Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 106 Ch3.8-9 on 27 May 2026
Full Transcript (Not Corrected)
Opening Prayer (Śānti Pāṭha)
ॐ जननीं शारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् ।पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः
Oṁ jananīṁ śaraḍhāṁ deveṁ rāmakriṣṇam jagad-gurum
pādapadmetayosritvā pranamāmi-muhurumuhu
ॐ सह नाववतु ।
सह नौ भुनक्तु ।
सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।
तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥ हरि ॐ
OM SAHANAVAVATO SAHANAV BHUNAKTO SAHAVIRYAM KARAVAVAHAI TEJASVINAVADHITAMASTUMA VIDVISHAVAHAI OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI HARIHI OM
OM May Brahman protect us both. May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of knowledge.
May we both obtain the energy to acquire knowledge.
May what we both study reveal the truth. May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other.
OM PEACE PEACE PEACE BE UNTO ALL
Introduction: Recap of Previous Class
In our last class, we completed the 7th section (Anuvaka) of this Taittiriya Upanishad, especially the 3rd chapter called Bhriguvalli, wherein we have been taught that the whole universe is a manifestation of God or Brahman, and Brahman manifests in the form of nama and rupa (names and forms). There is nothing else excepting that pure consciousness with names and forms. That is another word for creation. Creation is Brahman plus names and forms. Brahman means creation minus names and forms.
So the Upanishad wants to teach us: we are each jiva is none other than Brahman. "I am Brahman" – Aham Brahmasmi. That is the meaning of whatever mahavakya we call it – the most essential teachings of the Upanishads.
Now, that is what Swami Vivekananda said: each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to realise that I am divine, and this can be done by converting my mind, my speech, and my actions. Whatever we do through these three – mind, speech, and actions – that is called karma. But if the karma is done with the motive of realisation, it is called karma yoga. But if it is done with the idea of enjoying the world, we will be increasing the bondage.
But one thing is common to both of these: whether I want preyas or shreyas, I have to work. But in work, also there is something called scripture-directed work and selfishly motivated work. So whether we want to enjoy or whether we want to progress in spiritual life, yoga is necessary. If it is for worldly enjoyments, then what yoga is necessary? Dharma yoga. Karma plus dharma gives us punyam, which results in happiness according to how much dharma we do. But if we want to be free from this world, then we have to do karma with yoga. Yoga means I want to know that I am Brahman – I am none other than Brahman. For that purpose, we have to do spiritual practice, and one of the first things we have been given are these three: the body, the speech, and the mind.
So the mind has to determine what type of actions I want. What do I want? Do I want worldly happiness or do I want God? If I want worldly happiness, I cannot get it by hook or crook; I will have to practise spiritual disciplines because remember, the giver of the results of karma – even for a worldly person, if it is righteous action or unrighteous action – the results have to be given by a higher power. That is called God – Ishvara, Vidhata, or Adhishthata through devatas (residing deities), etc., etc.
Even for the sake of moksha, clearly Sri Ramakrishna mentions, in accordance with the teachings of the Upanishads, without the grace of the guru, without the grace of God, one cannot realise God. We have to be extraordinarily clear about this point. Karma yoga or any yoga will not give us moksha because it falls under karma. All the yogas are to be achieved only through karma. Karma is limited, and what is limited cannot give the unlimited. But seeing our earnestness, then God becomes gracious and removes the obstacles.
How does God give us mukti? Simply, He won't appear in front and then say, "I am giving you mukti" – though in puranas that is said like that, or one can have that kind of experience also, which is not unreal. But the point is, we have to be able to receive God's grace, and that ability to receive God's grace can be achieved only through karma – rather, karma yoga. So karma yoga is necessary even for higher worldly enjoyment.
Example from Kathopanishad: Nachiketa's Father
Remember the story in the Kathopanishad. We see Nachiketa's father wanted to go to heaven but was clinging to his property – that is, to his wealth. In those days, they are called the cows. So he was keeping the best cows for himself, and other than the best, he was trying to give away. In this context, the Upanishad goes to the extreme in the Kathopanishad, and it says the cows were about to die. How do we know? Because it says so: they have eaten their last bit of grass, they have given the last drop of the milk. So that means they are not going to live for a long time.
