Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 117 Summary on 12 August 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 Importance of Review

After completing the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, the essential points – the summary of the very first chapter that is called Śikṣāvallī – it is very necessary after the study of certain chapters to recall back. This gives us the effect of pārāyaṇa. Pārāyaṇa means repeating something again and again and again – like Viṣṇu Sahasranāma pārāyaṇa, mantra japa – because what we even by forcefully thinking about it, repeating it, slowly the ideas sink back. That is why the Vedas tell: repetition is absolutely necessary. It is not a fault. The scripture is ready to repeat anything any number of times.

The Three Chapters of the Taittirīya Upanishad

That is why when we are studying the Upaniṣads one after the other, the essential message of every Upaniṣad is the same, but just to break the monotony, different words are used – though all are in Sanskrit, different expressions are used. Different ways of expression also are to be found. This Taittirīya Upaniṣad is mostly in the form of a prose vācana. If it were in the form of a poem, poetry like Sāmaveda is nothing but certain poetical mantras set to tune so that they can be chanted in a sing‑song way like bhajans. But a prose one can be chanted beautifully, and that chanting itself requires tremendous amount of śikṣā – that is, training.

Śikṣāvallī – The First Chapter

So we have seen this Śikṣāvallī, the first of the three chapters. And as we know, Brahmānandavallī – where true Brahmajñānam and how to attain to that Brahmajñānam, and what result will come if one attains to Brahmajñānam – all are beautifully depicted, perhaps more beautifully than in other Upaniṣads.

Bhṛguvallī – The Third Chapter

And the third chapter called Bhṛguvallī reinforces this idea that we have to practise the process called Neti neti – "not this, not this" – not giving up, but including it in the higher consciousness. For example, annamaya kośa has to be included in the prāṇamaya, prāṇamaya into manomaya, manomaya into vijñānamaya, vijñānamaya into ānandamaya, and then go beyond any of these – kośa means a limitation. Any limitation is not the true knowledge of Brahman – unlimited satyam jñānam anantam – or ānandaṃ brahma – infinite bliss, infinity.

The Process of Sādhanā

That is how the Upaniṣad wants to tell. We have to keep in mind not only the Upaniṣad, it helps us to know who we are, and the process is to remove the ignorance. Ignorance manifests in the form of division. First step in this process is: everything is the creation of God – God only is manifesting. Like we ourselves manifest in dream as the entire dream world. So Bhagavān is more than capable of doing that. He is only manifesting as the waking, dream, as well as dreamless state through the three instruments called the physical body, the mind, and the causal body.

So the physical body in the waking state has to be included in the dream world. What do I mean by dream world? Dream world means the world of thoughts, ideas, and ideals. Every thought, however noble, is a limitation – and no thought comes singly, singularly. It always comes with opposites. Goodness is a thought, and you can recognise goodness only when you recognise evil. Happiness – you can understand happiness only when you understand suffering. Existence – you can understand what is existence only when you understand the opposite – which is not non‑existence, but absence of existence. Please note down this difference. There is nothing called pure non‑existence. Suppose you kept a book in your room, and when you later on come and want to see it, read it again, you will not find it there. So it is not a non‑existence of the book, but it is absence of the book which will give you the knowledge: "It is not here." So it must be somewhere – taken by somebody, placed somewhere else.

Including the Lower in the Higher

So this process of including the lower in the higher, the gross in the subtle, subtle in the subtler, etc. – that is the process of sādhanā (spiritual practice), and this has to be done through repeated śravaṇa, manana, nididhyāsana. For that, preparation is necessary.

The Meaning of Śikṣā – Training

So Śikṣāvallī – the very word śikṣā means training. So three elements are involved here:

You gradually educate every child – especially a Hindu child here – how to read books, how to speak, how to pronounce properly so that you as well as the other person will not misinterpret it by any means.
Words have tremendous effect upon our thoughts. You go on using a wrong word even in fun. That is what I referred to earlier in some other class – a person in the presence of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa pretended to be mad, and after a few days Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa called him and warned him: "Already some of the characteristics of madness are visible in you." If such is the case, good words, good thoughts – because we cannot separate thoughts from words. We cannot separate qualities also from thoughts.

Proper Pronunciation and Sandhi

So proper enunciation, pronunciation of words – then very cleverly, these words – and Sanskrit is very, very rich in this context – it can combine vowels which is rarely done. So far as I know, in Sanskrit it is done very beautifully. When two vowels – the last vowel in the first word and the first vowel in the next word – are brought together, some change takes place: a plus e is ai, a plus o is o, etc. And when two words combine, it is called samāsa.

The Five Categories – Pañca Mahāyajña

Therefore, the teacher – the ṛṣis – very adroitly took advantage of this. The whole so‑called infinite universe has been divided into only five categories. So what are those five? They are called Pañca Mahāyajña. Everything falls under the Pañca Mahāyajña – nothing is left out. Slowly we have to look upon every single object – and we do that albeit unconsciously. Even now, if the Upaniṣad says "consider food as Brahman" – annam brahmeti vyajānāt – we may not understand. But a devotee, a simple devotee, when food is offered to God, immediately that food becomes transformed into divinity. That divinity is called prasādam, and this process is called upāsana.

Upāsana – Seeing Unity in Diversity

What is upāsana? Go on including everything, and instead of seeing manyfoldness, multipleness, bring it together so that it can slowly become less divided, more oneness, more unified. So first stage: everything is separate from everything else. Second stage: it is unity in diversity. We see the diversity, but we also understand the unity. That unity is brought about by this process of samhitā or upāsana.

The Example of Mother and Father

As I mentioned in my last class: mother and father – so mother is one form, father is another form, and they are united. That action of unity is the third factor, and the result will be offspring – any creature, living creature. And then the same process in a higher meaning: a teacher is one form; the disciple, the student, is another factor – and they are brought together only through the process called teaching and learning. The result will be: the student gradually transforms himself into the teacher. What do I mean by teacher? Knowledge. A person who knows is a teacher; a person who becomes a teacher by getting that knowledge from somebody else will be also another teacher in course of time.

The Pañca Mahāyajña – Five Great Sacrifices

So this is how the whole universe can be divided into five categories. As I mentioned just now: Pañca Mahāyajña. What is yajña? Opening our eyes and then seeing everything as divine – that is called yajña.

First comes Ṛṣi Yajña – because the foundation of any society is knowledge. It is very interesting for us to know – nowadays AI, artificial intelligence – this is the main news everywhere; then only other news will come – how some people take advantage of it, some do good, some do evil, etc. So knowledge is the first thing, and he who discovers, who propagates, who gives the world what he had not created but manifested – this is a very important point. Knowledge can never be created. It is already there. Divinity cannot be created. It is already there. But what used to be in a potential state now becomes – through proper cultivation, proper methodology – manifested. So manifestation of divinity – that is what Swami Vivekananda beautifully summarises in three sentences.

The Śikṣāvallī – Structure and Purpose

So this is what is being done in this first Śikṣāvallī. Vallī means chapter; anuvāka means section. In the Śikṣāvallī, we are studying the essence of the Śikṣāvallī. There are twelve mantras.

The First Mantra – A Prayer

The first mantra is a prayer – a sincere prayer to gods and to God in the form of the gods. Because what are our gods? Our ṛṣis. Our ṛṣis are the givers of knowledge. So the eyes give the knowledge of forms; ears give the knowledge of sounds. Now you can fill up the gap. But in Hindu philosophy, the eyes are a manifestation of that light which is called the Sun God. All the eyes – all the powers of the eyes, everybody's eyes, including even the lowest living creature – they are called the power of seeing. Similarly, the power of hearing, the power of tasting, the power of touching, and the power of smelling – and this is how we get knowledge. That is why they are aptly called jñānendriyas.

The Five Organs of Action

And jñānendriyas are useless unless something is accomplished. For that purpose, God has also given us appropriate five organs of action – karmendriyas. Since each sense organ is only a master in its own field and it is only an instrument, all the knowledge that we get from the external world has to be coordinated, coalesced, unified – then only life becomes meaningful – and that is done by the mind. That is why five sense organs of knowledge – I call them inputs – and the mind, with this knowledge, directs the five sense organs of action: "You go there – there is a beautiful flower – pluck it and bring it." Then you see whether there is any ripe fruit – and our nose tells us yes; ripeness can be smelled in many ways. Cooking, when it is done, gives us a special sense that it is complete. So this is how we get knowledge. Now you have to run and stop further cooking, otherwise it will be turned into ashes – overcooked, blackened, charred, etc.

The Purpose of Knowledge

So this is how our knowledge comes in. All this knowledge is coalesced, unified, and accordingly the mind gives the commandment: "You go and do this action." What for? To nourish our body and mind. What for? To learn from our life – first from the Guru, second from experience, third from the scriptures, fourth by the grace of God. And this is the purpose. This is how the progress – whether we know it or not – takes place.

The Ultimate Goal

And what is the ultimate goal of human life? To know who we are. All these are combined in that one word called Upāsana. In this first chapter, many upāsanas are given. All these – until we reach God – we have to make progress following the instructions of the teacher. All these fall under one name – that is called spiritual practice, and that is called Upāsana. Through spiritual practice, we lessen our ignorance, obtain more and more light, more and more knowledge, and then we also burn out what is called the duality – we also reduce the effects of the duality, and then finally only one indescribable, unlimited reality lives.

Upāsana as Life Transformation

So we can say the whole of the first chapter of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad is leading to it. Upāsana is a mental process, but that mental process should be turned into life transformation. If I go and do japam, that is fine, but it will not do, because our life has to be transformed. For that, we have been given eternal instructions, and it is applicable across the whole world – it can be applied; it is applicable; it transcends the limits of time – past, present, and future.

Evolution and Involution

So this is what is called evolution in scientific terms – by whatever name we call it. We have travelled downwards – was it somebody pushed us down from our state of Brahmanhood? No – voluntarily, joyfully, we decided to play a game – to cover our own eyes. After playing for some time, we long to go back. That process of covering our own eyes voluntarily is called involution, and that process of consciously uncovering our eyes – as Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says, like the chick of the homa bird running to its mother – that is the origin, the cause. Our origin is Brahman. We have to go back, and then everything becomes a joyous sport called līlā.

The Twelve Sections of Śikṣāvallī

Now in a little more detail, we will do. So we can say that in this Śikṣāvallī – first chapter – there are twelve sections.

Section 1 – Śāntipāṭha (Peace Chant)

The first section is a prayer – without the grace of God, nothing is possible. So it is a prayer, and that is why it is called Śāntipāṭha. So we have seen – do not remember only sahanāvavatu – you have to remember śaṃ no mitraḥ śaṃ varuṇaḥ, śaṃ no bhavatv aryamā, etc. We believe – Hindus believe – there are many gods, the presiding deities of many sections. Some give light, some give sound, some give knowledge through other means. So they are the presiding deities of both our bodies and minds and our fortunes. Everything depends upon their grace. They are pleased when we lead a good life, and for that we have to pray to them even if we feel like going backward: "Please do not allow me to go backward." That is what śaṃ no mitrāḥ – the deity called Mitra or the Sun – "May he give me śam" – meaning this restlessness of the mind should be curbed.

Sections 2 to 11 – The Core Teachings

So you have to recollect the whole thing, and then how to progress in life, how to advance in life, how to evolve in life – and that topic moves on from the second to the eleventh anuvāka (sections).

Section 12 – The Concluding Śāntipāṭha

And again at the end, the same śāntipāṭha (peace chant) is repeated. First time it is a prayer, but at the end – "I have reached the goal; I have accomplished what I wanted to, and I am extremely grateful – but for Your grace I could not have reached this, and nobody else can reach it. Unless God becomes gracious – and God becomes gracious in the form of presiding deities – and the presiding deities give us a healthy body, healthy sense organs, healthy organs of action, a healthy mind, all virtuous qualities, and they will keep the three guṇas – sattva, rajas, and tamas – in their proper proportions."

The Three Guṇas

That is, as I mentioned earlier, there is nothing wrong with tamoguṇa or rajoguṇa. Tamoguṇa is a first‑class guṇa in its sphere – when we want to withdraw. Rajoguṇa – when we want to engage in various activities, rajoguṇa is appropriate. But when we want to guide our life, sattvaguṇa is necessary. The result of leading, keeping every guṇa in its place, not allowing them to trespass the limitation – the borderline between one guṇa and the other guṇa – that is called spiritual practice, and that results in indescribable bliss, which we experience indirectly in the form of deep sleep. That is why it is comparable to ānandamaya – still it is limited, because we cannot continue deep sleep forever. We have to experience unlimited deep sleep consciously – that is called samādhi.

The Purpose of the Śāntipāṭha

So that is what it wants to lead, and therefore we have to make our body and mind fit instruments. So, "O Lord, You have bestowed Your grace. I am able to achieve what I wanted to achieve – my eternal infinite thanks, acknowledging duly the grace of God." That would be in the twelfth section.

Sections 2 to 11 – The Training

Then in between, from second to eleventh – ten sections – gradually the teacher teaches him first how to pronounce so that every syllable is crystal‑clearly uttered, and that itself lifts us up, purifies the mind. The power of speech is indescribable.

The Prayer for Health

So this is what we have to understand. Our prayer should be: all our sense organs of knowledge, sense organs of action, our mind, and all the pañcaprāṇas – everything must be one hundred percent healthy. Not only that – many obstacles can come because of our own prārabdha karma – what we did in the past – and now we realise we cannot go back and undo, but the grace of God can help us remove.

Holy Mother on Suffering

That is what Holy Mother really meant: if someone had to suffer in the form of a ploughshare going through his body, but if he understands, accepts it, promises to God – "I will not do it again" – then God's grace will come. And then he may not have to – because the purpose of punishment is only to teach us what should be done and what should not be done. Once we understand it, and God understands our thoughts – if we do not intend to cheat, but are firmly determined to pursue a life of spirituality – then God will say: "You have learned your lesson. You do not need to undergo this punishment." So as Holy Mother says – a pinprick – just to be able to say, everybody has to go through prārabdha karma. But I heard some devotees misinterpreting. So I pray to God: "Please bestow Your grace, so this terrible suffering can be just like a pinprick" – and God will not listen to them, because they have not understood the proper meaning of what Holy Mother said. If you acknowledge: "I must have done wrong. I will not do it again. So God, help me in not going back to my old life, and I will lead a spiritual life – a moral first, then spiritual life – take a vow in front of God" – then God's grace automatically comes. He need not see: "Now I see my devotee has transformed himself. Now I will remove." No – it is an automated process. As we approach the blazing heat – earlier we were standing in the freezing cold, but as we start approaching the fire, then two things happen simultaneously: the cold becomes less, heat becomes more. So that travel is called spiritual transformation, and spiritual transformation can take place only through spiritual practice.

Gratitude in the 12th Section

Then the next thing is – as I said in the twelfth section – thankfulness, because the student understood: "Without Your grace I could not have achieved what I wanted to achieve, so I will remain not thankful for once but eternally, and even if I have to progress further, then I will require the grace of God."

Karma Yoga in Sections 2 to 11

Then we see from second to eleventh – different types of upāsanas and different types of what is called Karma Yoga. Everything can be called Karma Yoga from section two to section eleven. What is Karma Yoga? It is called yajña. What is a yajña? Transforming our selfish life into unselfish life. And it starts with being grateful – acknowledging – which we generally do not. If I am able to sleep without any worry, if I am able to get delicious food, if I am able to breathe clean, pure oxygen, if my life only joy will come – all is possible only by the grace of the presiding deities, who are nothing but manifestations of God or Brahman.

The Five Great Yajñas

So we have to note down – since we have discussed, I will not go into elaborate details. So the five great yajñas help us – if we are travelling the path, we have to be grateful. To whom? To five types of beings in this world.

1. Ṛṣi Yajña

First – Ṛṣi Yajña: Whatever understanding I have is because of the ṛṣis who are continuously enlightening, trying to enlighten everybody's mind. So I have to salute them first. Otherwise that alone will not do – will not be called Ṛṣi Yajña. I am grateful to all the discoverers of knowledge – knowledge in any form. Even if somebody taught me how to cook rice, how to make a vegetable tasty – any action, how to make it better – he is a ṛṣi. Anybody who discovered fire, the person who discovered the wheel – and continuously discoveries are being made, of course dependent upon what we have accumulated, what many ṛṣis have accumulated. Please keep in mind: who is a ṛṣi? Any discoverer of a new truth is called a ṛṣi, and without them our life would be impossible. So we have to be grateful first – that is called gratitude. That is a wonderful quality.

Secondly, we also have to unselfishly share whatever we know. And if we cannot directly share – for example, if I am a science teacher, I can share my knowledge of science to the best of my ability – not giving private tuitions and making other students fail, which is a common corruption we find especially in the third‑world countries, and India is famous for that. Whatever our people are doing – there are good people, but whether they are constructing roads, bridges, anything – they are trying to do how quickly, with the lowest grade quality materials – "I don't care what happens afterwards" – but they forget there is an invisible sākṣī who is witnessing everything, and the person will get back his due – the result of his karma.

So we have to be grateful. These are the three things:

Be grateful.
Distribute whatever we know.
Pray for the grace of God even for the other people – sarve janāḥ sukhino bhavantu, sarve santu nirāmayāḥ. There is a beautiful prayer: "Let every creature be healthy, happy – be freed from suffering." And that prayer – whether it does good to others or not – definitely it comes back in the form of what we are praying for others to ourselves also.

So this is the Ṛṣi Yajña. And we have to apply the same three principles: eternal gratitude – but simply praying without doing anything, without sharing what we have, is ingratitude at the very height. So we have to share whatever we know – that is second. And the last is: if we cannot help, let us pray for the welfare – which leads to the knowledge that everything ultimately is Brahman, to that knowledge.

2. Deva Yajña

Second is Deva Yajña: Our very life – in the past, present, and future – is made possible only by the grace of God. So what do we do? We are grateful, we worship them, and we offer with gratitude. The first offering should go to them, and pray for their grace – not only upon ourselves but upon everybody else.

3. Pitṛ Yajña

Third is Pitṛ Yajña: Pitṛ means ancestors. I am what I am – I am nothing but a manifestation of my ancestors. So if they are alive – for example, grandfather, grandmother – very rare great‑grandfather, great‑grandmother – we have to serve them. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is the greatest example – how he strove his level best to serve his father. I do not think he had seen his grandfather and grandmother, but definitely he had served his father. Later on, he served – even though he was the greatest of the knowers of Brahman, he never neglected his mother. He led an ideal life to be imitated by everybody in every respect. Just to remind you: he was an ideal sādhaka, ideal son, ideal teacher, ideal disciple – he was ideal in every single way. That is why reading his life and his teachings is one of the greatest holy companies. We should never forget it.

So even if the ancestors – their father and mother are alive – we have to remember, we have to serve them to the best of our ability. Sometimes I come across this objection: sometimes the parents do not treat every child equally – but that is not our concern. I am – my body is my mother's body. My mother's body is her mother's body, her father's body. Like that, I am nothing but a combination of my mother and mainly my father. So ancestors means mother, grandmother, great‑grandmother – father, grandfather, great‑grandfather, and many others. That is why we find Śudhīra going to Gayā and performing the greatest of śrāddha. And that is why God Himself was manifest in his own family as his own son – just imagine the good fortune of Śudhīra and Cāṇḍramaṇī Devī.

So this is called Pitṛ Yajña – part of that – and it also involves doing a special rite called śrāddha – not only after their passing away, but there is monthly śrāddha, there is something called vārṣika śrāddha, etc. So they must be performed, and if they are performed at holy places, sacred places, it is all the better. And according to Hindu belief, Gayā, Kāśī, Allahabad, Haridwar – some places are what are called puṇya places – we must do whatever is possible.

4. Nṛ Yajña (Manuṣya Yajña)

Then comes Nṛ Yajña: We are grateful – at what time a person is getting up to supply milk so that people can have bed‑coffee, bed‑tea, and so many other things. They are looking after the cows, other animals – how much indirectly people are serving us. Without their cooperation, this huge machinery called the world can never go on. So the few whom we know – that is the workers, the servants, the people with whom we are working, etc. – we must treat them not as servants. That is what Swami Vivekananda said: Śiva-jñāne jīva-śiva – "Every human being is helping us."

There is a funny story: in Bengal, a remote village, a poor village – they wanted to be happy, so they gathered some people together and made preparations for a small drama. Somebody contributed carpets, somebody contributed chairs, somebody contributed food, etc. Everybody pitched in, and the drama was successful. At the end, the organisers have to thank – so they go on thanking: "We are thankful for all the organisers. We are thankful for all the actors and actresses. They are thankful for everybody who has pitched in by supplying food or drink, etc." And there are some people who also have to appreciate – however quality the drama may be – because we should never criticise and bring their minds down. And in the end: "We cannot but be grateful to all those people who have helped us by criticising us severely." In Bengali, a very funny but extraordinarily beautiful expression is there: śeṣa yārā baṃś diyā sādhya kariyāche – here baṃś means a bamboo. Bamboo means who criticise anything that other good people do without exception. They are great people, because if somebody criticises us, they are helping us indirectly – there may be some truth in it. So our thanks at the last: we cannot but thank those who helped us by criticising, by trying to pull us down, thereby strengthening our will, etc. So we have to be grateful to known and unknown – every human being. This is called Nṛ Yajña – being grateful for all the human beings.

5. Bhūta Yajña

What about animals? Can we live without animals? Life will be extinct in a second. If animals are not cleaning up, not recycling – everything is a tremendous science. We have to be praying for them. From the Vedāntic point of view, they are also some of the greatest people we have to understand – that is very, very important for us. Without plants, without other animals – it includes every living creature, including microbes. You know, without helpful microbes in our life, we cannot digest, we cannot be healthy – we will die very soon if they are not helping us. So everybody – positively or negatively – is helping us.

So the fifth category is called Bhūta Yajña: being grateful and praying for them – for every creature. Look upon every creature with respect, as a manifestation of what is called Sarva – Anna. This is called Anna Brahma in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, because everything that we see physically is the result of manifestation of this Pṛthvī or the earth. Earth is called food because it gives birth, it maintains us (sṛṣṭi, sthiti), and it reabsorbs us back. We have to be grateful – but that also includes what scientists call "non‑living." Without waters, without mountains, without forests, one cannot survive. Now we understand what we are doing to the whole nature – by polluting it, thinking that "I can survive more happily by cutting down trees, polluting rivers, etc." – and we are experiencing – it is like a man turning his head upwards trying to spit into the sky – it will come back to him.

The Essence of Yajña

So this is the essence of the yajña: recognising that it is God's grace which is coming to us. That is how we become very, very pure and acquire good qualities. The next is we have to transform our life. What is transformation? We have to stop developing harmful qualities – what is called unspiritual qualities – or in one word, selfishness – and try to become unselfish.

Study of Scriptures

For that, one has to study the scriptures – either by studying or reading or listening to elders. It is not that one has to be a scholar – my grandmother could teach me the highest scriptural lessons in simple words. That is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had done. So this is how we have to develop good qualities – what is called replace āsuri qualities with daivī qualities – which are enumerated very beautifully in the sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā.

Sādhanā-Catuṣṭaya-Sampatti

For that, we have to develop certain practices like study of the scripture – svādhyāya – and study of one's own self – svādhyāya – that is how we develop what Śaṅkarācārya calls Sādhanā-Catuṣṭaya-Sampatti – the treasury of the fourfold spiritual qualities which will help us strengthen our personality, help us to leave our present state and move forward.

The Qualities to Develop

Tapas – practice of some amount of austerity which will develop our willpower.
Satya – practice of truthfulness is the way to reach the truth.
Dama – control of the senses.
Śama – control of the mind.

Then if somebody helps us, we have to pay them help. If we are performing pūjās, yajñas, dakṣiṇā – we have to give to the people. Then we have to be very grateful to our teacher who shaped and moulded our character – ācāryaṃ pūrvam ākṛtiṃ – so we have to do it so long as we are alive. And to other people – dāna – share what we have with as many people as possible – not full‑heartedly, but commonsensically.

The Universal Convocation – Section 11

For all this, we have to study the scriptures. Then slowly we have to think about how to look upon everything – because we have been taught that everything is God, everything is Brahman. So we have to learn how to look upon everything as manifestation of God. For that, in the eleventh section of this first chapter – Universal Convocation – after the student completed. But what about before completion? A teacher will be teaching the same things umpteen number of times, but as a final reminder – a printed copy – now you take it with you, keep it on your table every day – remind yourself what you should and should not do.

The 11th Section – Satyam Vada, Dharmam Cara

That is all there in the eleventh section. It starts:

Satyam vada – speak truth.
Dharmam cara – practise righteousness – whatever leads to truth, that is called righteousness.
Svādhyāyān mā pramadaḥ – lest you should forget what life is, what it is meant for, and what should be done to unfold that potential divinity. That is called svādhyāya – you learn your lessons from outside and examine now and then what you have got to do – whether you are really following or not. That is self‑objectification. Observe your words, your actions, your thoughts, and if you find they are not in accordance with what you have been taught, try to correct yourself. Always find out somebody who is leading a proper life – imitate them – and then you will be very safe.

Section 12 – Gratitude

And if all these things are done, one becomes a fitting spiritual aspirant – well advanced in spiritual life. And then the twelfth section shows gratefulness: "But for Your grace, I could not have been what I am now."

The Lesson from Totāpurī

I want to conclude with this reminder: Totāpurī Mahārāja – he got everything by the grace of the Divine Mother, but he never acknowledged it. So the Mother had made him to go through that suffering – not to punish him – "Oh, you ungrateful wretch!" – no – "My son does not remember his own mother." And so we know the incidents that happened. And then he realised: "There is something which I am unable to understand. I thought I understood. Now I know – I have not understood" – and that humility has come. Previously it was absent. As soon as humility comes, sincere prayer springs up from the bottom of the heart: "O Lord, O Mother, please enlighten me." Unless we become humble and empty, it cannot be filled. Immediately the grace of the Mother flows. "I am everything. I made you. I bestowed My grace because of which you had a desire for spiritual life, because of which you found a Guru, because of which you understood his teaching. Because of My grace you started practising, and My grace came in the form of removal of all obstacles, and you achieved what you did – all by the grace of Me – but you have forgotten to acknowledge that grace."

As soon as Totāpurī realised this, then he started being grateful for the grace of God. Then he returned back and went straight to the temple – I am omitting some of the important details, not necessary. So he surrendered himself: "Mother, you enlighten me, you awaken me. Now, what do You want me to do?" Then she said: "Your role here at Dakṣiṇeśvara is over. Now you go back, and whenever some fit students come, teach them what you have learned."

What Totāpurī Taught

Now we have to understand – what do you think Totāpurī was teaching after he went back? He lived for a very long time – many, many years even after Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's passing away. So what do you think he could have taught? Because he was a Brahmajñānī – he understood it is all the grace of the Mother, Divine Mother or God. Because of that grace, he could successfully live this life, attain the highest pinnacle of realisation. And he would have taught the first thing: "Pray to God earnestly – surrender yourself to God, to the Divine Mother – and that alone can uplift you; nothing else can uplift you."

Conclusion

So this is the essence of the Śikṣāvallī. In our next class, we will take up what we call the essence of the second chapter – called Brahmānandavallī.

Closing Prayer