Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 90 Ch2.8 on 04 February 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 8th Section
We have completed the 6th and 7th Anuvāka sections of the 2nd chapter of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, called Brahmānanda Vallī, wherein a student asks the question: "If Brahman is the cause, as you are teaching us, then will an ignorant person at the end become identified with Brahman and become free or not? As well, a knower also becomes free or not?"
Of course, the question "A knower of Brahman becomes free or not" should never have arisen in the mind. The only doubt is about Brahman. But where is that Brahman? We do not see Him, so He is supportless and He is unmanifested, and He cannot be experienced through the five sense organs. What is the way out? Pure faith in the scriptures.
Faith versus Śraddhā
The word "faith" is a very weak word. There is a difference between faith and śraddhā. What we control and which varies depending upon our mind—the state of our mind—is called faith. And what possesses us like a ghost and makes us do that is called śraddhā (though not an apt analogy).
When a person forgets himself because of anger, he runs like a mad man directed by the anger—by his own anger—and can do most harmful things, or he can also do wonderful things. Like a mother who sees her child being hurt gets completely possessed by anger and is ready to kill the tormentor or to die also in the protection of her child. So that is called śraddhā, as an example, as an analogy. That which is never in our control but what controls us, makes us do what 100% we believe—that is called śraddhā.
So the students should have obtained that śraddhā. But śraddhā is something which we have to cultivate gradually. It starts with some amount of faith, and as we go on experimenting and experiencing the promised result, our śraddhā also will grow.
Does Brahman Really Exist?
Implied in that question is: Is there past life? Is there future life? Is there life after death? And is there also other spheres of experience called lokas? For that reason, the teacher has given seven reasons, and we have seen them in the 6th and 7th sections.
The Seventh Reason: Fear and Fearlessness
In the seventh reason, Brahman is the cause of both fear as well as fearlessness. And those who are knowledgeable—jñānīs—they know Brahman exists. And "exists" doesn't mean separate from oneself, but one. Oneself is Brahman. So such persons, they go beyond all fear, because fear comes from a second object. And duality means many objects. No, I am the only one. There is nothing else.
And all the happiness I was trying to obtain from various objects—what about that? No, no object possesses any happiness. I am the only source of happiness. But as if I am looking at my own reflection in a mirror. And here, the mirror happens to be every object. So when my reflection is not at all clear, that is called unhappiness. When the reflection is clear—different degrees of clarity—that is called happiness, joy. But finally, it is ānanda. So that is going to be discussed in the 8th section.
Brahman as the Cause of Fear
But Brahman as the cause of fear was just mentioned at the end of the 7th section. The person who makes the slightest difference between oneself and the other—and that other can be everything. Another, a tree. How can a tree be a source of fear? Because if I am anywhere passing nearby, a huge branch can fall, or if it is a palm tree or coconut tree, a huge coconut can fall upon my head.
So the tree can be both an object of pleasure—by giving the coconut, coconut milk, coconut chutney, anything that can be made out of coconut. Coconut is one of the most marvelous trees in creation. Every part of the coconut can be used. Houses can be made, bridges can be made, and the leaves—one can weave baskets, etc. Every part of it is absolutely useful. So depending upon, the same object can also be a source of limited pleasure or limited unhappiness also.
The Teaching of Non-Difference
So what is the Upaniṣad telling? If anybody, because of the cause of ignorance, makes the slightest difference between oneself and Brahman—but where is that Brahman? We don't see. An ignorant person doesn't see the Brahman. But we see the Brahman, but we don't recognize the Brahman. We think that Brahman is this world.
Even the slightest, smallest mosquito can be a cause of sleeplessness, fear, until you catch and kill it. So when one becomes a knowledgeable person, what happens? He knows: "I am the only reality. There is no second." And that moment he becomes—what? All the happiness we are attributing to another object becomes my own ānanda. I am ānanda-svarūpa.
But if somebody makes the slightest difference—that means even when a person reaches Brahmaloka (that is the highest sphere of dualistic happiness)—that person can also get fear. What is the fear? Since Brahmaloka is attained by action, Brahmaloka can be lost also. When the result of karma comes to an end, then we can fall back from Brahmaloka.
So the idea is: You must realize that there is none else excepting one's own self. That's what is wanted.
The Deeper Implication
But there is also a deeper implication. So bhaya (fear) comes from Brahman. What is that? If you deviate yourself, if you see the slightest difference between you and the world, then there is no question of seeing difference between me and Brahman. Because when everything is Brahman, when Brahman is everything, the question of distancing oneself—"I will go out of everything, out of the infinity, jump out of infinity"—it is not possible to jump out. Therefore, the question of separating myself from Brahman doesn't arise.
But what arises is: "I am not Brahman." That is what is meant by difference between oneself. But the difference is always in duality only. If we can learn how to look upon this whole universe as Brahman, then there would be no fear, because it is myself.
When a person is acting—a small analogy—in dual roles as both the hero as well as the villain, then the villain sometimes beats the hero. Sometimes, of course, mostly at the end it is the hero who beats the villain. Neither the villain weeps nor the hero weeps. Both are pretending that we are beating each other and we are causing so much of unhappiness with each other. But this is all mere pretense, and that gives them greatest joy. When you pretend, then it not only doesn't become anger, it becomes greatest source of happiness.
So we have to learn how to become one with the world, and it is a slow process. And that's what we are going to discuss.
The State of the Ignorant and the Jñānī
So the last point: The state of the ignorant person, a jñānī—what is his state? That if he thinks "I am not Brahman," then he becomes limited. Limitedness causes fear. Fear is equivalent to unhappiness. Fear is equivalent to bondage. Fear is equivalent to so much of sorrow, suffering. That is what the Upaniṣad wants to convey.
The message is: Do not see any difference.
The Ṛg Mantra
As an example, if one thinks "I am different from Brahman," then that very Brahman becomes the cause of terrible fear. For that, in this 8th section, a Ṛg mantra is quoted. And this is that mantra:
Bhīṣāsmād vātaḥ pavate
Bhīṣodeti sūryaḥ
Bhīṣāsmād agniś cendraś ca
Mṛtyur dhāvati pañcama iti
Out of fear of this Brahman—asmāt means Brahman, from Brahman—vātaḥ pavate: the wind goes on blowing with no holiday, no holiday at all. Bhīṣodeti sūryaḥ: that is, the Sūrya Deva does arise. "Arise" doesn't mean he is coming from somewhere. No, the sunrise and sunset—from our limited human viewpoint, there is a sunrise and beginning of the day, there is a sunset and end of the day. But if we go higher than the earth, there is no setting, there is no rising at all. It is pure, what you call, imagination of the brain.
But we should not think it is false. It is very practical. That's why we have to work, we have to get rest. So that rhythm is very, very important. If we can live with that rhythm, that itself will remove a lot of problems in this world.
Understanding the Mantra
For that, an example is given. Because of the fear, the wind—vāyu here, vātaḥ pavate means it blows—how long? Twenty-four hours a day. That means there is no beginning, there is no end. It rises up with the creation, ends with the creation.
Bhīṣā udeti sūryaḥ: The sun is doing its function.
Bhīṣāsmād agniś ca indraś ca: The fire burns. Indra performs his duties.
And the fifth, pañcama mṛtyuḥ dhāvati: Death must function.
Beautiful mantra which we are not able to understand.
Brahman as the Pañca Devatās
So Brahman Himself is appearing to us in the form of the pañca devatās, and as pañca devatās they will always obey the commandments of the Brahman. Why? Where is that ruler, antaryāmī? That Brahman is there. That Brahman itself is manifesting in the form of the Vāyu Devatā, Sūrya Devatā, Agni Devatā, Indra Devatā, Mṛtyu, etc. These are just a few samples to make us understand.
And here "fear" we should not understand that they are all trembling. What is meant is: When a person creates something, along with the creation of anything, certain rules and regulations have to be created.
So if it is, for example, if it is a delicate machinery, a beautiful watch—there are rules, regulations. You should not throw it out. If there is a mobile, there are rules, regulations how to use it. And if I follow, it gives a long time service. If we do not, a likelihood we will have to throw it away and buy something else. It becomes expensive and painful also. When it is lost, some people get what is called mobile phobia and they are lost: "What am I going to do? How am I going to live?" Prāṇa goes—that is OK. But mobile goes—that is not acceptable!
Unquestioning Obedience
So what is fear here? Because—unquestioning obedience. How come? Because it is Brahman Himself who is doing His job. Nobody is commanding them. He manifested Himself: "I want to blow all the time to sustain My children, My creation."
So Sūrya Deva: "I want to create life. First I created life, and commanded that life. Now you go on doing all the creation."
So every creature that Brahman created, or Brahmā created, has to go on doing the same Brahman's job. Each one of us are Brahman's interns. Each one of us are Viṣṇu's protectors, enforcers of the rules and regulations. Each one of us again become what is called death.
An Example
Take a simple example of this profound statement. We cannot live without plants. Sometimes we eat plants, sometimes even roots, bark, leaves, blossom, fruits—ripe and unripe—everything can become matter of food for everybody, if not for us, for some other creature. And without that we cannot survive.
So when a plant, for example, is created, it is called sṛṣṭi. When it grows up, becomes mature, and it is plucked, that is called laya. Until that time it is sustained by Viṣṇu in the form of the sun, the heat, the water, etc., etc.
So we are all totally dependent. Rather, we are the products of these pañca bhūtas.
The Message of the Ṛg Mantra
So through this Ṛg Mantra, this Taittirīya Upaniṣad, the eighth section wants to convey to us that Brahman is the root cause of creation. He is the root cause of the maintenance, and He is the root cause of the absorption, reabsorption. So here: root cause of the maintenance, sustenance. And He Himself created, like mother and father—who is going to sustain, protect the child until the child can stand?
So this cause—each one of us are Brahmās, Viṣṇus, Maheśvaras at different times.
So it is bhaya means unswerving. That faith: "I have to protect my children, therefore they will never deviate." But unfortunately, sometimes we want to deviate. Why do we deviate? Have we got a separate, independent, distinct mind which rejects God and we need to do that?
Conclusion of the Seventh Section
So with this, the seventh reason: Brahman is both the cause of fear when we think "I am not Brahman"—that becomes the cause of fear. Fear means unhappiness. Unhappiness means terrible suffering. But when we know that "I am Brahman," then that very Brahman becomes a source of sat, cit, and ānanda. That is what is wanted. This seventh section wanted to tell us.
With this, the seventh section is over. Now we already entered with this bhīṣāsmād vātaḥ pavate into the eighth section. But we will do a little bit of introduction into this mīmāṁsā.
Introduction to Brahmānanda Mīmāṁsā
This eighth section is very aptly called Brahmānanda Mīmāṁsā—an analysis of ānanda. Ānanda means bliss.
Understanding Different Terms for Happiness
So when we are using certain words like ānanda, santoṣa, sukha, etc.—you know, in English language: pleasure, joy, happiness—they have different connotations. We have to understand it.
Pleasure: If it is something very limited, very momentary, that is what we call pleasure. "It is a pleasure to meet you." Definitely it might be a pleasure to meet, but if it prolongs, it may not be a pleasure! So momentarily: "Oh, very happy to see you! How are you? How are you?" And then don't make any Mahābhārata—get the hell out from there!
Joy: Then the other thing that comes is joy. Suddenly, if we happen to have some positive experience, perhaps suddenly, unexpectedly, you met somebody. Somebody has invited you for a cup of coffee. You are not expecting it, and you are really wanting to have a cup of coffee or a cool drink or a pleasant chat. And that is the unexpected.
The sunrise—beautiful sunrise—sunset, or at night you go on seeing the stars, beautiful stars. It uplifts the mind because in the space when we perceive these billions and billions of stars (including some galaxies also), then our mind automatically is forced to expand.
Unfortunately, there are what is called negative situations. Light is one of the greatest enemies of natural phenomena. So because of the city lights, they will not allow us anytime. If a city is gone or the power station is broken, and then you look at the sky—perhaps it is a cloudless night—and you see the marvel of these stars, as if you can really catch hold of them if you jump up a little bit. A marvelous experience! And then you can also see this brilliant light spread in the space. And that is called—that experience of these great things is called joy.
Happiness: So here is a person. He studied well, he obtained a steady job, and his life is going on—not absolutely smooth, but what is called not worth noticing. "Okay, my child had fallen, he got a little bit hurt or something. I slipped and fell down. Not much injury has taken place," etc. These are normal phenomena in our day-to-day life, but nothing extraordinarily bad or unfortunate had happened. And in the family, there is harmony with the family members, and both of them—husband, wife, children—they are following a particular belief, mindset (maybe we can call it religion), and they are leading a normal life. Neither too unselfish nor too selfish. What we call a good person, a gentleman. Life is going on nicely, and for a long time it goes on without any disruption. That is called happiness.
All Are Manifestations of Ānanda
But what the Upaniṣad wants to tell us: All these are not different types of experiences. There is only one, that is called ānanda. When ānanda is limited—very limited—it is called pleasure. When it is very exciting, makes us throw, that is called joy. When the limitation is slightly less, that is called happiness.
But ultimately, there would be accidents, there will be old age, there will be death, there will be separations. These things everyone has to experience, especially thoughtful people. So is there any way we can obtain that ānanda? That is the very important point.
Categories of Happiness
So any ānanda, any happiness, excepting the bliss of Brahman, is called viṣayānanda, etc. And it can be roughly divided into five categories. I am going to come to that point.
These are—and even this worldly happiness, that means limited happiness. That means limited by three factors: that is deśa-kāla-vastu-pariccheda—by space, by time, and by another object.
Example: For example, I am enjoying a good cup of coffee or breakfast. Yet there is a time—it is eight o'clock in the morning—so I am enjoying it. That is, there is a beginning, and whatever has a beginning must have an end. That is the what is called time limitation.
Then deśa: Now after breakfast has to come, then I have to go to the office. So my going to the office limits. I cannot go on enjoying the first sip of coffee. That time only it is limited. Afterwards it is called anuvāda or carvita-carvaṇa—that is chewing the cud, like chewing, chewing gum, etc. It comes to an end.
And when I am enjoying one object, suddenly another object which is also an object of happiness for me—then it comes: "Oh, how nice it would be if I can taste it! But my stomach is full, so let me wait until I become hungry," etc.
What is the point? Every worldly happiness—all these are called worldly happiness, reflected happiness—right from the lowest loka until Brahmaloka. Only the graded happiness. They are all temporary means, temporary.
Developing Viveka and Vairāgya
So we have to recognize this cognition that everything is temporary. If we can develop slowly viveka and vairāgya—discrimination and dispassion—will also arise in it.
Graded Ānandas
So what is the point? What are the points we have to discuss? These are called graded ānandas.
Let me just explain what is a graded ānanda. For example, if the ānanda we get by experiencing an object is also divided into a lowest grade—third class, second class, first class—and then accordingly, the ānanda experienced through that object also depends upon graded. If the object is third class, the happiness I derive—third class. If the object is a better object, medium happiness-giving object, my happiness will be higher. And if it is the best object, naturally what it can give, that will be the greatest—temporary but greatest—happiness I can derive. This is with regard to the object of our experience.
But it also depends upon: If I am a tāmasic person, I get only tāmasic ānanda. If I am a rājasic—far superior, but I get rājasic ānanda. If I am a sāttvika person, I get sāttvika ānanda. And the highest sāttvika ānanda is called Brahmaloka ānanda, which is also—which has a beginning. Before going to Brahmaloka, it is not there. When I reach Brahmaloka, it is there. Then at the end of the karma phala, when it gets exhausted, then I will be thrown out. I have to fall automatically. Nobody need throw me. My own karma phala comes to an end, and I fall down. So that is the end. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-laya—for not only karma, karma phala also comes there. This is called graded ānandas.
Another Viewpoint
So from another viewpoint, several times we discussed:
- Viṣayānanda - that is objective pleasure
- Higher than that is intellectual pleasure
- Higher than that is aesthetic pleasure or joy
- Higher than that is moral joy
- And the highest, unlimited, infinite, that is called brahmānanda
So until dharmānanda, everything is graded only. There is nothing else. And this graded happiness, all this is called saṁsāra. Saṁsāra means temporary, changing, dependent. Also called mithyā experiences of what is called happiness. Or that same brahmānanda experienced through the coverings, mediums of these gradations—time, space, and object—that is called graded happiness.
Who Can Experience These Gradations?
So any of these graded happinesses can be experienced by one who is a kṣatriya and akāmahata.
So this eighth section deals with a beautiful analysis. And through this analysis, what the Upaniṣad wants to convey is: You do some virtuous actions. Actually, your mind becomes—I am going to discuss that point, very, most marvelous point we have to keep in mind. So he goes to a higher loka, so to say, and then he enjoys it so long as the result of the karma phala lasts, and then he will fall down.
And there are several lokas there. And the purpose of this Upaniṣad telling is to establish that there are higher worlds, and one can only go to whichever world we deserve to go—lower world or higher world. We don't choose. Our karma chooses. That is what is called—it is vidhi. God says: "This person goes to svarga loka. This person goes to Prajāpati loka. This person goes to naraka loka—hellish world," etc.
Two Important Points
So first, two points is: We are experiencing only brahmānanda, but through the medium of our body and mind, which limits. That limitation is through time, space, and causation, or another object.
But there are some blessed souls who are experiencing all this brahmānanda itself all the time. So do they experience graded ānanda? That is one of the questions.
Whenever Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa—especially when we think he was in samādhi (which is a wrong notion)—was he experiencing brahmānanda or graded happiness? If our understanding is right, we have to say Rāmakṛṣṇa is experiencing brahmānanda only, all the time.
Once a person knows "I am Brahman," there is no break in his ānanda.
Suppose a knower of Brahman is eating a sweet which before realization he loved it, and now also he loves it—not really, but so to say. What is that?
Can Brahman Be Proved by Logic?
Now, in the 6th and 7th sections, seven reasons are given to establish by Advaita Vedānta that Brahman does really exist. Is it true that God or Brahman can be proved by logical reasons?
And Advaita Vedānta says: No, He is not adṛśya, anātmya, anelāyana, anirukta. He is not available. Therefore, logic only functions in known things—sensory objects, sensory knowledge. It will not go beyond the sensory knowledge. Therefore, Brahman is beyond all senses—ati-indriya-jñānam. Logic cannot function.
First Conclusion
Then what is the first conclusion? Brahman can never be established with any type of logical reason, any number of logical reasons.
Then why are you quoting the seven reasons? Because Vedānta accepts two types of logic. What is it?
Two Types of Logic
1. Kevala Tarka - That is merely logic which does not believe, does not depend, does not rely upon the śruti or the scriptures. This is also called dry logic—śuṣka tarka.
So Brahman can never be established if it is śuṣka tarka. Not only Brahman cannot be established, but even an ordinary object also cannot be proved. It must be logical, rational logic. Then only it is possible.
How scientists think about that is supposed to be rational logic. But even the greatest scientist is enveloped with thick darkness, ignorance. That is why nobody is questioning whether AI can ever become AGI or a machine with self-consciousness. Because it thinks much better than us, much faster than us, its memory is almost infinite (unless electricity goes down, then everything goes down—that is the end of it). So it has its own limitations.
But it looks at you, it smiles at you, and it greets you, and it uses words of love. These are all what is called taught reflections—how you have to reply or react to this particular situation with the other person. But does it know that "I am pure consciousness"? You ask it, it will tell: "Yes, I am pure consciousness." Ask: "Look at a mirror, look at your own reflection, and then say, are you alive?" Of course, immediately it will reply: "I am alive. Don't you see?"
That is, it is only reflecting what I am saying, you are saying. So self-consciousness will never come to these machines. But every scientist talks: "In another two, three years, or five years, or ten years, every AI machine, AI intelligence, acquires self-consciousness." What a horrible, terrible mistake! These scientists should know better.
But because they work in the field of eyes and organs, so they think—they don't know that even their mind is only an inert thing unless it is aided. For example, if they are unconscious, if they are in a comatose condition—who is an Einstein in a comatose condition? Who is the greatest scientist in an unconscious condition, in a deep sleep condition? That should have opened their eyes, but they don't.
There is something separate which, without which, no inert thing can ever work. But at the same time, that inert thing seems to be acquired to be having "I am consciousness," but it is only what is called pratibimba—borrowed reflection, reflected consciousness, called cidābhāsa.
2. Śruti-Sammata Tarka - So the first type of logic, however rational it is, can never go beyond the realm of eyes and organs. But the second is that logic which relies upon, depends upon, the statements of these scriptures and tries to understand them in a rational way.
And every statement of any scripture and any commentaries, any talks—we all try to rationally understand. Or somebody who thinks he understands better tries to convince us: "This is how we have to think about it." This is called scripture-approved logic—śruti-sammata tarkā. This is also called śrauta tarka or śāstra tarka.
Application to All Religions
So Advaita Vedānta or any Vedānta or any religion—in fact, Bible: "So God was there, He created this. And man was walking with God in paradise." That—what does it mean? It means man was one with God. There are no two: "I and this my creation." Then God also have to fear man even more than man fears God, and He has to suffer. This, most people do not even dive deep and accept this philosophy.
Advaita Vedānta falls under this category. So only taking the support of scriptural statements from various statements, these seven reasons are given. And for each reason, there are commensurate scriptural statements. And only on faith we have to take. If we have the slightest doubt, then we will never be able to come to the conclusion: God exists.
That is the first point we have to understand.
Preview of the Next Class
Now, just to introduce what is this entirety: This is one of the longest passages of all these sections. I will just read out before we go to the understanding in the next class.
This is also called Ānanda Mīmāṁsā, Brahma Mīmāṁsā, or Brahmānanda Mīmāṁsā. As we said, the second chapter is called Brahma Vallī, Ānanda Vallī, or also called Brahmānanda Vallī. That's a beautiful name.
So mīmāṁsā means a beautiful analysis of ānanda—that means how many gradations are there from the lowest to the highest. And in this particular, as a sample, eleven gradations are given, which we will talk about in our next class.
Ānanda Mīmāṁsā.
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!