We should never misunderstand that anybody will give a dying cow – a cow which is about to die or so old that it cannot give any milk. I don't think any commonsensical person will do that, not to speak of a great person like Nachiketa's father, who was well known for his generosity by distributing food. That's why he was famous as Vajashravasa for giving food to lots and lots of people – that's why he was well famed as a feeder of people. Vaja means anna. So he would never give second-class, definitely. But he was giving.
What is a person going to do even with the best cows, best body, best everything of this earth? He has to give up this body. Once anybody gives up the body, the question of everything that belongs to the body will also disappear. Just to give a crude example: suppose you just bought a nice sweet mango and are walking by the roadside where a sewage canal is flowing, and somehow the mango slipped from your finger and fell into the sewage canal. So even though your mind is longing, all the sweetness, everything will disappear with the disappearance of the mango. In a similar way, when this body falls, whatever belongs – the wealth, the property, the family, the religion, the language, the scholarship, the special talent – everything will fall away. The name and fame, everything will fall away.
So did he not understand? It took him some time. So Nachiketa – as I prefer to interpret – is the thoughtful Nachiketa's father, who pondered over what he was doing, examined himself, found himself wanting, and then he renounced. And then, along with that, he also said even going to heaven is as good as living happily on this earth; one day it will come to an end. And he must have been a learned person – he was a brahmana. Therefore, we have to understand that he thought over it, he examined himself, he discriminated, then he gave up vairagya, and then he became a first-class fit sadhana chatushtaya sampanna adhikari. He approached a great brahmajnani – in this case, happened to be the conqueror of death, Yama. Dharma raja is the conqueror of death, and a brahmajnani is also a conqueror of death.
Anyway, all these examples – I am giving it is Bhagavan only. What does a brahmajnani do? See, understand what is his knowledge: there is no difference between Brahman and this creation. But how did he come to that knowledge, realisation? He must have gone exactly through the same upasanas – meditations: first rituals, then exclusive meditations. And this Upanishad is giving certain meditations for us.
Continuation: The 7th Anuvaka
In the 7th Anuvaka, we have seen that the whole world – nobody is superior, nobody is inferior – because everything is the enjoyer, everything is the enjoyed, everything is the supporter, everything is the supported. Therefore, the enjoyer and the enjoyed, the supporter and the supported – therefore superiority complex, inferiority complex – no complex should ever come. If we understand this one truth, then further examples that are going to follow allow us to extend the same idea accordingly. Some more examples are given.
So Brahman alone is manifesting as a creation in the way of nama and rupa. He pervades everything; He is everything. That is what Bhagavan Krishna says: yad yad vibhutimat sattvam – wherever you see any special glory, that belongs to me. But we should not say an ordinary person who doesn't have any special talent is not me. In the 9th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavan says every being is rooted in me, has come out of me, is being sustained by me, and comes back to me. And in this Taittiriya, Bhrigu was taught so.
Bhagavan becomes both the enjoyer and the enjoyed, the supporter and the supported. For that, I have given you the example of the dream. So in the dream, everything is me only. So if somebody is looking at me, he is the enjoyer, I am the enjoyed – even if that person is looking at me with hatred, with enmity, or with love, it doesn't matter. I am the object, he is the subject. And when I am looking at him, I am the subject, he is the object. And in the end, when I wake up, I realise that the entire dream universe is nothing but my own consciousness. And how did I create? With the help of the thoughts – mind.
So this is how we have to understand.
The Meaning of "Anna" (Food)
So the 7th Anuvaka in the 7th section says: annam means food. Start with food. Food means whatever we eat, and we are what we eat. Therefore, food – physical food. That's why we do Brahma arpanam whenever before we start eating food – everything is Brahman. In fact, that particular shloka is a most marvellous shloka; it comes in the 4th chapter, 24th shloka of the Bhagavad Gita, indicating sarvam khalvidam brahma – the eater is Brahman, the eaten is Brahman, the instrument through which one eats is Brahman, and the digestive fire is also Brahman. There is nothing other than Brahman. And at the end of the second line of the shloka, it says this is called karma samadhi. That is nirvikalpa samadhi – another word for brahma jnana. So through karma, we see everything as Brahman. That is the important message. That is a mahavakya – karma samadhi is a mahavakya.
So we have seen annam na nindyat in that context. We have seen here: annam means food, but slowly extended. So my body is nothing but food because whatever I eat – that is my body. Whatever I read, whatever I listen, whatever I ponder, I think – that is annam for the mind. And whatever I speak, whatever I hear – that is annam for the vak. So these three are inseparable: my action depends upon my speech and mind; my mind depends upon my action.
A Story on the Interconnection of Thought, Speech, and Action
There is a wonderful example of how the mind can be dependent upon our world. I heard recently a beautiful story. There was a famous Bengali singer, and his voice was mesmerising. He used to sing Rabindra Sangeet, and he had several singers as close friends. And one of the close friends, it seems, one day took him aside and said, "My brother, if you go on singing Rabindra Sangeet and we can only sing Rabindra Sangeet, nobody would listen to us. So please stop singing Rabindra Sangeet. Sing anything else – modern songs, etc." And he promised: "From today, I will not deprive you of your income. I will not sing Rabindra Sangeet." And he gave the word, and that word became the thought in his mind, and that word became his action. Thereafter, it seems he never sang. I don't know how far this story is true – I only heard about it – but whatever it is, it is an example.
Once Sri Ramakrishna promises something to somebody, he must go. Once he promised, "I will visit your house from Dakshineswar." He forgot. Almost at about midnight, he remembered. Immediately, with the help of somebody, he went there. Of course, the host had closed the door, but Sri Ramakrishna put his foot inside the compound – maybe it is a fenced compound, I don't know. So he said, "I have come, I have come three times," and thus he had to fulfil; otherwise, he would not have been able to sleep at all.
So our actions influence our thoughts and our speech; our speech influences our actions and our thought; our thoughts, of course, influence our speech and actions. They are three in one, one in three.
The Universe as Food
So we are made up of food. So the whole world is made up of food. Everybody's body is food – even the body of a non-living thing. Because if the non-living is destroyed – so-called non-living, for example, the Arctic areas are bombed – they will become nothing but water, and that water will become a watery grave for all of us. How many cities will be submerged? But that's the least important point. If the northern and southern Arctic areas do not exist, our entire climate becomes topsy-turvy, and it is impossible for us to breathe, to live. Everything depends upon everything else. Scientists have understood it as – as I said – it is called a holistic attitude. They also named it: every act that we do, even our breathing, affects something somewhere. So that is why they named it the "butterfly effect". It is to say the whole universe is one, and another name for this whole universe is God or Brahman.
So annam na nindyat – do not blame anything, anybody, not only food. That is what Holy Mother says: stop finding fault with others. That is the essence, and the same idea is continued.
Entering the 8th Anuvaka
Now we will enter into the 8th Anuvaka. Here, in the 8th Anuvaka, it is said that annam na parichakshitha. So a seeker of Brahman should never waste food in any manner. Let me read the original mantra, then we will discuss about it:
अन्नं न परिचक्षीत
annam na paricakṣīta
Paricakṣīta – earlier we said: do not criticise. That means look upon it as holy, as a manifestation of Brahman. But it doesn't mean that I can throw it away. That is why Hindus never walk on food material thrown out – real Hindus would never walk, real human beings would never walk.
अन्नं न परिचक्षीत तद्व्रतम्
annam na paricakṣīta tad vratam
This is a promise to God that I will keep up this vow. And then the relationship – enjoyer, enjoyed; supporter, supported – will be given:
आपो वा अन्नं ज्योति रन्नादम् अप्सु ज्योति प्रतिष्ठितम् ज्योतिष्वापः प्रतिष्ठिताः तदेतदन्नमन्ने प्रतिष्ठितम् स य एतदन्नमन्ने प्रतिष्ठितं वेद प्रतितिष्ठति
āpo vā annaṃ jyotir annādam apsu jyotiḥ pratiṣṭhitam jyotiṣvāpaḥ pratiṣṭhitāḥ tad etad annam anne pratiṣṭhitam sa ya etad annam anne pratiṣṭhitaṃ veda pratitiṣṭhati
So the result of one who keeps up this vow – this spiritual vow – is being said. One who faithfully observes this promise to God gets great results. So four results are promised of such a keeper of the sacred vow. The whole life is nothing but converting our life into a yajna. In English language, they call it "sacraments". What is a sacrament? That which makes everything sacred is a sacrament.
So four results are promised: 1. He becomes a wealthy person, possessing everything. 2. He becomes a great person. 3. He will be endowed with very good children, very good disciples. 4. He will also have plenty of worldly wealth.
Not only that, since he is contemplating on Brahman, his face – his life – will be glowing with brahma varchas, and he will be well known. Doesn't mean he will be known by wicked people, no. He will be known because – how many people really understood Sri Ramakrishna in those days? But as time passes, more and more people are coming to understand what a great person he was.
The literal, simple English meaning of this mantra is: let him, the seeker of Brahman who is very eager, bent upon realisation of Brahman, never abandon, waste, or throw away food. And that is the vow: "I promised to God that I will try to observe it so long as I am conscious." And then: water is really food, fire is the eater. Fire rests on water, depends on water, and water depends on fire. Thus, food rests on food – both are food. Fire also is food, water also is food. He who knows this supporter-supported, enjoyer-enjoyed relationship becomes a possessor of plenty of food and an eater or enjoyer of food. He becomes great in offspring and cattle and in spiritual radiance and in great fame.
These results are common to all the four vratas we are going to discuss.
The Second Vrata: Not Wasting Food
So this is the vrata number two. What was the vrata number one? Annam na nindyat – one should not find fault with anna at all. So one should not throw away or waste food. There is a belief that if one wastes food, food also will waste that person. Thus, one should not disrespect neither food nor anything that is made up of food. And what is there in this whole universe? Nothing but made up of food. That is to say, that is an object of our experience, of our enjoyment. Tad vratam. And this is above every spiritual seeker – sincere must practise this, irrespective of which religion, which language, which country one is residing in. It doesn't matter. That's why everybody – when a Christian goes to the church, so he thinks what is called food, the wine and the bread, is the body and bread of Jesus Christ. To go to Islam, then you will say halal food. What is halal? Offered to God. So nothing should be wasted.
Earlier: do not criticise. Now: I would not criticise, but I can waste. And waste can be in two ways: first, I overeat and I waste, and then food wastes me also. That is why fatness is the greatest health enemy nowadays, because plenty of food is available – not really, but those who have the means can have anything they want anytime they want. First-class mangoes are available all the time. But nothing should be wasted – not only food.
Examples from Holy Mother, Sri Ramakrishna, and Ramana Maharshi
So there is an example. Once Holy Mother found some people – probably some monks – had cleaned a place, and the broom was thrown carelessly in a corner. Immediately, Mother ran there, picked it up, and put it in the proper place in a most respectful manner. Should one treat – after all, it is serving us. Everything should be given its own due place, due respect.
Another example, you know, because plenty of devotees used to come, plenty of food had to be prepared. So plenty of vegetables had to be dressed, and then a lot of the peelings, etc. – the skin, the stems, etc. – have to be thrown out. And these people just threw them away on the street. Then Holy Mother noticed it. Immediately, she took up a basket, collected all of them, and said, "Nothing should be wasted. So we may not be able to eat this one, these peelings, but cows – that is their due food. They will be so happy. Instead of eating mere grass, if you can give them these vegetable peelings – even if a mango is skinned, a banana is skinned – there is so much nutrition even in that skin. And that should be their due; they should be given."
And Sri Ramakrishna never wasted anything. He required some fire. So somebody was about to light a matchstick. Immediately he stopped and said, "Why do you want to waste a matchstick? In the Nahabat, fire is burning, food is being cooked. Just take a small dry piece of wood, which is available plenty in that garden area. Bring it; that will do our purpose." So you see, in their eyes, everything is Brahma.
In this respect, I remember a beautiful incident in the life of Ramana Maharshi. So what happened? Once a huge number of devotees had come and brought all peelings for being thrown – plenty, basket full. And he just casually happened to come there and then observed the basket full and said, "What are you going to do with it?" "We are going to throw it out." "No, no, no, no – why do you throw it out? This can be a beautiful curry." Immediately, he specially prepared a beautiful curry made out of the peelings of – I think – brinjals. And the devotees who tasted them said it must be nothing less than a miracle because Bhagavan stirred it and made it. He was an expert cook. A brahmajnani, by the way, will be an expert cook. Brahma arpanam was a very great cook. Swami Vivekananda was one of the first-class chefs. He need not have worked in Vidyasagar School; if only he started as a chef in some food restaurant, he would have made millions, perhaps.
So nothing should be wasted, because every waste is another form of Brahman only. Everything must be shown due respect.
The Relationship: Enjoyer/Enjoyed and Supporter/Supported
So that is the first. Second vratam: I will respect, I will not waste. What is the relationship? As we said on all these four vratas, we are going to get two types of relationships: enjoyer-enjoyed and supporter-supported. So here in this, we have got tejas (meaning Agni) and jalam – that is to say, fire and water. So from one angle, water is food and fire is the eater. When we are eating food, it has to be mixed with saliva; only then it is thrown out, only then it can be digested properly. And when we drink water, it is received by the Vaishvanara fire. That is, water becomes food and fire that digests becomes the annada – the enjoyed.
On the other side, from another angle, water becomes the eater and fire becomes the food – eater also. So how does water become the eater? When we chew, the water has to make the food that we chew enjoyable. So water becomes the eater. And then without water, fire cannot exist; without fire, water also cannot exist.
In the description of how Atman had become, we have seen that five elements – both subtle as well as gross. So from space came air, from air came fire, from fire came water. So fire became the cause, water became the effect. But when we are resolving back, moving higher and higher, then water becomes the cause, fire becomes the effect, because the water goes and resolves itself into the fire.
What is meant? What the Upanishad wants to convey: without water, fire is useless; without fire, water also is useless. So whenever we eat something – even physically or when we are giving a speech – when does the speech become fiery? Only a person who is suffering from terrible thirst, his voice becomes not fiery but feeble. But when the same person drinks plenty of water – that's why every now and then, whether it is a singer or a speaker, you can observe them going on eating. So they are inseparable – that is the idea.
So fire blazes externally; we pour water on it and it becomes extinguished. Here, water is consuming fire – fire becomes food and water becomes the eater. What we have to understand is that they have an inseparable relationship.
The Second Relationship: Support and Supported
And then this is the first relationship. What is the second relationship? Support or supported relationship: fire depends on water, and water depends on fire. When discussing creation, scripture says – already I have told you – that fire is the cause and water becomes the effect. But in the reverse way, water becomes the cause and fire becomes the effect. Fire is the cause of water; water is the cause of fire. So the supporter is called pratishtha and the supported is called pratishthitam. So both are mutually dependent upon each other.
One of the commentators has given a beautiful example. After the severe heat wave of summer comes rainy season – at least in India we can see six seasons. So just when the rainy season starts, what happens? That first rain-bearing clouds come – this is the commentator's special observation – rain-bearing clouds, and these clouds are being carried by the wind, and gradually they come down, and from there lightning comes – lightning and thunder. So you see, the rain becomes the cause. Water-bearing clouds become the cause; fire (lightning) becomes the effect. So if the rain-bearing clouds are the water element, lightning is the fire element; water becomes the support and fire becomes the supported. Water becomes the cause and the lightning becomes the effect.
That is why even the scientists and geologists tell us: at the beginning, our earth is full of – what you call – full of heat, heat only, burning slowly. It cooled down. Now think about it: what made the fire cool down? It must be watery element only, because when a house is on fire, how do you remove the fire? By pouring water. So the water must have been manifesting, and as the manifestation of water became more and more, the fiery earth planet slowly started losing its heat and transformed itself into this vast ocean of water.
And by the way, the whole world is floating in nothing but what you call waters. In Hinduism, we call it seven seas. So we are all – whether it is India or America – it is all floating only in water, that's all. And in our body also, fire element is there. So what happens when we are feeling excessive heat? What happens? Water comes out in the form of sweating. So never criticise sweating, because sweat is saving our lives. And whenever we are feeling hot, we drink water. So water becomes the cause for the coolness of the heat. So heat becomes extinguished by the effect of the fire. Without both, life is impossible. That is the idea.
Don't quarrel who is superior, who is inferior. All the five elements depend upon each other. That is what we need to understand. Both are enjoyable, both are enjoyed. For example, akasha – akasha means space. Space means that which gives us the opportunity to do actions. If I am not there to play about, to walk about, to move about, who is going to recognise even the akasha? So my body, which is nothing but manifestation of this earth – the earth is necessary to recognise the space. Otherwise, who is going to recognise this space? Bhagavan is not Bhagavan when a bhakta is not there to support him. As Ramakrishna funnily says, humorously, "If there is no devotee, then God becomes redundant, useless." So He depends upon devotees to recognise that "I am Bhagavan." At the same time, without Bhagavan, bhaktas also become so.
So who enjoys? Devotees enjoy Bhagavan; Bhagavan also enjoys bhaktas. Parents enjoy the children; children also enjoy the parents. Everything is enjoyer and enjoyed, supporter and supported. Earlier we gave the example – remember, I hope – that when the parents give birth, mother gives birth, parents become the supporters and the children become the supported. But when the parents become old, children become the supporters. What a marvellous relationship! Everything in this world can take place. Never ever say something is redundant.
Now we are paying the price of what happened. I think I have mentioned the name of the book The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. She proved conclusively that DDT was killing so many insects, etc., and because there were no insects, the birds were not coming; because the birds were not coming, the trees were not growing; because the trees were not growing, the rivers could not be supported – a river flowing. So she proved conclusively this holistic attitude: everything depends upon everything.
So whoever progresses in this contemplation through this meditation, the result they get is also the result of being established in that. Then they become possessors of plenty, enjoyers of plenty, and they are progressing, and their face glows with the light of the knowledge of Brahman. They get good relations, good children, good disciples, plenty of wealth. So all these good results – people will recognise them either at that time or later on. But a real spiritual person doesn't want "I want to be known, I want to do this, that" at all.
So this is the essence of the 8th section.
Then we enter Navamo Anuvakaha. If you follow the same arguments, we can finish quickly.
अन्नं बहु कुर्वीत तद्व्रतम्
annam bahu kurvīta tad vratam
Let the seeker of Brahman make food plentiful – that is the vow. The earth is really food; the akasha is the eater. The akasha rests on the earth, and the earth rests on the akasha. Thus, food – which are both earth and akasha – rests on food. He who knows this resting of food on food is established. He becomes a possessor of food and an eater of food. He becomes great in offspring and cattle and in spiritual radiance and great in fame.
In this, we will see the third vow. This one: food should be produced plenty, because not only for oneself but it is also useful. If some days, some years, rain is less and the harvest is very poor, then it is highly helpful to store it. But in those days, famine might come and poor people may not have. If a householder can observe this vow and produce plenty of food, one should never think, "This much of food is enough for me, for my family; I will not cultivate more." A householder would be committing a heinous sin. He should do plenty.
In this connection, we also have to – there is no objection to earn more money, because nowadays money is called food. That is something that can be used to enjoy oneself and also help others to enjoy.
Conditions for Accumulating Wealth
Now, only two conditions are necessary: 1. The wealth should be accumulated only by righteous means – dharmika pravartana, through a righteous life. 2. Just because the Upanishad tells us, 24 hours or plenty of hours should not be wasted. Everything has to be controlled; everything has its own due place. So we have to keep that in mind.
There is a time for worship, there is a time for spending time with family, there is a time for studying, there is a time for puja, there is a time for pilgrimage, there is a time for spending in satsanga – there is a time for everything. So within some allotted time, whatever one can manage, do this.
And Sri Ramakrishna gives specific example – instructions to M. Yes, "Whatever is necessary, you do that." But at the same time, it should be earned by righteous means, and there is nothing wrong in it. In fact, as Krishna says to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, if you do not fight as a Kshatriya in a righteous war, then you will be incurring sin. What is a righteous war? Where evil people want to grab and cause immense suffering to other people, so you should prevent this evil from spreading. That is one of the very bounden duties of the warrior class, everywhere. That is very important for us to understand.
Every varna has its own respective duties; one should carry them out. A country should be prosperous; then only, if other countries require it, can supply food, etc. So we all depend – give and take. So share the excess food you have with those who do not have, because hunger is the primary need of a person. And hunger doesn't mean only food; it could be money, it could be many other ways – clothes, shelter, water. See, if somebody is deprived of river water, then how much the people on the other side suffer! So satisfy your hunger, help other people; through that, you will also enjoy higher things.
So food, water, cloth, shelter, safety – all these must be made plenty. Therefore, take a vow. That is especially for householders – remember, not for brahmacharis, not for vanaprasthis, not for sannyasins, but for householders. And this is a sacred vow we will have to observe.
The Two Relationships in the 9th Anuvaka
So this is what – here two elements are mentioned: earth and akasha. They have both types of relationships: the enjoyer-enjoyed relationship and the supporter-supported relationship. That is a beautiful idea, which we will talk about in our next class.
Closing Prayer
ॐ जननीं शारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् ।पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः
Oṁ jananīṁ śaraḍhāṁ deviṁ rāmakriṣṇam jagad-gurum pādapadmetayosritvā pranamāmi-muhurumuhu
May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna!