Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 115 Summary on 29 July 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: The Essence of the Taittirīya Upanishad

We had completed the Taittirīya Upaniṣad in our last class. Just to connect what we had discussed: the Taittirīya Upaniṣad in the third chapter, Bhṛguvallī, ends with most marvellous conclusions. This is very important, and we have to interpret it in the light of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's words.

Ya Evaṃ Veda – Whoever Knows

What does the Upaniṣad say? Ya evaṃ veda – "Whoever knows." Whatever we have been teaching you, if someone really follows our footsteps – because a ṛṣi is one who himself had followed his guru's teachings – and this traditional guru-paramparā from Guru to the worthy disciple has been going on since when? Since the beginning of creation. And it started with whom, if you recollect? Brahmā was given the task – not Brahman, but Brahmā the creator, Saguṇa Brahma – was given the task of creating. So he created four mental children – mānasa-putrāḥ – Sanaka, Sanandana, etc. And the moment they were born, their minds were so pure that instantaneously they attained to that knowledge without the least bit of effort.

Why Was Effort Not Needed?

Why was effort not needed? Because their minds never became contaminated in the creation. Their father, Brahmā, commanded them: "Create! Now continue – I created you, you go on creating." That means "get married." A person who is born a monk – his mind is so pure – so he is getting the reflection of the highest bliss because his mind has become like the purest of pure mirrors, uncontaminated by any dust, dirt, etc., because time had just begun. It is only time which makes something old, stained, etc. That is why, if you recollect, Brahman is given a special name – He is called purāṇaḥ api navaḥ – "Even though He is ancient, He is eternal." Eternal means beyond time. Beyond time means what is it that stains, that corrupts, that degenerates? How does rust come on a newly created copper pillar, silver pillar, or golden pillar? How does it become stained over the number of days, months, years – the sunlight, the rain, etc.?

The Four Spiritual Children

But these four spiritual children of Brahmājī are just fresh creations, and Brahmā is Saguṇa Brahma – and therefore they did not need any instruction; their own minds had become the greatest mirrors. So we have to understand this beautiful concept. Swami Brahmanandaji used to say: at the beginning, a person requires instructions and guidance. But in the end, when the mind becomes sufficiently pure, then mind itself becomes the unerring guide. That is what we need to understand.

So this is what is being told here. These four spiritual children of Brahmā are so great, so pure, fresh from the mint (as we say) – they are untouched. Therefore, they understood immediately: "What is the purpose of saṃsāra? I am not complete. I have lots of desire." Desire means incompleteness – apūrṇa. But they did their experience: what is desire? Desire is to get more happiness. "I am not happy. I would like to be happy. And this object, I think, can give me happiness and make me complete. I, who am incomplete, can become complete by obtaining this particular object." But this is a myth – it is not going to happen. This mithyā and mithyā have a deep relationship we have to understand.

The Four Sanakādi Sages

So they were getting so much joy – why do they want any object when they are directly experiencing Brahman ānanda in their own minds? So they immediately renounced the world and went away. Then Brahmā himself had to divide himself into the Puruṣa and the Prakṛti – the male and the female. That is how sṛṣṭi starts. This is one of the stories.

Purāṇa Api Nava

So Brahman is called purāṇa – "even though ancient" – ancient means what? Eternal. He who has no beginning – anādi. And because there is no time – beyond time – He is not contaminated: purāṇa api nava.

The Mahābhārata as Purāṇa

And we can also interpret every Purāṇa. Take for example – even though the Mahābhārata is not labelled, categorised, titled as a Purāṇa, it is nothing but a Purāṇa because its purpose is not to collate what you call some historical facts and weave them in a story form so that we can pursue it. The purpose of the Mahābhārata is entirely different. The purpose of the Mahābhārata is to draw our attention from bondage to liberation. Swami Vivekananda categorises it so beautifully. He says the whole Mahābhārata, especially the Bhagavad Gītā, is an allegory.

The Allegory of the Kṣetra

What is the allegory? This kṣetra – the entire creation – is something we have to cultivate. What should we cultivate? The four fruits of life we have to cultivate: Dharma, Artha, Kāma, Mokṣa.

