Wiki Vedanta - User contributions [en]

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.1.5 Lecture 36 on 24 May 2026

2026-07-08T17:21:46Z

Sdevi: /* Opening Invocation */

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

== Opening Invocation ==
ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.

==The Great Discussion on Brahman==
A great discussion of great spiritual aspirants was going on. What is ''Brahman'', and why should we realise ''Brahman'', and what do we get out of it, and how can we realise ''Brahman''? This is the subject matter of this entire fourth section of the first chapter of the ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''.
==The Seven Types of Food (Saptānnas) – Review==
In our last class, we saw that the whole universe is divided into seven types of foods. Food means that which one experiences through the five sense organs, not only through the sense organ of taste – everything. So what for are these foods created? First of all, the essential teaching of the Upaniṣad (every Upaniṣad, ''Bhagavad Gītā'', Gospel, Bible, New Testament – everything) is this: the earth on which we are living is not a happy place, but there is a place beyond this earth without any limitations of time, space and causation, and that is called ''paraloka'' or the highest world. Going there is only a verbal expression. It means knowing that I am God, I am everything. There is no creation. I am everything. That is the essence of every Upaniṣad.

In this context, seven foods are there. What are those seven foods?
#The first food that we have seen is the food that we experience.
#Then there are two types of foods that we have to offer to gods.
==Gods as Manifestations of Īśvara==
Gods are nothing but manifestations of ''Īśvara'' (one God), but as if the king of a country assigns different roles, different departments, different managers to look after the welfare of the kingdom, so God has created these gods and goddesses for the sake of maintaining this universe. And if we live a proper life, they are pleased with us. So how do we know what they expect from us? They created certain rules: do this, do not this – ''vidhi'' and ''niṣedha''. And this ''vidhi'' and ''niṣedha'' have to be done only through some instruments. Those instruments are called body and mind, and therefore body and mind are created for the purpose of self-knowing, knowing that I am God. As it were, God is playing a game (''līlā''): "Let me forget myself, and then let me enjoy" – that is called ''līlā'' – "and then let me again know that I am back to my own place." This is what Sri Ramakrishna calls ''nitya'' and ''līlā''.
==What Is Food?==
So, what is food? That our body is a food, our mind is a food, this entire creation is a food, and the manifestation of God in the form of the maintainers – that is also food.
==The Triangle: Adhyātmika, Ādhibhautika, Ādhidaivika==
Yesterday I tried to explain that the whole creation can be divided into three parts: ''adhyātmika'', ''ādhibhautika'', ''ādhidaivika''. It is a triangle. And a triangle can never be broken so long as we attain ''Brahman''. As long as we do not attain ''Brahman'', this triangle will remain. And to dissolve this triangle and to know that I am ''Brahman'' is the goal of life. Until that time, let us understand what this triangle is and try to use it in the proper way as guided by our scriptures, which guidance comes to us through our own ''gurus''. A ''guru'' is none other than a right interpreter of the scriptures in accordance with the understanding capability of the student. So this is the purpose.
==The Role of Physical Food==
So now I am here. My body requires food – physical food – but through this food, what happens? I live, and when I live, my body functions. My body has five sense organs of knowledge and five organs of action. So this body along with the mind are utilised to experience. To eat food means not only to enjoy, but the first purpose of food is to live. Only once health is assured – that I am not in danger of death – then only comes: how can I make this food more enjoyable? And how can I make my food – that means my experiences, that means my body, my mind, my parents, my country, my religion, everything – is created by me through my actions? This point especially comes in the sixteenth section, which we are going to enter very soon, where the whole fifteenth section is summarised as mind, speech and ''prāṇa''.
==Nāma, Rūpa, Karma==
So the whole world: ''nāma'', ''rūpa'' and ''karma'' (name, form and action). Beautiful psychological explanation. We will come to it, but what it means is that whatever body we have, whatever family we have after birth and after marriage, whatever society we have, and what our experiences will be – it all depends upon how we experience by acting and reacting, and that is what is called ''karmasiddhānta''. That is what Patañjali Ṛṣi summarises as ''jāti'', ''āyuḥ'' and ''bhoga''. We will come to that.
==Gratitude and Yajña==
But God has created foods. That means what? We human beings are supplied food in the form of rains, in the form of seasons, and so we have to show our gratefulness, and that is called connecting ourselves with the gods in a very spiritual unity. And that is done through gratefulness – offering, joyful offering. And to get the idea: I am not the doer, I am not the enjoyer. It is God's grace that is coming in the form of whatever my body, whatever my food, whatever my experiences. So convert the whole life into ''yajña''. That is what Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa in the ''Bhagavad Gītā'' also says: all ''karmas'' are meant for only to be acted as a ''yajña''. The whole life has to be converted into ''yajña''. What is ''yajña''? Doing everything without the idea "I am the doer" – ''tu ho, tu ho''. So what is ''yajña''? Complete conversion of ''aham aham'' into ''tu ho tu ho'' – ''naham, naham; tu ho, tu ho''. And that is done through these experiences by being grateful. I am grateful because gods have given me food. I show my gratefulness through offering, joyful offering, and with the continuous feeling of gratefulness to the gods. In the same sense, I am grateful to everything – to the whole world in the form of sages, in the form of ancestors, in the form of ''vīrūḍevatās'', in the form of gods, in the form of every other human being and non-human being, and also that which is non-living (climate, for example). So these are all ''annams'' – experiences. And our experiences depend upon how we live our life – God-given life dedicated to God. That is the ''pāṭhapariyāya'' essence.
==Mind, Speech, and Prāṇa as Instruments==
So the main instruments of all these ''annas'' are either for ''bhoga'' (enjoyment) or ''yoga'' (for approaching God and becoming one with Him). Food is the key, and that food – this particular point – is ''manaḥ, vāk, prāṇaḥ''. So that is what is said even in this fifth section. So any experience can be transformed into a spiritual practice, and any experience can also be made into a hellish, worldly experience. So if I use God-given intelligence, body and mind for a selfish purpose, I bind myself more and more. But if I use the same thing with intelligence, then I can gradually progress and finally attain oneness – ''viddhi brahmātma jñānam''. But the instruments are necessary: mind, speech and vital force.

So as I said yesterday: mind means full of thoughts, and speech means that we have to think – loud thinking is called speech. So if we are thinking evil thoughts, our thoughts will be only evil, our speech will be only evil speech, and our actions will be evil actions. Vital force – ''prāṇa'': ''prāṇa'' means that divine vital force called ''vāyudevatā'' enters into us. We are borrowing it by His grace, and this ''prāṇa'' enters into us, divides itself into five parts, and keeps this body completely a fit instrument. But we have to be grateful to all the ''pañcabhūtas''.
==Profound Definitions of Manas (Mind)==
The Upaniṣad now provides profound definitions for all of them. First, we will deal with what is ''manaḥ'' – the mind. How do we know we have a mind? How do we know that it is summer season or very hot season? You just observe how hot the weather has become. The hotter it is, the greater it is. So certain heat is very pleasant; below that heat, very unpleasant; above that homeostatic heat, it is very unpleasant. The more hotter it is, the more uncomfortable we become. So how do we know that it is summer season? Because we continuously experience heat. When we experience high heat by approaching a blazing fire in any form, that is not summer season. But continuously, day after day, night after night, we see it is. So this is an example, an analogy, to show how we know we have a mind. This ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad'' in this fifth section gives a few hints. What are they?

कामः सङ्कल्पो विचिकित्सा श्रद्धाऽश्रद्धा धृतिरधृतिर्ह्रीर्धीर्भीरित्येतत्सर्वं मन एव । kāmaḥ saṅkalpo vicikitsā śraddhā'śraddhā dhṛtiradhṛtirhrīrdhīrbhīrityetatsarvaṃ mana eva |

So how do we know there is a mind? The Upaniṣad proceeds to give a beautiful example: even if we cannot see the mind, we can deduce the presence of the mind by this experience. First of all, the mind is defined as an aggregate of various ''vṛttis'' – only a few ''vṛttis''.

What is the first one? ''Kāma'' – desire. What is the second? ''Saṅkalpa'' – once desire comes, it will not be fructified; we have to do ''saṅkalpa'' – we have to determine: "I want to make this desire come true." And as we are putting forth efforts, doubts will come. ''Saṃśaya'' means doubt. Then belief, disbelief, etc. Then there will come: ''śraddhā'' (belief), ''aśraddhā'' (disbelief) – "Oh, probably I should not have taken it up, but no, I am not going to give it up." So diffidence, modesty, precise knowledge, and fear. If any of these emotions are experienced by us, we have to understand all these indicate they are the very characteristics of the mind.
==Mind in Waking, Dream, and Sleep==
So we know when a person is in deep sleep, he has no desires. But the moment he is awake (''jāgrat'' avasthā) or even in dream state, immediately ''kāma'' will come. The whole dream state is because of desire only, and often we find what we cannot achieve in the physical world (in our waking state) can be achieved easily if we can cultivate that special technique. There are some people in India who believe that we have the secret of this technique. So all of you think of a particular great person (head of that particular sect) – and often it goes by Viśvāmitra’s sect. So all of us at the same time combine your thoughts: "We want to visit Kailas and Mānasarovar." And they claim – don’t ask me whether it is right or wrong, but it can be right. Anything can be right through mind. One can go to ''devaloka'', one can go to ''narakaloka''; one can go to Mars, Saturn, America, Russia – I am not telling their hells or heavens – but one can go in dream anywhere. So desires – if there is a desire, that means mind is there. If there is a determination, mind is there. ''Vicikitsā'' means doubt. ''Śraddhā'' means absolute faith: "I can achieve it." ''Aśraddhā'' means "I don't have faith in myself; perhaps I will not achieve it." That is also an emotion, and it has its own consequences. Then ''dhṛtiḥ'' – tremendous willpower. ''Adhṛtiḥ'' – some people do not have any willpower. ''Hrīḥ'' – modesty. ''Dhīḥ'' – tremendous intelligence, capacity to understand. ''Bhīḥ'' – fear. ''Ityetat sarvam mana eva'' – any of these emotions, thoughts come in the form of these emotions; that is the manifestation of the mind. And mind is invisible; it can only be experienced through these. How do you know this person is a good person? Because goodness, evilness – all these things are not visible, but they can be understood through experience. If somebody gives you a blow without any cause, that means he is an evil person. And somebody smiles, helps you and does not want even thanks – you know such a person is a good person. So the mind is invisible.
==The Mind Knows Even from Behind==
Now the Upaniṣad tells: so I am sitting somewhere; I am facing in one direction, and suddenly, silently another person comes and touches me at the back, and immediately I know somebody has touched me. Even a mosquito touches, a fly lands on me, or the wind is blowing upon me – anything – cool air in the summer season – then I know that mind is there, because the mind understands even though I am not seeing the cause of that touch. Through that experience, I know my mind is working; it has taken notice.

तस्मादपि पृष्ठतः उपस्पृष्टः मनसा विजानाति । tasmādapi pṛṣṭhataḥ upaspṛṣṭaḥ manasā vijānāti |

Through mind, one knows it even when touched from behind (''pṛṣṭhataḥ'' means backside – that which is not immediately visible; ''upaspṛṣṭaḥ'' means when it is touched, comes into contact with anything). We know that.
==Speech Betrays the Mind==
Then ''vāk'' (speech). You will notice that when a person's mind is filled with thoughts (mind is nothing but ''vṛttis'', thoughts), depending on the quality of the thoughts, what comes out of the mouth – it is impossible for any person to speak sooner or later without speech betraying the person. That is how, especially the followers of Freud, they try to understand what is bugging a particular psychological patient, because they also cannot read the mind of another person. In fact, most of us cannot read our own mind – it remains. And as the unconscious part of the mind, only a few remembrances will be there; that is all we know about these things. So what is important is that speech betrays.

So you are talking with somebody; suddenly he calls you a rogue and immediately apologises: "No, no, I did not mean it; it just came out accidentally." There can be nothing more foolish. That is why in Bengali they say, "''pete nā thākila derī āśana''" – if it is not already in the mind (''irpet'' means mind inside), it will never come out. Because if you do not have anything inside, you cannot bring it out and give it to somebody or show it to somebody. It must be there. So suddenly a person gets angry: "No, no, I did not mean..." No, you meant it, but you are suppressing it. We have to understand it. So watch your speech.

That is why:

भद्रं कर्णेभिः शृणुयाम देवाः । bhadraṃ karṇebhiḥ śṛṇuyāma devāḥ |

And if you find somebody is speaking that which delights you, takes you to higher regions, then you know that is ''satsaṅga''. On the other hand, however nicely a person is talking, if it is creating fear in you, bringing your mind down, then you have to understand it is not the words; here we have to take note: speech does not mean words only. Speech means what is intended to convey that is there behind, and psychologists try to read it. Some fellow is suffering because of his aunt, and then this person is asked by the psychologist – I am quoting as an example – so the psychologist notices. Then he asks, "What is your relationship with your aunt?" Suddenly this fellow undergoes a convulsion and then he controls himself. He does not want to blurt it out. So he says, "Oh, she is a very nice lady; she treats me very nicely." But he cannot fool the psychologist – he understood. So now and then, when this fellow is least expecting, he will suddenly make that "aunt" word appear every time; the reaction comes out instinctively. That is called speech. The intention behind the real (what is called motivation) is more important than anything else.
==The Test of Speech==
Marwaris use it to take many very quality things – quality sweets, quality flowers, quality fruits – to Sri Ramakrishna, but he could not accept it. "We want your blessings," but he could understand. Even if such a businessman brings a betel leaf, sixteen desires are attached to it – that is what Sri Ramakrishna says. So we should never be taken in by external speech, because if we have been leading a good life, immediately we can feel whose speech is marvellous and real, and whose speech is artificial, connived – meaning one thing and speaking out something else. That is why when Narendranath started hearing Sri Ramakrishna, his external behaviour seemed to be at odds with normal behaviour. But then he was a person of great perception; then only he understood: "It is true that he may be behaving like that, but I have never come across a person whose speech, whose thought, whose action tallies in every way without contradicting each other."
==Speech as an Instrument for Progress==
So what it means is what we think – what we truly believe – if we can make an exercise of expressing it in the appropriate manner. For example, a spiritual aspirant sings ''bhajans'' and praises God in various ways through various hymns, ''stotras'', and he starts cultivating holy company and welcomes people who are good people, etc. So through speech, we can communicate. A devotee communicates, and that communication can be worldly, can be spiritual. But a spiritual aspirant knows how to separate the grain from the chaff, and he can understand: "This is a holy person, and this is not a holy person." So speech is defined simply as any sound emanating from the mouth for communication. But speech can be what is true, what is not true. There is another aspect of speech: how do you listen to my talk? Because I am speaking, and what I am speaking is nothing but the words of the Upaniṣad, but in the light of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and the direct disciples. You have to understand that. I do not speak anything. I take certain saints like Ramana Maharshi, I absolutely find Tulasīdāsa, Mīrābāī, Sūradāsa – all great people are there; they are all men of God. So their words are nothing but of God. That is speech. It is an instrument that can help us progress in spiritual life.
==The Role of Prāṇa (Vital Force)==
Then there is ''prāṇa''. What is the role of the ''prāṇa''? Every time we breathe in, we are breathing in ''vāyudevatā''. Every time we are eating, we are eating ''annadevatā'', ''pṛthvīdevatā''. Whenever we are drinking, we are drinking ''jaladevatā''. ''Jaladevatā'' is not an individual sitting somewhere and then supplying; all the ''devatās'' in these five forms are sustaining me. So this is called ''prāṇadevatā''. This ''prāṇadevatā'' primarily comes in the form of oxygen, and it can come indirectly not only through air but in the form of the breathing out of every plant, whatever it is. So this ''prāṇa'' goes inside. And ''prāṇa'' means energy – vital energy. And this ''prāṇa'' that we breathe in divides itself into five parts inside our body. What does it do?
==The Five Prāṇas==
First, it helps us: - ''Prāṇa'' itself helps us to breathe in. - ''Apāna'' helps us to breathe out – that which helps us to throw out what is poisonous to us (carbon dioxide). - ''Vyāna'' regulates ''prāṇa'' and ''apāna''. - ''Samāna'' – ''prāṇa'' is known by the name ''samāna''. What does it do? It helps us digest. It manifests in the form of digestive fire – ''vaiśvānara''. And without partiality, it distributes all the energy. What is food? Energy. But food cannot be converted into energy; energy is only food. Energy manifests in the form of food, and that food has to be reconverted into energy. And energy only helps us to convert that food back into energy. That function is called ''samāna'' – without partiality. So the eyes require some energy, the ears require some energy, the ''prāṇaśakti'' requires some energy. The mind requires – every thought expends some amount of energy, and the more worrying our thoughts, the more energy we expend. So all those functions are done by one particular function of this ''prāṇadevatā''. It is called ''samāna prāṇa''. - Then there is another called ''udāna''. When food is not suitable, it helps us relieve our discomfort by throwing outward in the form of vomiting. It helps us throw out undigested food. And at last, when this body is not capable of sustaining us, it helps the ''prāṇa'' move outwards, outside the body, leaving the body here, keeping the four others – that is ''prāṇamaya kośa'', ''manomaya kośa'', ''vijñānamaya kośa'', ''ānandamaya kośa'' – intact. That function of the ''prāṇa'' is called ''udāna'': ''prāṇa, apāna, udāna, vyāna, samāna''.
==The Three Foods: Manas, Vāk, Prāṇa==
So this is how ''prāṇa'' sustains us. ''Vāk'' sustains us. Then ''manaḥ'' sustains us. These three are foods. Food means experience. These three help us how to experience our God-given opportunity called life. So with the help of these three – whether I want to experience the external world, experience the internal world, want to bind myself, want to release myself – either for ''bhukti'' or ''mukti'', for everything, this ''prāṇa'' is mind, ''prāṇa'' and ''vāk''. These are the three important instruments.
==The Purpose of the Seven Annas==
Now we see that what is the purpose of the seven ''annas''? With the help of these seven ''annas'', every ''jīva'' is supposed to evolve until he reaches his paternal home – ''manaścalo nijāni ketāni''. That is the real purpose. But meanwhile, it does not prevent us from enjoying, but as the ''prasādam'' of God. So how we experience this external world, what type of body we have been given, what type of mind is given, what type of external world is given, what type of experiences are given to us – everything depends upon ''karmasiddhānta'': what we did in the past life.
==Returning to the Triangle==
So coming back again to the triangle: we cannot advance towards God unless we treat: - ''Adhyātmika'': my body is nothing but God. - ''Ādhibhautika'': the entire external creation is nothing but God. - ''Ādhidaivika'': it is also nothing but God.

