Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 70 Ch2 3-4 on 17 September 2025 Q&A
Question 1: Consciousness in Deep Sleep and the Nature of the World
Student A: The world exists in our mind, and from there we have on my Pranamayakosha, we have Annamayakosha. But when we are in deep sleep, or we are unconscious. The world does not exist for us. But is it correct to say that Hiranyagarbha still exists, and we are disconnected from that. But it continues, because we are only a part of the sea.
Maharaj: The answer to your question is, what do you mean by unconscious? We have to get out of this rut called scientific description of what is called mind. According to Vedanta, brain has nothing to do with the mind. So in your deep sleep, are you alive or not?
Student A: I am alive.
Maharaj: Are you conscious or not?
Student A: I am conscious.
Maharaj: Ah, think over it before you answer. You are conscious that "I am my reality", just as when we are in the waking state, "this is my reality". When we are in the dream state, that is my reality. When we are in the deep sleep state, that is our reality.
We are not unconscious of the deep sleep state. But the nature of that deep sleep is just like in darkness, we cannot see anything. There is nothing, no mind. Therefore, even the thought of body doesn't exist. But I am in the state of non-duality, but temporarily non-duality, that awareness is there. Where is this awareness? In the mind.
But what do the modern scientists say? They equate, they don't know the difference between brain and mind. The brain is stunned, made unconscious through anaesthesia or a blow to the head or whatever it be, as if the mind also has become unconscious. We have to forget when we enter into Vedanta, this false concept of the equation between brain and mind. Okay?
Student A: Yes.
Maharaj: Then your question that when we are unconscious, it doesn't arise. There is no time when we are not conscious. You have to ponder over it.
Student A: Yeah. How does that relate to the idea of Hiranyagarbha? Although I'm not being conscious of...
Maharaj: No, no, do not worry about what those people say. Consciousness can never become unconscious. Simple. This is why Vedanta wants to tell us what we do not know. Vedanta completely contradicts what the science tells. I have discussed it so many times. Again, I'm bringing that two points here.
Scientists even today believe life was inorganic. That means no prana. Suddenly prana entered. Is it a scientific view or unscientific view? If prana were not to be there potentially, suddenly from somewhere outside can prana come?
Student A: No, that's unscientific.
Maharaj: A stupid fellow suddenly becomes very wise. So does that wisdom come from somewhere outside or he was wise but something was blocking. Suddenly it is unblocked and he finds himself wise. Isn't it?
Student A: Yeah.
Maharaj: That is called scientific view. That is the first wrong notion Vedanta wants us to get rid of. Second, science never talks about consciousness. It doesn't know. It wants to measure it in its own scientific terms and that is a wrong way to go about because consciousness is that which goes beyond time-space-causation.
And even practically speaking, suppose you are in deep sleep state, suddenly you come to waking state. How did you happen to come to waking state from the unconscious state?
Student A: That is the crux that I don't really understand.
Maharaj: Ah, you were never unconscious. Consciousness in one particular state is what we call upon waking up as unconscious. In deep sleep, you never call "I'm in an unconscious state." It is only upon waking up. When we think about it, we say it is unconscious. Isn't it?
Student A: Yes.
Maharaj: Correct. Correct. So, forget about scientific notion accept this what we call Vedantic knowledge. Vedantic concept.
Question 2: Understanding the "Thickness" of Annamaya Kosha
Student B: You said that the Annamaya Kosha is the thickest.
Maharaj: Correct. Thickest, grossest, most outside cover.
Student B: So, it is thickest in terms of overcoming it or?
Maharaj: It is thickest in the terms of. Supposing, I'm giving a small example, don't mind. Suppose there is an ugliest person. In America, they give prizes. First prize to the most ugliest person possible. Suppose this person had put on a beautiful dress. Okay. And thinks himself I'm a very beautiful person. Has he become beautiful person?
Student B: No. It's like covering.
Maharaj: And he also knows it. The moment I go to bed, I have to get rid of all these dresses and then soon he enters into that most beautiful state called deep sleep state where ugliness and beauty both disappear at the same time. What I'm trying to tell you is that at this moment, we do not know that we are not the other. We are other than the body. So, consider your body as the temple of God and treat it that way. As you treat a temple.
Student B: Sure, sure, sure. See, the thickness is not in the terms of the power of being able to overcome because in that way, the Manomaya Kosha and the...
Maharaj: Okay, you are not listening properly. I have been explaining so easily. Until you make this Annamaya Kosha sacred. The thought that "There is something which is sustaining me", that understanding will not come. So, start first treating your own body as a temple of God. Then simultaneously, everybody, even a mosquito's body is a temple of God and then only as if you climbed a mountain peak and when you reached the top of the peak, then you see there is another mountain. This is only a small branch of that mountain.
Question 3: Tiredness and Prana at Different Times
Student B: Just one more question about the Pranamaya Kosha. So, is it that at different times of the day, is it just purely just because of the avastha that for no rhyme or reason, you know, somebody, we could be feeling more tired like reading a book or concentrating on something. If there's no obvious reason why one could be feeling more tired, that's why.
Maharaj: Yes, I can tell you when a person is not happy, tiredness comes in. That is the pure psychology for you. When a person really knows I am Pranamaya Kosha, that prana will be most sacred. When you are very happy. Body requires some rest. But when you are most of the time happy, even science says that you even if you work for 20 hours out of 24, you will not feel tired.The example they give. [...] For him he says rest is change of work. Sri Ramakrishna used to sleep only two hours.
Student B: Yeah.
Maharaj: Why do we sleep? During class also, people sleep. Why do people sleep? Because that puts them, lulls them. Somebody's voice, hypnotic voice. So, when a person is not happy, he feels tired. If a person is very happy and more happy listening to these spiritual talks, then he will feel why is the talk ending so fast, so quick?
Student B: Can I just ask Maharaj Ji, is this idea of happiness, can it be also because what I'm saying is that many times there is no actual cause for being unhappy. It can be just that you are battling with certain thoughts, which are not very clear. So, could that be also draining?
Maharaj: Yes, everything is in the thought realm, and those thoughts, some thoughts, we have developed automatically. Samskara we call them.
Student B: In other words, when something is not very clear, then one can feel tired?
Maharaj: No, no, no. When something is boring a person, he feels tired. A scientist, thoughts are not clear, but he is determined to get more knowledge. He is not tired.
Question 4: The Relationship Between Manomaya and Pranamaya Kosha
Student C: We say that Manomaya Kosha is subtler than Pranomaya Kosha.
Maharaj: Yes.
Student C: So, some thoughts which are expressed as words or speech or action, they sometimes give prana or give more energy like the activities of interest or they lead to less energy like the activities or things that we don't like to do. And prana also has an action on the other way also. When we have more prana, we feel more happy. We feel like doing. So, it goes both ways.
Maharaj: Actually, it goes only one way.
Student C: Okay.
Maharaj: Only the mind, the thought influences. Every Monday morning, that is why weekdays are called "weak days". Saturday and Sunday are called "weak ends", weekends, and Saturday, Sunday, the clock runs so fast. When does the clock really runs very fast? When a person is very..
Student C: Happy.
Maharaj: Ahh, that is the secret. It is the root cause, the origin, the cause of the prana is thought.
You analyse. I want, somebody, a dear friend, has invited me to a hotel or first class cook and you will be looking forward for that. And you know somebody else's cooking and that person with great enthusiasm invites you again and again. The moment first invitation comes, your prana sinks lower and lower. Right or wrong? What is it making you like that?
Student C: Past experience.
Maharaj: Yes. Always higher influences the lower, and it reinforces of course as you said. The experience reinforces. Within interior, subtler, as the cause of pranamaya kosha, is manomaya kosha. Beautiful analysis. I don't know any any psychologist really can analyse like this.
Student C: In another talk, you have mentioned that the feelings generate the right action and the actions also generate the correct feelings.
Maharaj: You see, which comes first?
Student C:Feeling comes more often.
Maharaj: So, supposing, just as an example, you eat some food. Very common example. By experience, you know, this is very tasty food. It may, it will make me happy. It is this thought which will make you either get the food or gift the food or obtain the food and experience it. That happiness comes now as a result?
Student C: Yes.
Maharaj: And that happiness reinforces the original thought. Not creates the original thought.
Student C: Yeah. Sure.
Maharaj: So, the samskara becomes?
Student C: Stronger.
Maharaj: Ahh. That is how when I said like that, feelings reinforce the experience. Experience also again reinforces. This is how we progress from a lower state to a higher state.
Student C: If we want to, say, develop new better habits and replace the bad samskara.
Maharaj: It starts again. Bad bad thoughts, bad samskaras. Manomaya kosha. So, it should start only from the? Mind should determine! "I want to overcome this state!" Then it will devise a way. "From today onwards, I will have to do this kind of actions."
It is not the actions which you determine. Actions give you experience. Experience reinforces the samskara and if it is unhappy samskara, nobody wants unhappy samskara. One day or the other, the person has to wake up and say, "since this particular action is leading to unhappiness, I should convert it into happy experience". That which gives to happy experience. Again, it is at the thought level only. That is where willpower comes. Willpower belongs to pranamaya kosha or manomaya kosha?
Student C: Manomaya kosha
Maharaj: Ahh.