Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 21 on 09 October 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Taittiriya Upanishad which belongs to the Krishna Yajur Veda. In our last class, we just completed the fourth section. And what is the fourth section? It is a prayer to God or Brahman in the form of Omkara. Praying. A prayer. First of all, give me, endow me with right type of intelligence. Why? What is right type of intelligence? That which gives us the knowledge about truth. That is called right type of understanding. Secondly, endow me also with all the necessary implements, body, mind, possessions, wealth, etc. so that I may discharge my duties. In Hindu terminology, it is called Panchamaha Yagna. Then the prayer comes. My only goal in life is to see you, talk with you, realize you, enter into you, become one with you. So he says, I would like to do that. Why? Because you are my rest house. Just as we discussed in the Chandogya, deep sleep is the rest house for struggling Jiva who experiences sweet and bitter fruits both in the waking state as well as a dream state and thereby gets tremendously tired. But once he takes refuge in the deep sleep state which is the nearest to Atman, he becomes completely refreshed, extremely happy, no trace of unhappiness. How do we know? Because that is called Ananda Maya Kosha. That state where it is full of bliss, not marred, not interfered by any opposite which is suffering. My ultimate goal is to become you because the Guru will teach Tat Tvam Asi, thou art that. But I must realize you and I will do my best. But I cannot do that because any finite thing can never become infinite. But if the infinite removes that cognition that I am finite, I am bound, I am limited, then it is possible. So he says, you are like a rest house, O Lord. Means Mom, me, Prabhahi, enlighten me. I cannot attain you. You attain me. You absorb me into yourself. But what type of you? He is like the sheath of Brahman, doorway to Brahman. Only through Omkara, Rupa Parameshwara, we can realize the Parabrahman, supreme reality. So Tantva Bhaga, so you come and enter into me, you absorb me, you swallow me up, then only I can enter into you. And there afterwards, if it is your will that I should continue to live with this body and mind, then endow me with wonderful disciples, plenty of disciples from various directions. But what type of disciples? Very self-controlled, endowed with absolute mind control, sense organ control, with only one goal in life that we all want to reach Brahman, the only goal of life, the final goal of life, which is called Parama Purushartha or Moksha. And with this, the prayer is over. And this is what exactly Bhagavan Krishna concluded in his Bhagavad Gita, Sarva Dharmaan Parityaja and Sri Ramakrishna. He says again and again, take refuge, my children, in the Divine Mother. There is no other way. Unless God is gracious, nobody can realize Him. With this, the fourth section of the Taittiriya Upanishad, first chapter called Sikshavalli is over. Now I will give you a short introduction to the fifth Anuvaka. This is also like the second chapter called Samhita Upasana. Upasana means contemplation. I will explain in a minute a little bit more about this Upasana. That is, Samhita means when two letters or two words join together, those which were separate until that moment now become completely one word or one. They come together and become one. Both of them, losing their separateness, become one. If it is two letters, they become one, making those two words. The end of the first word and the beginning of the second word, they make both the words combined. Samhita means combination. And if it is separate words, there is another process in Sanskrit grammar that is called Samhasa. Samhasa means two words become one, giving a beautiful meaning. Now, this Samhasa is also removing the distance, the separateness between two words and making them not only meaningful, but achieving unity. This is the purpose of Upasana. What is Upasana? I give the analogy of Egyptian pyramid. When you go at the base, you will see a vast base. But as you go on climbing up and up and up, it becomes narrow and still narrow. And finally, there is a one single point. If we can take this analogy, we start our life with tremendous ignorance, tremendous knowledge, what is called suffering, and slowly as we evolve, become better. So the distance between ourselves, the distance between the individual Jeeva and other individual Jeevas, the distance, separateness between individual Jeeva and what we call the world, the separateness between the world and the individual Jeeva and Ishwara or God become less and less and less until they completely merge just as different rivers which are distinct in different directions, when they join the limitless ocean, they become completely one and thereby all Nama, Rupa, Una, names, forms and qualities, they all get merged, all of them become known by one particular name. This is the ocean. There may be different names we may give