleeping and sometime towards the after midnight there is a slight change in the temperature and then immediately the husband, he came out with complete wakenness because his crops are ready, any type of rain at that time will be a disastrous thing. So he was completely tuned to any change in the temperature, atmosphere and he came out completely awake and then what happened, before that time the baby was bawling, he was not aware of it at all, he was snoring almost but that he sensed this change in the atmosphere, immediately came out, ran out to see whether it is going to rain and ruin his crops etc. But the mother, she is completely oblivious to all the changes that are taking place including the thundering rain but the slightest whimper from the child, baby, instantaneously she comes out awake. What does this principle illustrate? It illustrates if we are tuned to a particular type of attitude that can determine what type of reaction we do, what type of what we call action we need to do depending upon what we are tuning in for including our dreams. If we are spiritual people, we have more spiritual dreams. If we are worldly people, no need to describe, this is what happens. So what does Karma Yoga do? So Karma Yoga means first of all to work very hard. What does this work do? First of all, we have to have a particular type of attitude otherwise it won't become Yoga, it merely becomes Karma. So Karma Yoga means definitely a fixed type of attitude towards whatever we do irrespective of whatever consequences, results might come. So work is necessary not to give us happiness but to remove the obstacles and how much we can remove the obstacles depends upon our attitude and if it is a high attitude that is called Karma Yoga and there are great obstacles for our happiness. What are the wrong emotional drives? Families, mother for example, are deeply attached to the children. The children when they grow up, they may not be so deeply attached to the mother. So we are attached to our religion, to our country, to our attitudes, to our professions. So there are clubs for doctors, clubs for lawyers, clubs for what is called night clubs. So many types of clubs are there but most important is wrong emotional drives rooted in egoism or selfishness. Second, by working for others and serving fellow human beings, one can destroy selfishness and discover inner happiness. Bhagavan Krishna in his Bhagavad Gita gives us a beautiful way how one can realize God. He says, Svakarmana tam abhyarsya siddhim vindati manavah. A sadhaka, a human being, he need not do any good to other people. He by just performing as well as he could the duty one is born for. This is where Varna Dharma, Ashrama Dharma step in. A brahmachari's dharma, a householder's dharma which we were discussing in the 11th chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad and a retired person dharma. Though we don't call him vanaprastha, retirement means what? He is living isolated to a great extent from the society and of course a sanyasi dharma. All these dharmas even depending upon whether he is a brahmana, kshatriya, vaisya, shudra or depending upon different professions etc. For example, a doctor may be on call throughout the night but a petty clerk, he goes to the office, he does it until the closure time and without any worry he comes back. But there also don't think he's a happy man. So there will be so many petty clerks and if one of them is promoted all the others are up. How to bring him down? So he will be worried. So working especially for others as we understand nowadays to serve hospitals, to serve in the schools etc. That is for some people but for most people svakarmana tam abhyarcha. You are a wife, do your wifely duties. You are a husband, do husband's duties. You are a teacher, do that. You are a doctor, do that. So beautifully described this in tremendous detail in the Mahabharata especially in Shanti Parva. Whole Mahabharata is marvelous. Even every parva has its own wisdom for us to imbibe. For example, I have taken classes on Eksha Prashna. Where do they occur? Not in the Shanti Parva but in the Vana Parva. Aranya is also called Aranya Parva. When Panchi Pandavas are living, then one day they became thirsty and you must recollect that story. So whole Mahabharata wisdom is a marvelous wisdom but at the same time whatever duties we are supposed to do. A monk's duties are different, a householder's duties are different. So even in one's own, a disciple sanyasin's or a brahmachari's duties are different and a guru's duties are different. One cannot take up the other without harming each other. That's why Sri Ramakrishna is the greatest example of avataras. That is why Swami Vivekananda bestowed such a high praise as a husband, as a son, as a disciple, as a guru, as a family member and you name it. Why did Sri Ramakrishna keep Holy Mother with him even though that is contrary to sanyasa dharma because he has to be an ideal to every householder. How a husband should treat the wife and he also taught Sarada Devi how a wife also should behave not only towards her husband but towards everybody else. In such great details Sri Ramakrishna had taught them. So svakarmana tam abhyarchya. All these fall within the periphery of what is called svakarmana. Here svakarma means one's own dharma. Tam abhyarchya that is discharge one's own duties to the best of one's ability and that is called true worship of really God. Just I remember Tolstoy's story. So two people started in a pilgrimage and they reached some village on the way and one of them suddenly disappeared. So the other had continued and then he crossed the sea and he reached Mecca and then every time he wants to go near the stone then such a huge crowd was there he could not go anywhere near but he was astonished to see every time that his friend whom he thought he left in some village far away because he never saw him crossing etc then he saw next to Allah's image there stone every time and then he wanted to meet but he couldn't meet so he returned and when he after he returned to the village after a few days his co-pilgrim returned then the old man when he met asked him how did you happen to be so near that man said what are you talking about I never went to Mecca then what were you doing one day I went to stroll in the village we were staying for the night as night guests and I saw an old woman in need of lot of attention so I stayed with her she was very sick I attended to her I poured out my love and I served her as my own mother and by that time several days passed she recovered of course but it was impossible for me that festival location is slipped by so I just returned from I am just returning from that village only yesterday I reached it Tolstoy wants to convey the idea that he did his best as a householder and thereby he worshipped Allah and he reached Allah what a marvelous stories by the way you try to read Tolstoy's beautiful stories not his big big novels Anna Karenina etc no so this is by working for others is one way serving fellow human beings that is one way but by discharging one's own duties with the idea that I'm only worshipping God that will also remove the obstacles and that is called Karma Yoga and that is how we can also reach the same goal and then this third law says everybody has got this creative energy cosmic energy creative energy is flowing in and through every one of us rousing our samskaras latent impressions of past actions and these forces us forces to do work it is what what do impel us to work we said samskaras samskaras means past impressions past impressions consisting of what the quest for happiness and during our pilgrimage we have accumulated what is called virtues also several sins vices so depending upon what samskaras we have developed they are just again it is like we have dug some channels and water from a higher level flows automatically through those channels so this cosmic courage is there within each one of us and it can never be stopped stop not till the goal is reached it must be directed into right channels through creative work by changing our attitude how do we turn normal work into creative work not by changing the work even a person like Rashid he was cleaning only laboratories but he had such a tremendous faith and devotion in Shri Ramakrishna in those days you know he could not even enter into the room of Shri Ramakrishna but his devotion was well appreciated accepted and one day Shri Ramakrishna bestowed his grace and said so the day you pass away i will come myself and i will take you there but meanwhile you spend your time as much as you can do remembering me especially after your duties are over during the day and Rashid did exactly that and we know what happened so this cosmic urge is also called teleological urge and this urge is what Swami Vivekananda says very beautifully each soul is potential divine potential means what it will not rest just to remain in a potential state but continuously trying somehow to creep out and then to become manifest like a seed we now move to the fourth law so seeking higher forms of happiness what does the fourth law says this fourth law of happiness tells us that there is an inherent urge in all human beings to seek higher and higher forms of happiness what does it mean as soon as a person reaches a little bit higher happiness than what he was accustomed to before once he reaches that one for a short time that seems to be everything that seems to be the peak but very soon there is an emptiness this is okay but is there something higher and we have seen how in this own seventh chapter narada went on asking sanat kumara is there something still higher something still higher because it is this potential divinity that was making narada to seek higher and higher stages through the guidance of his guru sanat kumara so this unstoppable urge to seek higher and higher happiness manifests ultimately first it comes only in the form of happiness but later on people understand when the mind becomes pure that this urge for higher happiness takes on three forms what is it satyam shivam sundaram so truth goodness and beauty these are the highest values according to western philosophy and religion so just as hindus posit dharma artha kama and moksha so everybody is seeking truth everybody is seeking goodness everybody is seeking beauty and the beauty that we seek is only god and the goodness we see is so many descriptions are there who is the when brahma is hymning divine mother soumya soumya not only you are beautiful you are the most beautiful and this beauty of the divine mother is so beautifully put into poetry by shankaracharya and it goes by the name so everybody wants truth nobody wants falsehood if you tend to somebody even a most ignorant person illiterate person this is poison would you like to have very pleasant but it will kill you nobody wants it i am telling you so many lies will you believe me nobody wants to believe truth only is short because they know instinctively we are seekers of truth and where are we attracted to whom are we attracted goodness unselfishness purity and this goodness is also called morality so wherever we see goodness first we see it in our mother in our father and in our loving teacher and in so many friends family etc then we see that goodness goodness means what unselfishness mother is ever ready and she is the epitome of motherly love so that goodness is what we are seeking is when we see somebody selfish we if it is possible we will try to avoid that person or that objective to the greatest extent that is possible for us but of course we seek beauty what is beauty so that which gives us the most happiness is called beauty instead of beauty we can substitute that word with ananda because everything is beautiful is called ananda in bengali they use this particular word as they say nice food very tasty food beautiful singing beautiful nature beautiful touch atmosphere neither cold nor hot so every sense organ beautiful object beautiful smell beautiful sound beautiful touch beautiful taste we can substitute that word removing this word beauty beauty means ultimately we are all seeking liberation liberation means what we want to be ourselves now we know instinctively we are not ourselves therefore we are seeking to be ourselves that is called mukti mukti is not something new but just to be what we are so this is called each soul is potentially divine that's what we have need and then every human being at any given level some hierarchy of needs so corresponding there exists different types of happiness also and as we already discussed hindu scriptures classify every experience of happiness into five main grades just now i told you every grade even the lowest grade has its infinite number of sub grades so to be brief what are these five levels this is what the fourth law of happiness that everybody wants instinctively there is an urge to experience higher and higher levels states of happiness it is irrepressible unstoppable and that is called evolution we come now to the fifth law and this is very important what is it this is called transformation of consciousness so this fifth law of happiness underscores the necessity of transforming one's awareness to experience greater levels of joy and fulfillment i am tempted to tell you a beautiful anecdote thomson in india was considered as one of the greatest music maestros and he was the court musician akbar one summer day akbar went out for a ride because he was feeling it was too hot for him so he entered into the nearby forest and trees make a lot of difference and a cool breeze was blowing suddenly he was stopped in his tracks he saw such unearthly music was coming from nearby then he went there and he found who was singing his own court musician tansen so in rapt attention akbar experienced that one and then when tansen stopped and about to come out akbar confronted him and accused him tansen you never sing for me in this way then tansen bowed to him and said jihapana that is own emperor when i sing to you i am completely conscious that i am singing to please you because you are paying me some wages and if i want to get same wages or even higher i have to please you that is why my music is never natural but here i am singing only to please my creator allah and therefore i know that i can only please allah i must entertain him without the least selfish desire any selfish desire will mar that joy that's why i am able to go full out completely merged i cannot merge myself in your presence because highly conscious every singer that we see is completely conscious whether the audience is appreciating him or not whereas you sing in the bathroom and you will see the joy so naturally voice comes and incidentally water has a tremendous effect upon each one of us so this fifth law what does it say that in spite of all these things what does karma yoga do it transforms our consciousness it brings it slowly it cleans the dross the dirt all the defects and bring us to higher levels of allows us to escape those limitations karma yoga removes the limitations and brings us to higher levels of happiness so it karma yoga removes the obstacles it doesn't give anything new so the fifth law says states these higher forms of happiness cannot be obtained suddenly immediately but only through a gradual transformation of i consciousness which in tantric language is called chakras transformation of consciousness is the only way to unravel the mysteries of higher planes of existence and the spiritual joys ananda connected with them by the way sukha is a transactional happiness ananda is a spiritual happiness so here comes vedanta's definition of ultimate reality so sat chit ananda according to vedanta ultimate reality is called brahman which is of the nature of sat chit ananda this concept is central to understanding vedanta's perspective on happiness and the true self and what this brahman got to do with us so vedanta categorically and infinite number of times reminds us brahman is the highest reality which is beyond all limitations and divisions and that is called bhumananda brahmananda atmananda and then it says jeevo brahma eva na aparaha brahma satyam jeevo brahma eva na aparaha one and the same absolutely there is no difference as soon as karma yoga sadhana cleanses of all these limitations we realize that brahman and me are not two separate things one is finite another is infinite but we are exactly one and the same aham the guru comes and says and the disciple through shravana manana he realizes that aham brahmasmi and this kalvidam brahma all these are called mahavakyas a mahavakya is a statement which tells the individual and the cosmic they are not too different but they are one and the same so at the highest dimension is this infinite ultimate reality known as sat chit ananda and in this state individual i is lost signifying the complete realization of brahman that i am brahman so these laws of happiness provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the nature of happiness from a vedantic perspective so this highest happiness is variously called as boomananda brahmananda atmananda this is where sanath kumara is gradually leading narada step by step so in this 22nd section sanath kumara says my dear narada it is in a complete unity of being with brahman that you can find unbroken infinite unlimited happiness that alone is independent of any kind of contact with any number of finitudes that infinitude that bhuma alone is the real source of happiness whose reflection in some manner or other are reflected in infinite number finite number of objects it is this belief that happiness is in the objects outside us that is called bondage and the goal is to get out of that bond that is called sadhana in this background we will briefly discuss the 22nd section or anuaka in our next class om jananim sharadam devim ramakrishnam jagad gurum pada padme tayo sritva pranamami muhurmuhur may ramakrishna holy mother and swami vikananda bless us all with bhakti hey ramakrishna