Dharma – I feel incomplete. So I feel the need to possess some objects so that I can become complete. For that purpose, I have to do it in a righteous manner – any unrighteous way of acquiring things would be counterproductive. Therefore, my desire should be dharmic desire; my thought should be dharmic thoughts; my action should be dharmic actions. Everything should be dharmic only – should not be anything else.
Artha – Then I get what I want. That is called artha-prāpti. Artha means instruments. Instruments means what? Let my mind be pure, let my body be healthy – bhadraṃ karṇebhiḥ śṛṇuyāma devāḥ – let every limb of mine be perfect. Any defect in the body will be a great obstruction not only in spiritual progress but in every type of progress. So let my body be perfectly healthy; let all my limbs work perfectly; and then let me get objects which will be appropriate.
Kāma – Desires will be dharmic. Even desires must be analysed: "Is it a dharmic desire? Is it an ādharmic desire?" As an example, I feel like eating a sweet. Is it dharmic or ādharmic? It depends. Suppose I do not have money – I want to steal some money, which I know how to obtain, and I take to that means – even though the desire looks innocent, neutral, it immediately becomes an ādharmic desire because from desire springs action. Therefore, my very thought "I would like to eat a sweet" – but it should be obtained dharmically.
Mokṣa – Then is it the end of it? No. So I must obtain it dharmically. To enjoy anything, the object must be fit and in the best condition, and the body must be in the very height of health, and the mind should be completely happy and free from any worry.

The Purpose of Confession

Any type of unrighteous action brings about guilty feelings. That is why in Christianity there is something called confession. The purpose of confession is that if you want to be a good Christian, you should analyse your mind, see whether your thoughts are righteous or unrighteous – and of course actions follow our thoughts – so confess them. The purpose of confession is that the priest who hears then will prescribe what you need to do. We are under the mistaken notion that the priest says "All right, you repeat ten Hail Marys, then you will be free." That is not what a spiritual father who is the confessor will do.

The Role of the Confessor

What will he do? First, he will tell you: "You must try to get rid of this unholy desire." And then for that, you pray to God: "From now onwards, whatever you have done, pray to God – I will not do it. I will not repeat it. I promise you." Api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ. Vyavasita means firm determination – the firmest determination – samyak righteous determination – that is called dharmic determination. So after hearing the spiritual father (Guru), he will prescribe: "Then you pray to God to give you strength and grace so that you will not repeat it." But on the contrary, you will do pratipakṣa bhāvanam. Then he will also ask you to bestow God's grace, pray to Him that you may have not only right understanding but right willpower to put them into practice.

Why Discuss This in Connection with the Taittirīya Upanishad?

Why am I talking all these things in connection with the Taittirīya Upaniṣad? Some of you may be wondering – because these are what is involved in the eleventh section of the first chapter of the Taittirīya. In fact, the whole first chapter – and every chapter in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad – is called a Vallī. Śikṣāvallī – śikṣā has two meanings: it is a perfect righteous training, and also the consequences – if you deviate, then śikṣā will come. Not only śikṣā, but śikṣā will also come, and we will discuss very briefly these points.

Chittaśuddhi – Purification of the Mind

The first part of spiritual sādhanā is to make our mind clean – cittaśuddhi. And cittaśuddhi can be obtained only by replacing unrighteous impressions of past lives with righteous impressions. For that, pratipakṣa bhāvanam is necessary. For that, we see at the very beginning of the eleventh section of the first chapter: Satyam vada. Here vada means "to speak", but it has tremendous meaning. Vada means first you have to decide, determine – formally promise to God: "I want to realise the truth – satyam jñānam anantam brahma" – that determination – "this truth is my goal, attainment of the truth." Each soul is potentially divine, and the goal of life is to manifest this potential divinity. How beautifully Swamiji had extracted the essence of the Upaniṣads, which is nothing but Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's teachings.

Truthfulness Is the Greatest Austerity

What does Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa say? In this yuga – but I would add in every yuga – truthfulness is the greatest austerity. Once a person holds on to truth, that truth itself – the path of truth itself – will take us to truth, paramasatyam which is Brahman.

The Essence of Śikṣāvallī

So coming back: first we have to understand what is righteousness – whether it is thought, speech, or action – and how to do this is the very essence, so to say, of the first chapter called Śikṣāvallī. So that is what it wants to teach from the very beginning. But what is the foundation?

Akṣara Abhyāsa – The Beginning of Learning

In the Indian system of education, when a child is three to four years old, he will be initiated into what we call Akṣara Abhyāsa – that is, the beginning of learning – "A for Apple, B for Ball", etc. But there is a tremendous meaning in it. In the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā – called Vibhūti Yoga, the glories of the Divine Lord – the Lord proclaims: Akṣarāṇām akāro 'smi – "I am Akāra among all the alphabets." That is why it is called Akṣara – because this Akāra is the very foundation. As we have seen, what is Oṃkāra? Consisting of A, U, and M – and that Akāra is the very foundation. No letter – that means no speech – can be without Akāra. What is Ukāra? Ukāra is a modification of Akāra. What is Makāra? Modification of Akāra only. Everything in this world is a modification of Akāra. That is why A is called indestructible, imperishable. That is why it is called Akṣara – akṣara means imperishable. And what is it that is imperishable? Only God or Brahman – whatever name you would like to give – that supreme reality is called Akṣara.

The Beginning of a Child's Life

So what are we talking about? A child's life should begin with learning the alphabet – that is called Akṣara Abhyāsa. That is why the very first thing they make the child write – the baby will not write – one takes the baby's hand, takes a small pencil or a twig of a particular tree, and then makes him write on rice (akṣatas), and the very first thing is to make the child – with the help of the hand holding the baby's hand – write Oṃ. Because Oṃ is the very foundation of not only literature, not only language, but the whole philosophy of life – the goal of life is summarised in that Oṃkāra. That is what we have seen in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad: sarvaṃ omkāra eva ca – "Everything is Oṃkāra" – the past, present, and future – tat sarvaṃ oṃkāra eva. Because the letters are the expressions of knowledge; every letter is knowledge – so akṣara.

The Importance of Pronunciation

But not only does one have to write, one has to pronounce. Pronouncing that – this is how this Taittirīya Upaniṣad begins – with how to pronounce: śikṣāṃ vyākhyāsyāmaḥ. So the training starts with Akāra – has to be pronounced like this; Ikāra has to be pronounced like this. Perfection not only in the choice of words but perfection in the choice of the right words to express the right meaning – that is called satyam vada, part of the satyam vada. Because any person who trains his mind in how language is used – even in our day‑to‑day language – I gave you many times the example: nowadays people have become so horrendous – for the sacred food they call it "grub". So we have seen they think it is fashionable. What did we learn from this Bhṛguvallī upāsanas? Annam na paricakṣīta – "Food should never be insulted" – because we are food at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. Not only that – Annam na paricakṣīta – "Food should not be wasted." Food means our life. Our life should not be wasted; time should not be wasted; mental energy should not be wasted.

Buddhist Meditation on Awareness

That is why Buddhism had developed a particular type of meditation – we can call it upāsana – and what is it? Observing everything – so the mind should not be scattered here and there – go on watching. If I carefully watch where I am walking, what is there in the path – that includes everything. If a car is coming fast towards me or behind me, I must – it is my duty to take responsibility for myself – so that even by mistake that car should not come and crash me. All this comes out of observation, awareness – and what happens? Most accidents are because of this – the mind getting distracted. Instead of focusing upon the driving, the person will be focusing upon something else. That is how we have to understand.

The Essence of the Taittirīya Upanishad

So coming back: we are trying to discuss what is the essence of the three chapters of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, and we have to keep certain things in mind. Every Upaniṣad teaches exactly the same thing – in different words, slightly different expressions of the same Sanskrit language. Some Upaniṣads are ancient, so sometimes the language is very tough to understand – only with the kind help of commentators like Śaṅkarācārya and, more importantly, with the notes given after Śaṅkarācārya had written his bhāṣyam – for example, Ānandagiri's ṭīkā (notes on the Śaṅkara bhāṣyam) – then only we can understand. Sometimes I understand Śaṅkara bhāṣyam better after reading the notes, the clarification given by Ānandagiri. Ānandagiri was a great commentator, but following Śaṅkara, he clarifies points which he thinks people like us can mistake or understand wrongly – or doubts might come. He makes it very, very clear. He had the ability – God had given him the ability even to surpass Śaṅkara sometimes – so that we can understand Śaṅkarācārya's words very properly.

The Mahāvākya of the Taittirīya

Coming back, this whole Taittirīya Upaniṣad ends in this Mahāvākya. What is that? The being in each one of us – each soul – and the being who is expressing especially in the sun, in our star the sun – is one and the same. That means to say, jīvātman (individual soul) and Paramātman (universal soul) – they are not two separate things; they are exactly one and the same thing.

Ya Evaṃ Veda – The Priceless Word

Ya evaṃ veda – "Whosoever knows this obtains liberation" – and this word ya evaṃ veda is a priceless word, as I mentioned earlier. Why? Because it does not say "only Hindus will go to Brahmaloka." Anybody – not Brahmaloka, but Brahmananda Loka. So Hindus, non‑Hindus, men and women – even children – we have instances even when a child is in the womb – for example, Ṛṣi Vāmadeva – and we have also seen some other ṛṣis like that – Aṣṭāvakra Samhitā – Aṣṭāvakra was a perfect realised soul even when he was in the womb of his mother.

Acceptance of Karma Siddhānta

That is why we have to necessarily accept Karma Siddhānta – which means acceptance of past lives, also future lives if necessary – and for most of us it is necessary. And also, not only that, all that we have done is how we are progressing, how we are evolving – whether we are deviating from the righteous path, and whenever we do that, suffering will be the result. If we are evolving, then more and more happiness will be the result. That is why marvellous things – even psychological things – are unravelled, revealed in these Upaniṣads.

Deep Sleep and Karmaphala

Even with regard to suṣupti – deep sleep – there also, a person can sleep much better. Another person now and then gets startled and temporarily – or for a longer time – the deep sleep is broken. Sometimes people wake up with a start and it takes a long time for them to fall asleep. Why? Because of karmaphala. The karmaphala creates impressions in the mind, and the mind is the cause – and that cause is there, like a huge banyan tree is in a seed. Deep sleep is compared to a seed. So sometimes a person cannot sleep. That means there is a qualitative difference even in deep sleep. That is to say, not the quality that we normally understand – whether a person can sleep for a shorter time or a little longer time or very long time – that is what I mean by qualitative difference. But when a person is in deep sleep, absolutely – whether it is a child (kumāraḥ), or a Mahārāja (a great king), or he may be a Mahābrāhmaṇa – it does not matter. But if deep sleep gets broken every now and then, we all experience it – especially if we have to catch a flight early in the morning. So even though we go to bed early or at the fixed time, how many times we wake up – so we keep an additional alarm clock, but most of the time we do not need it.

The Training of Śikṣāvallī

So this Śikṣāvallī wants first: training is vocal training – how to pronounce. And we have a theory also in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad itself – we get what is that theory? If one syllable of the Vedic mantras is uttered in a wrong way – instead of a long syllable, a short syllable – the meaning can completely change and the result will change. Perhaps it is a bit of exaggeration, but what it means is that it is no excuse for us – we should learn how to pronounce crystal clearly. That is why unconsciously we are attracted – suppose you are listening, whatever be the subject, but there are some people whose words are garbled, and so we struggle to find out what this man is trying to tell us. But there are people whose voices are very soothing – not only that, every single syllable is crystal clear – and it can be learned, and that learning comes only by undergoing a training.

The Classics and Literary Clarity

That is why, when we were young – I do not know what is happening now – we were given great classics in simple format to study; we have to pass exams. What is the purpose? These classical writers like Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, etc. – their works have tremendous literary beauty and literary clarity. If we can absorb that by reading, we unconsciously absorb a lot of things.

Kālidāsa's Prayer

That is why the great Kālidāsa had to pray to the Lord – and it is a profound śloka. What is that? Vāg-arthāv iva saṃpṛktau, vāg-artha-pratipattaye, jagataḥ pitarau vande, pārvatī-parameśvarau. Saguṇa Brahma means Śiva and Pārvatī – or Nārāyaṇa and Lakṣmī – it does not matter, the same being. If he is a Vaiṣṇava, he calls it Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa; if he is a Śaiva, he calls it Śiva-Pārvatī. But the purpose is that consciousness plus that power of multiplication – that is called Śakti – they cannot be separated. So an object and its name can never be separated. Therefore, this Śiva and Pārvatī are inseparable – like an object and its name. Vāk-artha-pratipattaye – "Only by Your grace, whatever idea I want to express, it should be crystal clear in the best way of expression" – that is possible only by the grace of Śiva and Pārvatī, or Nārāyaṇa and Lakṣmī. Jagataḥ pitarau vande – "I salute" – means I beg their grace – "let them manifest through me, let me be an instrument." Jemni bolo, temni boli – a realised soul says: "Whatever way You make me speak, O Mother, that I will speak." Jemni nācāo, temni nāci – "Whatever way You want to make me dance, I will dance happily." Of course I have no choice at all. So whatever jemni korāo, temni kori – "Whatever way You want me to do, that is what I will do."

God's Grace in Speech

God's grace is necessary, and God's grace comes first of all in the form of how to pronounce so that nobody can mistake a word that I am uttering. Not only that, the intention also should be not only clearly announcing – but the intention – my intention should not be to cheat, to mislead people, but to convey to them what I know is beneficial and does good for everybody. Because these words have tremendous influence. Words have tremendous influence, and our ancient ṛṣis had understood it, and now we are forcibly made to understand. But how is it that there was a terrible protest – whether right or wrong, I am not going to judge what I am trying to tell – so some influential people through social media like Instagram, Telegram, I do not know – they have poured words, and these words were read, and those words have enraged the people, excited the people. They do not have the capacity to discriminate what happens, but they have all become united – like Indians became united against the British people. Non‑cooperation – cooperation they will not do for evil things. We will do cooperation – that is Indians' very born nature. That is why we are in this condition. Otherwise, you would have been far ahead of any other country in this world.

The Threefold Training

So first thing is pure, perfect enunciation. Second, intention – and intention is even more important. Third, putting it into practice. The goal must be clear; where I am must be clear; and which pathway I have to take must be clear; and my determination, power of will, should not become weakened or anything. All these are possible only by the grace of God.

Padaccheda – Breaking Compound Words

That is why the very first section of this chapter – Śikṣāvallī – is here: how to pronounce so that we can read the Vedas in the proper manner and understand, break the words in their proper way – that is called pariccheda. So we have to solve the pariccheda. The Sanskrit language, where all words are combined in no other language, I find it combined so much like Sanskrit language. Of course, any language which is derived from Sanskrit as the basis also takes the same thing in their own language. But several times, some of the Śaṅkarācāryas, for example, in their bhāṣya commentary, it runs into 3456 lines, and especially in the fifteenth chapter describing this world as the root above and the branches below – ūrdhvamūlam adhaḥśākham – and in the Kaṭhopaniṣad as well, Śaṅkara goes into ecstasy – a whole paragraph describing.

The Need for Padaccheda

Now any beginner in Sanskrit language might get confused. But to separate these words will be very difficult – including we can also say those who are doing daily pārāyaṇa of Caṇḍīpāṭha or Lalitā Sahasranāma – without this breaking up of words separately, it is impossible to make the meaning. But if we know how to separate them properly, then it will be marvellous. Because ninety percent of the meaning will be clear when we can separate the words in their particular order. So that is why it is called padaccheda – and then they have to be arranged in a particular manner.

