Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 88 Ch2 7.1-3 on 21 January 2026

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Opening Invocation

ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

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 to the Seventh Anuvāka

We are studying the seventh anuvāka of the second chapter of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, called Brahmānandavallī.

Now in this sixth and seventh section, especially in the sixth section, the students raised certain questions—though implied but not spoken out. What were their doubts? Will an ignorant person attain Brahman? Will a knowledgeable person attain Brahman? In other words, will both an ajñānī and a jñānī attain Brahman?

The Students' Implicit Question

What is the implied question? If, as you say, Brahman really exists and Brahman alone is the cause of both the knowledgeable as well as the ignorant person, then according to the rule, the effect must always go back to the cause. And therefore, whether a person practices spiritual disciplines or not, after the fall of this body, the person must go back to his cause, which is Brahman. In which case, the whole rigmarole of doing sādhana will be completely unnecessary.

So the teacher presumes that the students are not convinced that Brahman merely exists. Because if Brahman exists, He should be impartial. The cause cannot be partial. "Some of my effects can merge in me, and some of my effects I will prevent from merging into me"—that's impossible.

Seven Reasons for the Existence of Brahman

So sections 6 and 7 give seven most marvelous reasons for the existence of Brahman. And as I said, truly speaking, reasons cannot establish the existence of anything actually—not only Brahman, but anything. It is only direct experience that can prove.

The Limitation of Reasoning

Just I am giving you a small example so that we can think deeply. Supposing somebody comes and says that such and such an object exists. And then you ask, "Where is that object?" "I do not know." "How does it look?" "I do not know." "And have you seen it?" "No, I have not seen." "Can it be seen?" "No." "Can it be heard?" "No." So whatever are the common means for the experience of any object, they are all completely denied. But how can we claim such an object really exists?

So the Upaniṣad takes a beautiful line of reasoning. If you see something—and in this world we see everything—and everything that we see in this world has a cause. A baby has parents. An image has its source. An ornament has its source. So we do not see any exception to this. Therefore, as I am witnessing this world, as all of us are doing, we cannot deny what we are experiencing.

Even, so to say, if you are experiencing a delusion, that delusion or illusion must also depend upon something you thought previously or you experienced previously. To see a bhūta, a ghost—it looks like a Martian or a shadowy human being, etc., etc. But you cannot simply say it is something totally unknown and I can imagine it. It is impossible to imagine a totally unknown thing.

So when we experience something and it is the effect, therefore it must have a cause. That's what we have studied all along. So based upon that, the Ṛṣi expands it into seven reasons.

Review of the First Three Reasons

We have discussed three reasons which the sixth section has given us. And the seventh anuvāka section gives us four more reasons.

The Fourth Argument: Brahman as the Ever-Existent Principle

The fourth argument: Brahman is the eternal self-existing principle.

Because whatever we experience—including, of course, my own existence—nobody says, "I do not exist." Even if someone has to say, "I do not exist," first I have to exist to deny my own existence. Since we see existence, but in the form of names and forms, therefore there must be an original source. That is the crux of the fourth argument, the fourth reason.

The Mantra

Asad vā idam agra āsīt, tato vai sad ajāyata, tad ātmānaṃ svayam akuruta, tasmāt tat sukṛtam uchyate iti yad vai tat sukṛtam.

This is the fourth argument: that Brahman is the eternal existence, and therefore we are all existent.

Brahman as the Causeless Cause

In the beginning—"in the beginning" means what? Before the creation, before the manifestation of Brahman as this pañcabhūta, as this world—he says He was asat, non-existence. Non-existence means not really non-existent, but unmanifest. And that unmanifest, when it becomes manifest, that is called creation. And for some time it continues.

So this is the causeless cause. That's why it is called sukṛtam, svayampṛtam—self-made. "I made myself." And that also means Brahman or God is the material cause. Because there was nothing else besides God. So if this universe has come out and every object requires a material, so Brahman is the material cause, Brahman Himself is the intelligent cause, and Brahman Himself is the instrumental cause.

That's why we mentioned earlier the analogy of a dream. In the dream, everything is nothing but our own waker, who as if divides himself—really not, but as if divides himself into the subject, into the objects, and that instrument by which the one can be divided, subdivided into two: the subject and the object. This we have already discussed.

The Fifth Argument: Brahman as Rasa (Bliss)

The fifth reason: we experience happiness. We also experience unhappiness. What is unhappiness? They are not two different things. The same thing, when it is less, we call it unhappiness. The same thing, when it is more, we call it happiness. When happiness becomes less, it is called unhappiness. When unhappiness becomes less, we call it happiness.

We all experience, and sometimes we experience less, sometimes we experience more. And therefore, there must be a perfect principle, a real source of infinite happiness. Because we all want unbroken, unlimited by time, space, and causation—we want the infinite joy.

Why Do We Long for Infinite Bliss?

Why does that idea—that "I want infinite happiness, infinite joy, infinite bliss"—at all arise? Because the idea itself stems from our unconsciously recognizing that Brahman, or God, or I myself, am the source of infinite joy, which is called ananta in this Taittirīya Upaniṣad. Ananta means infinite bliss, infinite existence, infinite knowledge, infinite bliss. That is why the word ananta is used there. All the three words equally try to make us understand what is the origin of original Brahman, what is the nature of Brahman.

Not really—we cannot understand the infinite because you cannot stand apart from infinite. The moment you stand apart, you also become finite and the infinite also becomes finite. There cannot be infinite plus finite. That's impossible.

The Mantra

So since we experience and we long for unbroken joy, there must be an infinite source, and that is called Brahman. This is the fifth reason.

Raso vai saḥ, rasaṃ hy evāyaṃ labdhvā ānandī bhavati.

So this is the fifth argument, the fifth reason. What is the reason that we all experience joy? Rasa means joy.

The Meaning of Rasa

That's why we say fruit juice or mango juice. So when you chew a beautiful mango fruit, many things you throw out, but it is the rasa. And that is what gives us so much of happiness—the sweetness, the flavor, the texture, etc., etc.

Raso vai saḥ, rasaṃ hy evāyaṃ labdhvā ānandī bhavati.

Analysis of Bliss

Now a discussion: he says that we are getting this happiness, this bliss, and that means we are tasting Brahman, and then we become very happy. We are tasting a sweet, we are tasting Brahman, we are tasting a mango—in the same meaning. So we become happy. Ānandī bhavati—we become very happy. Any person becomes happy when the person gets Brahman.

What happens? There is a lacuna. There is a desire. And that desire produces unhappiness. That is why when we feel we are not pūrṇa, we are apūrṇa, not full. Lack of water, lack of food, lack of oxygen, lack of warmth, lack of space—anything can produce unhappiness. But when we get all these things, whatever we require, ānandī bhavati—immediately we become full, one with that ānanda.

The Example of Sannyāsīs

So how do we know? There are also beautiful commentaries. Supposing that you see a sannyāsī and he is living under a tree, doesn't have a home, doesn't have warmth, doesn't have good food, doesn't have any of the minimal requirements—what we consider the means of happiness—he doesn't have anything. But true sādhus are observed to be abiding in profound peace and joy. Not only ānanda-nandati, nandati, nandati eva—they are swimming in the ocean of bliss.

In spite of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's unbearable throat cancer, throat pain, when Harimā was told, "I am suffering so much," he says, "No, I see you swimming in the ocean of bliss." And Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa exclaims, "This rascal has found me out!"

So the joys of the sannyāsīs do not come from any external object, nor even mental object. Purely by that knowledge: "I am of the nature of bliss." This is called pariśeṣa-nyāya.

Pariśeṣa-nyāya

When you don't see any cause of this bliss, you have to understand the person himself is the cause of the bliss. Pariśeṣa-nyāya means the analogy whereby you reject everything, and what remains is what you are really seeking.

That famous story—if you can recollect—ten persons set out to cross a river, and they wanted to make sure all of them crossed safely that river. And then one person started counting them, and then he started weeping because he found out only nine people. And all of them did the same counting, and all of them forgot to count oneself. But a passerby—in this case, a guru—comes and says, "Daśamas tvam asi—you are that tenth one."

Bliss in Deep Sleep

So you can see even poor people, those who do not have anything, swimming in the ocean of bliss, especially jñānīs. And also, when we—anybody, whatever may be the external circumstance—when we enter into deep sleep, the same thing can be seen.

But an ajñānī, he is always looking: "I don't have this, I don't have the other thing, I don't have so many things, therefore I am unhappy." A jñānī says, "I don't have anything, therefore I am happy." An ajñānī says, "I don't have anything, therefore I am unhappy." It is the same person.

And the classic example is a dog chewing a dry bone or a camel chewing thorny bushes.

The Logic of Bliss

So what is the logic of this bliss? When a person is happy, he passes beyond time, space, and causation. That is called happiness, joy, bliss—however short a time it would be, even one millisecond. Because all our earthly objects can give only kṣaṇika sukha. But for that kṣaṇika, we forget we are the finite. We remember we are the infinite.

That is why Chāndogya Upaniṣad—we have seen—"Yo vai bhūmā." We saw in the seventh chapter, Sanatkumāra had asked for this explanation of bliss. And then Sanatkumāra tells him, "Whatever is small, that is duḥkha. Whatever is infinite, that alone is bliss." But whatever bliss, happiness, joy we are experiencing, satisfaction we are experiencing, is nothing but a small, tiny drop of that infinite joy.

The Ocean Analogy

So it is not that the infinite joy is becoming tiny, but our capacity to experience is the limitation. As an example, the ocean never says, "Take only this much water." But if you take only a small tablespoon, the amount of water you can get is only one tablespoon. It is not the fault of the ocean. It is the fault of the person. Another person comes with a big tanker, and he can take a tank full of water. What about a big ship? Yes, you take as much water as you want, because "I never become less. Nothing can be added to me. Nothing can be subtracted from me. I remain the same thing."

External Objects Do Not Produce Joy

So what is the lesson? External objects do not produce joy. Why? Because they don't have joy. How? Because if any object has joy as its nature, then that object should always give joy only. But what do we see? When I am hungry, my joy eating a fruit, a sweet, is great. When my stomach is upset, that very object creates terrible discomfort in me.

So this is how there is a difference between a jñānī and an ajñānī. A jñānī knows, "I am experiencing my own joy," and an ajñānī thinks, "I am getting," like the dog or camel, "from outside."

What Do Objects Really Do?

So what does really an object do? That also you must recollect. When a desire arises in me, that acts like a cover to experience my own happiness. And when I get an object of my desire, it merely removes that curtain called desire. And then I remain what I was before the curtain came in between. That is what is being said here.

So the Upaniṣad states, Rasaṃ hy evāyaṃ labdhvā ānandī bhavati. Having attained this essence, one becomes blissful. That means having the knowledge, "I am Brahman, and I am of the ānanda-svarūpa. I don't want to have ānanda. I am ānanda."

Then an ajñānī says, "I don't have ānanda. I have to get it from something." A jñānī says, "I don't need to get from anywhere. In fact, other objects stand as obstacles." And that is beautifully expressed here.

Permanent Bliss

When a person realizes, "I am God, I am Brahman," then such a person absolutely becomes joyful, blissful. For how long? Because remember, when we issue statements like that, "one becomes blissful"—when a person has that knowledge, "I am Brahman," once that knowledge comes, that knowledge will never disappear.

With regard to every object—so "I am a husband." I am a husband only in relation with somebody. When that object disappears, I no longer remain as a husband. So when I have a sweet, the sweet will be disappearing. In fact, there is even more psychological point: only when that sweet becomes one with me and that sweetness removes my craving for sweet, and what is my own inherent nature, that really comes out.

All Ānanda is Brahmānanda

Before Brahman exists, that is the source of all joy. And even the slightest viṣayānanda is brahmānanda. Medhānanda is brahmānanda. Kalānanda is brahmānanda. Dharmānanda is brahmānanda. Of course, brahmānanda is brahmānanda.

What is the difference? The difference is, if brahmānanda is made to be limited by my mind—because I make a division with the instrument called mind, which is consisting of time, space, and causation. And therefore I feel that joy, that bliss, only for a very short time.

Therefore, Brahman exists. It is the source of all joy. So that is the fifth reason.

The Sixth Argument: Brahman as the Enlivening Principle (Prāṇa)

Now we enter into the sixth reason, which he says:

Ko hy evānyat kaḥ prāṇyāt—yad eṣa ākāśa ānando na syāt, eṣa hy eva ānandayati.

Then we see life everywhere. So much of life is there. So much of activity is going on. Wherever there is activity, we have to presume there is prāṇa functioning there. That is presented here as the sixth reason for the existence of Brahman.

The Meaning of the Mantra

Ko hy evānyat kaḥ prāṇyāt, yad eṣa ākāśa ānando na syāt, eṣa hy eva ānandayati.

This is the sixth reason.

So who could live if the prāṇa and the apāna—if this bliss did not exist in the ākāśa? That is to say, who would like to live if a person is not getting ānanda? Either we are getting ānanda, or we have experienced ānanda in the past, but we are making efforts to bring back that ānanda again. And to make effort, we require energy. And that energy is called prāṇa. And this prāṇa is the manifestation of Brahman.

Prāṇa Brahman

In many Upaniṣads we have seen, it is called prāṇa-brāhmaṇa. And in Chāndogya itself also we have seen. In Taittirīya also we have seen—we are going to see—this prāṇa Brahman is so much emphasized. So prāṇa alone is not Brahman, but one aspect, one manifestation of Brahman is this prāṇa.

The Five Functions of Prāṇa

So if this prāṇa is not there to help us, ko hy evānyat kaḥ prāṇyāt—who can breathe out? The function of prāṇa. Prāṇa is one, but it is subdivided into five activities, like breathing in and out. They are two separate. Then digesting things, distributing the energy to every part, and getting rid of what is indigestible, what should be thrown out. So prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, udāna, samāna. One prāṇa, when it takes on five different activities—and that is all the works of the one prāṇa only. And this prāṇa, another name is Brahman.

Universal Prāṇa

So there is this prāṇa, this prāṇa, universal prāṇa. We are not talking about individual prāṇa. We are talking about collective prāṇa, universal prāṇa. There is it. Eṣa ākāśaḥ ānando 'syāt, eṣa hy eva ānandayati.

So who could breathe in and breathe out if this bliss of Brahman did not exist in the ākāśa of the heart? That is to say, in our body, which is aptly named as Brahmapurī. And in that Brahmapurī, inside that Brahmapurī, deep inside, there is a place called Dahara-ākāśa, Daharam. And we have seen it in the eighth chapter of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad.

Dahara-ākāśa

And that is what is its nature? It is called ākāśa, Dahara-ākāśa. That Dahara-ākāśa itself is the Brahman. And the nature of that Brahman is ānanda. If this ānanda, which is attracting everybody, which is urging everybody—"You try for more happiness, better happiness, higher happiness for all time"—and that is what is called our efforts.

Man lives, animal lives. But if somebody doesn't get this ānanda, you know what happens? We all desire, "Let me not exist. I cannot bear this condition of unhappiness."

The Question Answered

So ko hy evānyat kaḥ prāṇyāt—who can breathe out and who can breathe in if this Brahman doesn't exist? Where does this Brahman exist? In the ākāśa called Dahara-ākāśa. Where is this Dahara-ākāśa? Inside this body. And what is the nature of that Dahara-ākāśa? It is Brahman itself. What is the nature of that Brahman? Ānanda. And that Brahman continuously is trying to make everything blissful. But due to our wrong actions, we are creating covers, curtains, and shielding that ānanda so that it will not touch us. And that is what this beautiful śloka says.

Reference to Chāndogya Upaniṣad

So where did we see this reference in this seventh section? We have seen in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, chapter 8, section 1, mantra 1. And that mantra is:

Atha yad idam asmin brahma-pure daharaṃ puṇḍarīkaṃ veśma, daharo 'smin antarākāśaḥ, tasmin yad antas tad anveṣṭavyaṃ, tad vāva vijñāsitavyam iti.

Teachings to Indra

Having given this beautiful teaching, the Prajāpati says that there is that Brahman within you, but it is covered by pañcakośas or three bodies: sthūla, sūkṣma, and kāraṇa-śarīras. And that's why he teaches three times to Indra.

First time, Virocana also hears. He thought he had obtained Brahma-jñānam: "Whatever we are experiencing in the waking state, that is nothing but Brahman." Was he wrong? No, he was not wrong. But this Brahman which we experience in the external world is extremely limited by time, space, and causation. And it is less limited when we are in the state of dream. And it is very little limited when we are in the state of sleep, deep sleep, suṣupti-avasthā.

But in all the three there is a limitation. Only the degree of limitation is the difference. That is why one has to break one's identity. When we identify ourselves with the waking, we are called Viśva. When we identify ourselves with the dream, we are called Taijasa. When we identify ourselves with the kāraṇa-śarīra, we call ourselves Prājña.

The Pañcakośa Viveka

But the Pañcakośa-viveka tells us: so you first focus what you are and slowly expand. And then you become Annamaya-kośa Brahma. Then become Prāṇamaya-kośa Brahma. Then become Manomaya-kośa Brahma. Then identify with Vijñānamaya-kośa Brahma. Then identify with Ānandamaya-kośa Brahma. And then only we get the real glimpse into the Brahman. And that is also comparable to the Sahasrāra-cakra.

Summary of the Sixth Argument

So this is the sixth argument: Brahman as the enlivening principle.

Ko hy evānyat kaḥ prāṇyāt—who can breathe in? Who can breathe out? If Brahman is not existing in us in the form of ānanda. Because the whole life is meant for what? So that I can live. Why should I live? So that I can obtain ānanda. That is beautifully explained in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad in the form of three prayers, unconscious prayers.

You know that: Asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya, mṛtyor mā amṛtaṃ gamaya.

So without that Om, Brahman, which is established in the heart of everyone but deeply hidden and yet exerting His influence in the form of ānanda, nobody would like to live. And even that capacity to live also comes from the Brahman in the form of samaṣṭi-prāṇa, in the form of Vāyu-devatā, etc.

So the sentience part—because prāṇa means sentiency, consciousness, awareness, etc., etc. So any insentient object cannot give because it does not have sentience. So sentiency must be borrowed from a sentient conscious principle, which is called Brahman only.

So Brahman is the source of life. This conscious enlivening principle is Brahman. That is beautifully presented in this particular expression.

The Seventh Argument: Brahman as the Source of Fear and Fearlessness

Then the last expression, seventh argument, seventh reason: Brahman is the source of fear and fearlessness.

Understanding Fear and Fearlessness

So Brahman alone is the cause of both fear as well as fearlessness. We should not understand that Brahman is like a ferocious person—that He causes most of the time only fear, and only for His own people He doesn't cause any fear. We see so many fearful persons. But a baby of that fearful person makes this fellow weep, run here and there, and he becomes a horse whenever the child wants, because the baby is the master of this fearful person.

How is it possible? Because that fearful person thinks, "This is me." And we say, "This is mine," we also simultaneously say, "This is me."

The Mantra

So Brahman, both as the cause of fear as well as fearlessness, that is presented in this last and seventh reason for the existence of Brahman. That is said here:

Yad hy evaiṣa etasmin adṛśye 'nātmye 'nirukta 'nilayane 'bhayaṃ pratiṣṭhāṃ vindate, atha so 'bhayaṃ gato bhavati.