to different oceans like Pacific Ocean, Arabic, Arabian Sea, etc., Atlantic, etc. But water, forget the names, forget the spaces, but it is nothing but water. So every river originates from the ocean and travels for every distance and again its natural tendency is to flow towards the sea. That is why we always say sea level means the lowest level, lowest here, not in a bad sense, but to its origin, source, and then become one and this is from whom every object of creation comes out and which is sustained by the same reality and which in the end becomes merged, losing individuality, that means names, forms and qualities. This is the most natural tendency. With regard to this, I have quoted Swami Vivekananda also in one of my classes, everything in this universe is struggling towards freedom. Freedom has to be understood in the proper way, not like today's young people struggling for freedom. We don't want to be under the control of our parents, our partners or anybody. We want to be completely independent. That is called utter duality. But here freedom means I want to be myself. I have been away from myself. Now my only desire is to be my own self. This is achieved by Upasana. I merge myself. The lower merges in the higher, the smaller merges in the larger, the different becomes merged in the indifferent or becomes one, whatever name you call it. Slowly the idea is not only the whole universe, me and the universe, the subject and the object, the experiencer and the experiencer. Let everything become absolutely one, losing the distinctions like I am the subject, you are the object, I am the experiencer, you are the experiencer, etc. This process is called Upasana. Just as mentioned, Samhita Upasana is to bring two letters to words. But this fifth section starts with what we call Vyahruti Upasana. So that is why I wanted again to remind ourselves. And it is also called Swarajya Phalaka Upasana. Swarajya means gaining back one's own kingdom. Gaining back doesn't mean we have lost it. We forgot just like a beggar who has been kidnapped when the child was very young. The child was a prince. He was kidnapped or lost and grows up with beggars, thinks he is a beggar and practically many years he spends like that. Suddenly some old minister sees him and immediately recognizes him, confirms the recognition by seeing the identity hanging around his neck. Immediately says, you are not a beggar, you are the prince of this entire country, your Rajya. So the prince at first, of course, he doesn't want to believe it, but the minister proves and everybody says, even though you are grown up among us, you never behaved like us. And this idea is what Swami Vivekananda had illustrated through that marvelous story at the Parliament of Religions. Which story? A lion which has grown up among the sheep, thought it was a sheep and it was bleating until a wise lion, a guru lion catches hold of this and then you are not a sheep. Oh, it needs to bleed. No, no, no. It says, I am a goat, I am a sheep. No, no, no. And then drags, look at the reflection of your own, look at my reflection, look at your reflection. Do you look like a goat's reflection, sheep's reflection? And it says, yes, it is true. I never thought how many times I have taken bath. I never thought, of course, I don't know whether sheep ever take bath. Presuming that they do, they never look at their own, these things. So then what did it do? What did the guru lion do? It brought a piece of flesh, thrust it. No, no, no. I only like grass. No. And the moment the flesh touched the tongue, immediately it said, you may eat or you may give up eating meat. I am not going to give up. And it gave a huge roar, this idea that we are all searching for happiness, for immortality and for all knowledgeness, Sarvajnatvam, Amritatvam, Anandatvam. That is our nature. How? Because we are searching for it. This is a fundamental law. A person never searches for anything other than one's own self. However mistaken the person may be. And how to achieve that? Swarajya phalaka upasana. The result should be Swarajya. And for that purpose upasana is meant. Every upasana. If say Ramakrishna did upasana of Hanuman, it is to become one with Rama. If he did Radha upasana, it is to become one with Krishna. So anybody, any saint, if Saint Paul or Saint Francis of SAC or anybody like that, any saint, they do upasana. They may be calling supreme reality as Buddha, as Allah, as Rama, as Krishna, as Jesus, doesn't matter. I want to become one with you. This is the symbolism of Christianity which is called the cross. What is the cross? You remove your limitedness, cross your limitedness, destroy your limitedness. That is why every Christian, he genuflects like this. He puts one like this and like this. That means that ahankara which is representation of every type of limitedness, finity and that should not be there. What is that cross? Crucifixion. I want to become one with Jesus. How to become? That is the symbolism at the mosque. I drink your blood. I eat your flesh. I will become you. This is crudely expressed especially in Tantra in the form of Panchamakaras. I want to become one with you. This is the only goal of life whether we are mosquitoes or human beings, ultimate goal of life. That is why it is called the ultimate goal. Every other goal is an incidental goal, temporary goal. Every purushartha, three purusharthas, dharma, artha, kama, temporary only. Paramapurushartha is only mukti. So this is the real meaning of upasana. Upa means near, approaching near. To what? Asana. Asana means that which is immovable, that which is eternal, that which is infinite, that which is ekam, sat, advitiyam. Brahman is one, God is one, reality is one and if it is one, I can be only that one. Everything can be only that one. So this is the real, real goal, purpose of every upasana practiced by anybody following any religion, any yoga. That is why the word yoga is another word, substitute word for upasana. What is yoga? Union. Union means what? Becoming one with the object of our meditation and that process ashtanga, yoga, eight-stepped way. Buddha's eight-stepped way of becoming one, remove, destroy, anatma. He says atma doesn't exist. That means finitude, limitedness that doesn't exist. What exists is the infinite, the unoriginated, the indescribable which Buddha chose to call nirvana. So that is the purpose. Now we are going to enter into this fifth section and this is called vyahruti upasana. So what is the purpose? Just now we discussed swarajya phalaka upasana, obtainment of one's own kingdom. What does it mean? One's own empire. What does it mean? That I thought I am separate from God but now I know I was God, I am God, I will be God. How did I know? Through the scriptures. And did you study the scriptures and understand? No. The teacher represents the essence of the scriptures. The guru, he has realized and then he is proclaiming that truth which he himself has realized to any aspiring, seeking, spiritual aspirant. So here marvelous upasana comes. First let us understand what is the upasana. So gradually getting rid of what is called separateness, limitedness, finitude and approaching nearer and nearer to that oneness with the supreme reality that is called upasana. And in this fifth section this is called vyahruti upasanas. Now what is the meaning of vyahruti? Earlier also we have seen. Where did we see? In many places. But here itself we have seen in anybody who is practicing Gayatri mantra even though these vyahrutis are not part of the Gayatri mantra but people are still uttering every single day. Every time we do pranayama we are supposed to do, utter these vyahrutis. Every time a brahmana does sandhya vandana he does seven fold vyahrutis. Then the other lokas, satya loka etc. So every person consciously or unconsciously and since we are studying it is a conscious attempt. So bhuh, bhuvaha, svaha, svaha, svaha. These are called vyahrutis. What is the meaning of vyahruti? Vyahruti means that which had come out of the mouth of Brahma. It is called vyahruti. The utterances of Brahmaji is called vyahruti. That is the first meaning. Second meaning is that which destroys the sins of anybody who utters this mantra. We have got so many hints like that. For example, take bath in the Ganges. Ganges is a, Sri Ramakrishna used to say, brahmavari. It is Brahman in the liquid form, water form. Anybody who takes bath, he will become sinless. Similarly, touch Lord Shiva, Vishwanatha in Varanasi. He also will become sinless. Of course, if he goes on committing more sins later on, that is a different issue. So that which has come from out of the mouth of Brahma before creation, that is called vyahruti and that which destroys the sins, that is the second meaning of vyahruti. That is why those Hindus who are a little bit knowledgeable, they go on uttering and the reason also we have discussed many, I think, classes back. Somebody approached Brahma and he said Brahma means Vedas. So Brahma, the creator, is what is called the essence of the Vedas or what is called humanized, conceptualized Vedas. Knowledge personified is called Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara, Ishwara. Somebody approached and said these four Vedas, three Vedas in those times, later on it became four. There was a great Rishi called Atharvana and he was so great. People were following him. So our Aryans were forced to accept his teachings also as the fourth Veda and then they drew a line and said, after this we are not going to accept anybody else. We already committed great sin by accepting Atharvana. Now these four Vedas are there. Earlier there were only three. So somebody approached and said this vast literature called Vedas, I have neither time nor the buddhi, intelligence, nor the patience, nor the time. Can you condense it? So Brahma condensed it. He took each Upanishad. He took Rig Veda and squeezed the essence and then it became Bhohu. He squeezed Yajur Veda, it became Bhuvaha. He squeezed Sama Veda, it became Subaha. So thus the essence of these three Vedas, Bhohu, Bhuvaha, Subaha and it has a correspondence with the Gayatri mantra also. Because Gayatri mantra is Gayatri Chandas or meter which has 24 letters and it is subdivided into eight letters, eight syllables of each line. So it is said, So the first is the essence of Rig Veda. The essence of the Yajur Veda. The essence of the Sama Veda. So Brahmaji, he squeezed and said that if you utter Bhohu, it is like studying and meditating upon the entire Rig Veda and if anybody with faith and these are called mantras, Bhuvaha, then it is equivalent to reciting because it is the essence of the entire Yajur Veda. Somebody meditates, contemplates, does Upasana, which we are going to see here, that is called Subaha, which is the essence of Sama Veda. And so somebody or the same person approached it and said, even this is too much for us. Can you squeeze the essence of Bhohu, Bhuvaha, Subaha? And then Brahmaji further simplified it. Essence of Bhohu is part, Akara. Essence of Bhuvaha is Ukara. Essence of Subaha is Makara. And if we combine these three, it is called Omkara. That means by uttering Omkara, we are uttering these three Vyahurutis. By uttering Omkara, we are uttering all the three Vedas, the essence of three Vedas. This was what Sri Ramakrishna meant on the very first today, Sandhya merges in Gayatri, Gayatri merges in Om and Omkara is the doorway to that Brahman, which this is what we have seen in our Brahmanah Koshose. So, may you bring me, push me into Brahman. May you reveal the Brahman because a doorway can also give entrance, can also close what is inside. So, by prayer, you open the door, I can enter, become one with Brahman. So, these are the three Vyahurutis. Now, what happened? There was a great Rishi. So, he was the child or the progeny of Mahachamasya. Chama means a small utensil to a spoon or a utensil through which lot of Yajnas, Yagas were done. So, the gentleman, he was a Rishi, he was a married person, he was a Grihasta and he had a son, he is called Mahachamasya. His name was and he meditated, he did Tapasya, he discovered another Vyahuruti. The earlier Vyahurutis were the creation of Brahma. This fourth Vyahuruti which is being explicitly mentioned here and it is called Mahaha and this is the discovery of the realization of a great Rishi called the son of Mahachamasya, a person who used to make lots and lots of Yajnas and Yagas for which he was using a small utensil from which clarified butter used to be given as oblation into the blazing fire. That was how they used to spend, used to worship Supreme Brahman in the olden days. So, that is what we have to understand. Now, here take these Bhohu, Bhuvaha, Swaha and then add Mahaha and Mahaha is considered the leader of all the Vyahurutis and Bhohu, Bhuvaha, Swaha are supposed to be the parts, lesser parts. Mahaha is complete. Like you know, our body is the entire collection of all the limbs that we possess. Body, if you see, the hand that is separate from the leg, separate from other limbs but if we say body, it includes everything. Just as body includes everything, this Vyahuruti called Mahaha includes everything, Bhohu, Bhuvaha, Swaha and what do the Vyahurutis? They include Gayatri Mantras and what is the Gayatri Mantra? It includes all the three Vedas and what is the essence of all the three Vedas? Omkara. What is the essence of Omkara? Brahman, Supreme Reality. So, through this Vyahuruti Upasanas, this is what happens. In this introduction, now a little more I have to add, four objects are taken and in a beautiful way, four objects. So, what are those objects? First Lokas are taken, Virals are taken, then Devatas are taken, then Vedas are taken and finally what we call the Pranas are taken. So, Virals, Devatas are the presiding deities, Adhishtatru Devatas, then the Vedas and then the Pranas. Now, each Vyahuruti, each time there are Shlokas or Mantras are there, these three Vyahurutis are identified with three Lokas and the Mahaha, fourth is identified with the leader of all the Lokas. This is the methodology applied. Then three Devatas are superimposed upon the three Vyahurutis and the Supreme, the leader of all the Devatas, he is identified with or Devata is identified with the Mahaha, fourth Vyahuruti. Similarly, three Vedas are identified with Bhu, Bhuvaha, Swaha and Omkara itself is identified with the Mahaha, essence of all this. Then similarly, Pranas, three Pranas are mentioned here because three Vyahurutis are there, we have to combine each Vyahuruti with one particular object in this fourth Upasana, each individual Prana and ultimately these Pranas, origin of these Pranas, without whom they cannot live and that should be imposed on Mahaha and what happens as a result, one who does practice these Upasanas completely as prescribed and in this particular order, that is the direction given by the Acharya Shankara, so what does one get? Swa-Rajya-Prapti, one realizes Aham Brahmasmi, remember whatever worship we do, whatever activity we do, even as we studied the quotations of Swami Vivekananda, even a murderer murders, what purpose? For the sake of God-realization but the person thinks that he may not know that my ultimate goal is God-realization but the nature is leading him through these particular experiences, ultimately to that final goal which is called Swa-Rajya-Siddhi or knowing Aham Brahmasmi, so anything you do, you are a statesman, you are a lawyer, you are a doctor, you are a servant, you are a husband, you are a wife, whatever you are, whatever you are doing from birth to death, from one life to another life, the ultimate goal is to reach our own divinity, that is what Swami Vivekananda squeezed the essence of it, each soul is potentially divine, meaning what? Each soul is none other than Brahman, Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma, this is the purpose, if it is done unconsciously to reach that result, to know who I am, who you are, it will take a long time but if we accept this position of this guidance of the Guru, do Upasana slowly and this Upasana also you must understand, there is a Krama, there is an order, as soon as a person becomes a spiritual seeker, he is not asked, directed by the Guru, now you start doing Upasana, he says first you mow the grass, dig the earth, do the buildings, do so many other things, this is what is called Varna Ashrama Dharma and then when the mind Chitta Shuddhi is attained, Punyam is acquired, then the mind becomes endowed with right type of intelligence, after that the person is taught, Baba you are very restless doing so many activities, now the same activities you do and offer them to God as worship of God and then the mind becomes even more purer and then a time will come when the person is not restless anymore, if he doesn't do any activity, of course there are Tamasik people, they are very happy without any activity, we are not talking about them, this person had worked very very hard for billions of lives and then he attained to that state of evolution, this is also in other way we can say the progress of Kundalini towards the seventh Chakra, Sahasrara Padma, so slowly the person acquires the capacity, I can be very happy, I don't need to depend upon any activity and then the Guru says, now you do Upasana, that is why if you remember these marvellous Vedas, that means Rishis, what did they do, first of all they divided, Veda means knowledge, they divided knowledge into four parts, they divided human beings also into four parts, they divided each stage of every human life into four parts, then they set certain goals appropriate to every stage of life, this I brought but just to remind ourselves, don't think it is a waste of time because even if we remember, it doesn't give us any practical effect, so what are they, if a person is a Shudra, then Shudra means least intelligent, then he should do pure physical labour but with a good mind, then when he progresses, evolves, then he can do better type of works and make others also work, that is called Vaishya, when he evolves further, then he becomes even more intelligent and he knows he will be strong, he will be protecting the people but what is the real protection, whether people are behaving properly or not, it is not just like there are so many modern countries, we are all big political leaders and we control the whole world, that is not a Kshatriya idea, Kshatriya, the ideal of a Kshatriya is whether people are living the life according to the directions of the scriptures or wise people or not, that is the true work of the people, this is the work of Vishnudeva, that is sustenance and that is why Kshatriyas are considered as the incarnations or progeny of Vishnudevata, then Sanyasin, that is why Shiva, the layakarta is considered as the emperor of Sanyasins because that represents true Brahmanatma, then if a person evolves after a long time, when a person evolves after a long time, then his mind becomes totally withdrawn, then he will become fit but in each one of these stages, four classes of people, life is divided into four as we know, students like Brahmacharya Ashrama, Grihastha Ashrama, Panaprastha Ashrama and Sanyasa Ashrama, these are not external stages, these are four stages of mental or spiritual development, so in the first stage called Brahmacharya Ashrama, know, learn about what is life, where from am I coming, where am I going, what should be my goal and what should be my conduct and how I should do practically, in Taittiriya Upanishad, we are going to get it in the 11th Anuvaka, then having completed, having learned, take up any trade, live, live, get married and live, that is called Grihastha Ashrama, what is it? Grihastha Ashrama is a performance of the Pancha Maha Igna, five sacred duties, only five, how to implement them in practical life, that is the essence of the Grihastha Ashrama, so what is called first stage is for Dharma, to learn about life, goal of life and all those marvellous truths, then Artha and Kama, you earn money and you spend it, you enjoy yourself and you also help others to enjoy, this is the goal of every married person, householder, then when the time comes, we also become aged and we have a little more self-control, a little more purification of the mind, then we enter, we should enter into the third stage called Vanaprastha, what is the main duty of a Vanaprastha, what we are discussing here, that is called Upasanas, many Upasanas are here, but I am telling in general, Upasana, what is Upasana, now if you have understood properly and if mind became pure, automatically you will understand, automatically your mind returns contemplation, any type of contemplation, but which will take each one of us nearer and nearer to my own nature, God realization means realization of my own self, knowing who am I, that is the goal, then when the person progresses through this Upasana, there is no other way, like climbing a ladder, you have to go one by one through the steps, you can't jump, I am very young, I will jump, if you jump, you will break your body, mind and you will have to restart again, when the fourth stage is accepting God, there is no other goal, so I dedicate myself to God and remember God also is only an instrument for me to become my own self, this is what the whole Taittiriya Upanishad wants to tell, as I mentioned earlier, it is divided into three chapters, first chapter is the training, second chapter is the teaching, what teaching is there, the nature of Brahman, that's why it is called Brahmananda Valli and the third, roughly speaking, third chapter called Bhrigu Valli, it is practically Tapasa Brahma Vijigna Sasva, now you have sufficient, you had sufficient, what is called spiritual knowledge, what to do, what not to do, now put it into practice and there slowly you give up the lower, attain to the higher and there are five steps are there called Panchakoshas, five bonds are there, five identifications are there, five dresses are there and all the five dresses are like a sword being protected in a sheath, that's why it is called Kosha, Kosha means a sheath, you remember now, you are the sheath of Brahman, that is you are hiding Brahman, you are protecting Brahman, but you will make it available, whosoever approaches you and safely you hand over Brahman to that person, this is how the whole entire system, whether you are a Christian, you are a Muslim or you are a Buddhist, ultimate goal is to know oneself and to become oneself, this is the essence in this particular marvelous Upasana, so I will give you in today's talk only this particular what is called Ascension, climbing up, what is the first thing, when the baby opens his eyes, slowly starts recognizing, this is the mother, the being whose voice I used to recognize even when I was in her womb, now I see my mother, my mom, my dear mother and I am mother, I am the mother, it is said the baby doesn't have separate idea, I am a baby, I am separate from mother until three or four years old, according to modern psychologists, so when the baby opens its eyes, it sees first mother, then father, then other people, this is called world, the world in which we are living and as we grow, we try to understand there are other worlds are there, but how are these worlds really being maintained, that's why the Vedanta system is a marvelous system, I tell you, so this is called Adhibhuta, we can relate it to Adhibhuta, anything that we are experiencing is called an object, so then next step is who is ruling, because if I can know who is ruling, because I am the ruled and if I can please that who is ruling, then my life will be much much better, so Devata, first the Upasanas, Vyakrutis are related to three different Lokas, Bhu, Bhuvaha, Svaha, this world and the Svarga Loka and in between Loka, then who are the Devatas, because every world is ruled by a Devata and if I can identify them, these three Vyakrutis are identified with the three Devatas and three Devatas are the effects of the another cause greater than them, who is none other than Brahman, which in herein is called Mahaha, so if it is Lokas, that Maha, Brahman is the final Devata, final Loka, Brahma Loka, if it is Devata, Brahman in the form of this Supreme Devata and then Vedas, how do we know all these things, because the knowledge of this world as well as the other world, I will talk about it in my next class are only coming from the Vedas, so the third Upasana is on the Vedas, Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and then the last Upasana is all this is possible only if I am alive, if my body is healthy, my mind is healthy and what maintains this body and mind and makes me live, alive and enthusiastic, Pranas, so Prana Upasana, Loka, Devata, Veda, Prana Upasanas, this is the introduction I want to give, once we understand this essence what I have talked today, I tried to squeeze the essence of Upasana and this particular fifth chapter, then it is just like what we say, very easy to understand these Upasanas and what would be the result which we will discuss in our next class. And Swami Vivekananda blesses all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.