The Flexibility of Sanskrit

Unfortunately, in Sanskrit language these words can be – the subject can be at the end, and the action can be at the beginning, and the instrumental case will be in the middle – any order is absolutely fine. That is the best language, but it can also confuse. Whereas in English language, we never say "killed Rāma Rāvaṇāsura." If I utter this sentence to you – "killed Rāma Rāvaṇāsura" – you will be scratching your head: "What does it mean? Rāma? Killed Rāvaṇāsura?" It has to be put that way. But in Sanskrit, unfortunately – hataḥ rāvaṇaḥ rāmeṇa – and those who know Sanskrit immediately – rāmeṇa śastreṇa rāvaṇāsuram ahanyat. That is how not only padaccheda (separation of compound words) but also arranging them in the proper manner so that we can understand. Most people who know a little bit of Sanskrit can understand – their minds automatically arrange them in their minds. All this is included in the Śikṣāvallī first.

Samāsa and Sandhi

Then based upon that, we see what happens in the Śikṣāvallī. So, for example, let us say Rāma-Lakṣmaṇau – it is called dvandva samāsa – so Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa – you separate them, and then what they are doing you can do with them. That is one way – samāsas are there. When two or more words are combined, it is called samāsa. But when two vowels are joined, it is called sandhi. Sandhi means a joining force – for example, a plus e becomes ai. So how to separate them? Taking advantage of this principle of sandhi – union of two vowels – the Upaniṣad teaches us the oneness of the entire world that we are experiencing.

The Spiritual Meaning of Sandhi

What is it? Subject and object is the first division. Then mother and father – so when they come together – sandhi means coming together inseparably – mother and father come together, and what they do is the action; the result will be prajā – that is the progeny. Welcome. Guru, the teacher, and the student – they come together. So what does the Guru do? He teaches. And what happens to the student? He obtains knowledge. So this is called upāsana – upa + āsana – like sandhi – bring them nearer and nearer.

The World of Relationships

So taking this example – how to understand, how to obtain, squeeze meaning of the entire human experience into meaningful chunks? The whole world – saṃsāra – in psychological and sociological meaning is called the world of relationships. For example, friends and enemies, this country and that other country, India and Pakistan, USA and Iran – so relationships. Everything depends upon the relationship. A baby – what is the relationship? "I belong to the mother; mother belongs to me; mother and father belong to the same – so I am the resultant of the union between mother and father." Then my brothers, my sisters – then I have some people to assist me – servants, workers. So I have friends, I have neighbours, I have enemies, I have office workers, I am a club member. Everything is nothing but broken into relationships.

The Purpose of the Śikṣāvallī

How to develop this marvellous sense of relationship in a spiritual way? That is the purpose of the next section of the Śikṣāvallī. And then that is how the beginnings – the very seedling of upāsana – is taught to the children by the Guru in the Gurukula. When the child may be eight years old, he starts understanding, growing up. And then slowly detailing – then what happens to the child? Take him higher.

The Meaning of Upaniṣad

So first teach how to study the Vedas properly – how to teach them – adhyayana and adhyāpana are the special duties of the Brāhmaṇa. But that is a worldly relationship, worldly activity. But what about the Upaniṣad? The very meaning of the Upaniṣad is that which takes us nearer to truth – our own true nature – that is called Upaniṣad – Upa, Ni, Ṣad. So as we are taken by hand nearer to our nature, we are becoming more and more unlimited; we are leaving behind limitedness. Upāsana leads us to the unlimitedness. Brahman is ekam sat advitīyam – without a second, infinite.

The Five Categories of Debt

Slowly, these upāsanas – the whole universe is then divided into five categories: the people to whom we are indebted, and how can we give back? We are the borrowers, and we have to give back what we have borrowed from them. So the whole world is divided into five categories. How beautifully the Upaniṣad is taking us step by step. Otherwise, the world becomes an enigma – so many countless billions of things are there. Does it make any sense? We have to make a particular sense – not only a sense, but a spiritual sense. And for that purpose, the whole universe in the past, present, and future has been divided into those who borrow and those who give – lena bank, dena bank. But whatever we borrow, we have to return, because life will be unfulfilled and suffering will be the result if we do not return.

The Pañca Mahā Yajñas

So you can easily understand – these are called Pañca Mahā Yajñas. By very birth, by our very living on this earth, not only what we borrowed – we are borrowing every millisecond. I will come to that in a second. So these are called Pañca Yajñas. What is a yajña? Paying back our debt. And that action of paying back our debt releases us from all bondages.

1. Brahma Yajña (Rṣi Yajña)

So we are indebted to ṛṣis – those givers of knowledge. We are indebted to gods who make our life absolutely possible – not only possible, but who give our health, our happiness, fulfil all our desires. We are indebted to the gods.

2. Deva Yajña

We are also – our very body is the result of the union between our mother and father, and their bodies are the resultant of the union between their mothers and fathers. So not only physical body but the environment, home environment in which we grow up – and that is also we are indebted. That is why we learned a lot of things from the very beginning – how to love – our mother teaches us, our father teaches us, our teacher teaches us. So our brothers and sisters may teach us how to love, and that is how we learn: first we receive love, then we have to give it by ourselves to other people. What we receive, we have to give. This is the law of life. Life is give and take.

3. Pitṛ Yajña

So everything – we are indebted to the gods. Because it is of their grace – when we are indebted to our ancestors. So first is called Brahma Yajña (Ṛṣi Yajña), second is called Deva Yajña, third is called Pitṛ Yajña.

4. Nṛ Yajña (Manuṣya Yajña)

Not only that – our very life here is possible only because we are borrowing continuously the services of other people. So, for example – it just struck me – I am using ChatGPT quite frequently for good purposes, because you can also use it for very evil purposes. So how does it help me? It is helping me enormously, but there are people, there are companies, and they are spending vast amounts of money – but they are giving this free service – so they are spending money, and we have to be indebted to them. Some way we have to get rid of that debt. So other human beings everywhere are working for everybody else's purpose in different capacities. This is called Nṛ Yajña (Manuṣya Yajña). We have to show – wherever human beings are in need – by giving them what we freely receive, and it need not be in exactly the same format. So if I become rich, I can help to establish medical colleges or some spiritual centres which are doing social service, etc. This one – this is called Nṛ Yajña.

5. Bhūta Yajña

But what about the other yajña? And that is called Bhūta Yajña. Every living creature, including mosquitoes, rats, mice – they may be nuisance, but then they are in excess. But what do the rats do? Like the workers in the – what is that? In America, we go to that shows and other things – I am forgetting the name – so at night, thousands of workers come out and clean it spotlessly, specklessly, so that next morning visitors find it absolutely clean. So that is how every – the rats clean up; the ants clean up the living; microbes clean up. Otherwise, the world will not last – living is impossible. Not only that, our tea, our coffee, our cows, our birds, chickens – everything is providing food for us, and we are consuming them, trying, by killing them – and how much sacrifice they are made to do forcefully. Even human beings were made enslaved by many foreign countries some centuries back – how horribly they used to be hunted like animals and then made enslaved. And they are talking about democracy – I would say "demonocracy" – but we are indebted. This is called Bhūta Yajña.

The Law of Giving Back

So all we are indebted – as long as we live, we should not be indebted – we should give them back. That is one thing. But the other thing I wanted to mention: we are indebted to Devas. These Devas – we do not – we have to call them Devas. Those who do not know, they call them pañcabhūtas. If there is no space, we cannot do any activity. If there is no oxygen, we cannot survive. So without any of these five, we cannot survive. Without warmth – fire – we cannot cook our food, and we cannot survive the winters, etc. Even your heating machine is nothing but fire only. Then what about water? Future wars will be fought because of land and for drinking water – we are polluting everything – so we are indebted to the waters. Of course, the whole earth – we have discussed in this very Śikṣāvallī itself – Pṛthivī Devatā. So we have to be worshipping them, identifying ourselves. Identifying means becoming like them – how they are giving, we will be able to give. If I am identified with earth, for example, earth represents food, sustaining power, our physical body – so we will be able to sustain other people as much as possible consciously and with full joy. That is how from limitedness to unlimitedness, from smaller joy (which is called suffering) to greater joy (which is called happiness), we progress in life.

Conclusion

These are some of the important points, but there are some more points also. We will discuss them in our next class.

Closing Prayer