Can We Show Brahman?

So one doubt may come: "You are talking all the time about Brahman. But show me that Brahman, like we can show, 'This is such and such a person, this is such and such a tree, this is such and such an animal.'"

No, you cannot do that. So why cannot I do that?

The Nature of Brahman

Because eṣaḥ—this Brahman. So what happens? Adṛśya—it is not visible, because it is not the object of any of the five sense organs. Anātmye—so it is nothing to do with any one of them. Incorporeal. Ātma means corporeal. There is a form. This is formless.

And then, because it is not visible, not manifest, and formless, how are you going to name it? When you see something and when you see two things, you have to separate them. "This is elder brother, this is younger brother." Sometimes it becomes very difficult for us if there are twins or triplets, or even these quadruplets are also there. So to separate one from the other, we have to say big, small, left, right, above, below, etc., etc.

Anirukta—you cannot define it. That's why it is called anirukta. Nirukta means definition. Anirukta means indefinable.

Not only that, anilayane—it is not confined by any space. It is all-pervading. Anilayāna also means supportless. It supports everything, but it is not supported by anything else.

Attaining Fearlessness

When a person—a jñānī, a jñānī—identifies himself with this just now described Brahman, such a person, what happens? Abhayaṃ pratiṣṭhāṃ vindate—he attains to that state of absolute fearlessness. Which means not only he becomes fearless, even the very idea of fear, the concept of fear itself does not exist.

Just as we cannot have the concept of a non-existing object or a non-experienced object, so also nobody can point out and say, "This is Brahman." But when a person becomes one with Brahman, "Brahman is like that"—no, that is only superficial meaning. "Brahman is like that." What is the real meaning? Ahaṃ brahmāsmi—I am. I don't even say, "I am that Brahman." I am Brahman.

The Disappearance of Duality

When a person reaches that stage, "this" and "that"—"I am this, I am that"—both ideas will disappear. And then, what is he going to—fearing of infinity, number fears? "I am going to become finite." This is a crucial point you have to keep in mind. Bhaya means the infinite fearing that there is something which can make me finite.

But the infinite knows, "I am the infinite." Only one finite object fears another finite object. But when a person knows, there is no second—ekam eva advitīyam. And all fear comes—Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, any Upaniṣad says—so this bhaya comes from where? Dvitīyād vai bhayaṃ bhavati. That means dvitīyam means what? Finiteness creates fear of the other finite things. Infinite can never fear because it is everything. There is nothing which can create. Who is the fearful one? Who is the fearless one? That distinction is completely gone.

Fear Arises from Differentiation

So with this, the seventh argument is also there. But in the last line, he says:

Yad hy evaiṣa etasmin udaramantaraṃ kurute, atha tasya bhayaṃ bhavati, tat tv eva bhayaṃ viduṣo 'manvānasya, tad apy eṣa śloko bhavati.

But when a person—an ajñānī, an ignorant person—makes the slightest differentiation of his nature, in his nature, Brahman, then immediately there is fear for him. Because that Brahman becomes—that Brahman means that when I become finite, I see everything as finite and huge. "I am a single person. The whole world is too big for me." And that idea brings fear for the person who makes this differentiation.

The Unreflective Person

And such a person is called a person who doesn't have the intellect to think. So he is called here "who doesn't reflect," who has no capacity—or he has the capacity, but he has not developed that capacity to think deeply.

Preview of the Next Section

So about this subject, how this person really fears, there is one śloka that is strengthening this argument, which will come at the beginning of the eighth section. That is also called Ānandamīmāṃsā. We will talk about it in our next class.

Closing Prayer

ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

Oṁ jananīṁ śaraḍhāṁ deviṁ rāmakriṣṇam jagad-gurum

pādapadmetayosritvā pranamāmi-muhurumuhu

May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna!