Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 68 2.3-2.4 on 3 September 2025 Q&A
Taittiriya Q&A Session with Swami Dayatmanandaji Maharaj
Question 1: Relationship Between Selfishness and Attachment
Student A: Maharaj, one kind of general question. Relationship between selfishness and attachment. It seems that selfishness is the root cause of attachment.
Maharaj: I would say the other way. Attachment is the cause of selfishness.
Say suppose you love somebody. You are ready to share whatever you have, that is the characteristic of love. Isn't it? Are you becoming selfish or unselfish?
Student A: Unselfish.
Maharaj: Ah, then supposing at some point the friendship is broken, your love is broken. What do you become now?
Student A: Selfish.
Maharaj: You understand now? The root cause of selfishness is attachment.
Attachment in a way of speaking is identity. If I think I am the body, my attachment will be, no no, to the body. And by some chance I do some spiritual practise and I start identifying, "I am not the body. I am the prana." Immediately what happens? I become completely detached from the body that is called kosha. And as soon as that happens, you become unselfish or selfish?
Student A: Unselfish.
Maharaj: Ah, unselfish means you don't give importance, you don't share. You see, attachment means what? Identity. All, even friendships. If you think you are a Hindu, you will be attached to Hindus. That is why as soon as a person gets married, a whole host of attachments spring upon on that person belonging to the opposite party, isn't it?
And forced way. You are forced to be unselfish. Your distant relative's son has come. And you prepared first class dish to your own son. And this bhuta has come or not now? What can you do? You are forced to be?
Student A: unselfish.
Maharaj: See, the fun of it. Outside, inside.
So identity is the root cause of all these problems. Whether it is religion, political party, club, whatever it is. Our identity is the root cause.
Student A: So every bias is an identity?
Maharaj: Yes. If you are attached to your religion, others who follow your religion, good or bad, you will pass favourable judgement over them. Isn't it? Attachment comes only as a result of our identity. First identity, then attachment. Under that attachment, either it will be selfish or unselfish depending upon what I am attached to.
Student A: Surely. Thank you, Maharaj.
Question 2: Changes in Experience Moving from Annamaya to Pranamaya Kosha
Student B: Pranam, Swamiji. Pranam. Just a couple of questions. First is, as we are doing this kind of Panchakosha dissection, it feels like a dissection. But there is experientially as you move from the Annamaya Kosha to the Pranamaya, so Annabrahma to Pranabrahma Upasana. Is it quite common that you, your nature of dukkha is changed? It is not the dukkha which you experienced before. One should not call it dukkha, but it is like things which you could normally enjoy, like certain serials or movies or whatever, you don't enjoy them at all. Is that something, I don't think someone can class it as dukkha, but it is just that things which you could ordinarily enjoy, you don't...
Maharaj: You see, it is like this. Whenever you are watching a movie, say you are watching a movie where murder is taking place in the movie. Are you enjoying or not?
Student B: Used to.
Maharaj: No, no, no, no. People enjoy it, isn't it?
Student B: True, true, very true.
Maharaj: But if it is an actual event, will they enjoy it?
Student B: No.
Maharaj: So my point is, you can still enjoy everything belonging to the Annamaya Kosha even after moving into the Pranamaya Kosha. But that certain knowledge, "this is not real, this is only like a movie," which makes it even more enjoyable. So the dukkha becomes less effective. That also becomes enjoyable. Because any amount of negative experiences in the movie they will give you, should give you, aesthetic enjoyment, because they are well acted but not real.
So your enjoyment becomes nearer to the reality. But at the same time, your attachment, when you are identifying with Annamaya Kosha is so deep, that will not be there any longer. You will be more loving, more selfless. Everything becomes better, deeper, more pervasive. And your ananda also becomes much more pervasive.
Student B: So there is a kind of gradual shift in this Adhyatmika experience?
Maharaj: Yes, once we experience that one, we would not like to go back to the grossest experience. Just like I gave you many times examples. If someone is accustomed to a village, a sweet meat vendor prepared with very gross materials, he will enjoy. But once he moves to the city and gets accustomed to finer types of sweets etc., he would not like, he would not prefer, that earlier type of enjoyments.
What I am trying to tell you in a sense, once we have higher happiness, we will not be attached to the expressions of lower happiness.
Student B: Correct. Perfect. This is the illustration of this Panchakosha Vivarana. Also reminds me of Thakur's story of the woodcutter in the forest.
Maharaj: Correct, correct. That is correct.
Student B: So that is quite a beautiful one to reflect. Maharaji, is this Pranamaya Kosha, it is Upasana particularly, is this a kind of energy consuming as well? I just wanted to understand whether there is an energy consumption. You have referred to it in the last class.
Maharaj: A person, if he is identified with the Pranamaya Kosha, more prana is available for every function.
Student B: So it should be less actually. So it should be more energised.
Maharaj: More energy is available because he is worshipping Pranabrahma. He is going to the very source of prana.
So what happens is, his ananda will increase and this prana also energises his buddhi understanding. His understanding becomes deeper. His capacity to think deeper also increases. So at every higher step, or subtler level, our what is called, in the Taittiriya we are going to get I think in the 7th or 8th anuvaka words called Ananda Mimamsa. So the next higher level of ananda is 100 times more than whatever human being can get.
Apply this in some way to this. I also discussed about 5 levels of ananda: Vishayananda, Medhananda, Kalananda, Dharmananda and Brahmananda. So every inner kosha increases the happiness, the understanding etc. And that is the only way to become detached from the lower. Higher ananda always brings detachment from the lower ananda.
Therefore, therefore, the bodily happiness will become much less important. Because not because he is giving up, because he is getting superior happiness. So detachment becomes much much better actually. It is a beautiful idea. You will have to explore.
Student B: Just a tiny bit question again on the experiential level that is there, before you can be properly established in the prana, Prana brahma upasana, is there a little threshold period after which like you see much more of your defects, much more of your which you couldn't see earlier? It is actually glaringly obvious, as if your subconscious is completely woken up and you see, "my god, what is this?"
Maharaj: Correct. Because your understanding becomes deeper. So your understanding of all your faults etc. become deeper. Also the good points, positive characters you have, that also becomes we understand.
Student B: Thank you. Jai Thakur.
Question 3: The Parable of the Bird and the Mast
Student C: Pranams Maharaj. So Maharaj, in today's class you listed like the problems with the effect. So in the context of Thakur's parable of the bird who sits on the mast of a ship and the ship sails? I am wondering if it can be applied here or it makes sense that at every kosha when we take up an upasana, do we after long tapasya meaning of practise, do we come to a point where initially we find that it is actually freeing and as we proceed and we have less limitation, but we still reach a point because that kosha itself is limited, that we reach a point of surrender and then we can go to the next kosha? Is something like that happening at all?
Maharaj: Yes. That mast represents Brahman. So the further we fly or keep distance from Brahman, the more problems will arise. So in a way of speaking we can say the bird has flown to the east, to the south, to the north, to the west. Not finding any shelter, it comes back. The only shelter is Brahman.
Similarly we can apply here. We were thinking that this body is Brahman, but then we understand since it is an effect, an effect is always unreliable. So we fly away, fly into the say annamaya kosha identifying. Then we understand after some time it is unreliable. So we return to that Brahman. But this time the Brahman becomes Prana Brahman.
So at every level, that Brahman is the most important point. The others are expressions. Prana Brahman is Paramatma, but expression of prana is only an effect. Manomaya Brahman is Paramatma, its expressions are thinking, rituals etc. You follow what I am trying to tell you?
Student C: Yes.
Maharaj: Go on contemplating on Brahman, identifying some particular aspect with the Brahman. The result of that is Brahman alone is dependable, reliable. But the other things are only expressions, anatma, karyatva, mithyatva. You understand now?
Student C: Yes Maharaj.
Maharaj: Only when we become convinced, karya should not, mithya should not be depended upon, can we say our mind automatically runs to the mast which is Brahman. So ultimately even Anandamaya Kosha also, that Anandamaya Kosha is only a manifestation of Brahman, not Brahman. Then Brahman alone is the root cause.
So that is how we fly to the Annamaya Kosha, Pranamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Vijnanamaya Kosha, Anandamaya Kosha. Finally we rest in Brahman. And that is the end of it. So far as I understand, this is the meaning of this parable of Sri Ramakrishna.
Student C: Thank you Maharaj. So really no freedom, that's what we eventually understand. At every level there is always some illusion or sort of freedom, but truly speaking there isn't.
Maharaj: There is no freedom because of dependence. If you can be happy without depending upon anything, then you are free. But if you are thinking, "when I eat I am free, when I drink I am free, when I get married I am free," then that is why life is full of these undependencies. That is the problem.