God only is manifesting as these three angles – ''adhyātmika'', ''ādhibhautika'' and ''ādhidaivika''. Through these three, we create our experiences through our ''karmas'', and depending upon how we use these three instruments (three angles), our life experiences the world. This is, in brief (''saṅkṣepa''), what is called ''karmasiddhānta''.
==Why Is Creation Created?==
So why is a human being born? Why is ''sṛṣṭi'' created? So that it can realise God. That is called evolution.

Now, the mantra tells something very interesting: how is it that the activities of every ''jīva'' never come to an end – these foods never come to an end even though we are experiencing?

कस्मात्तानि न क्षीयन्ते अधिमनानि सर्वतः । kasmāttāni na kṣīyante adhimanāni sarvataḥ |

So why do these foods not become exhausted? Because we go on experiencing them, creating and recreating through action and reaction and through birth and rebirth. That is what he says: everything depends upon me.
==Three Instruments for Progress==
Then we just discussed:

त्रीण्यात्मने अकुलुतेति – मनो वाचं प्राणम् । trīṇyātmane akuluteti – mano vācaṃ prāṇam |

So God has given us three instruments so that we can progress in life. We can recreate ourselves. That means what? I am now thinking, I created myself. I am a human being, but I wish to be God. What is the wish?

असतो मा सद्गमय । तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । मृत्योर् मा अमृतं गमय । asato mā sadgamaya | tamaso mā jyotirgamaya | mṛtyor mā amṛtaṃ gamaya |

So man is given these, and again once we have been given, we make them our own. What do we make our own? Mind, speech and ''prāṇa''. And we go on creating ever new actions and reactions. Until we wake up and direct all the three exclusively towards God, this cycle of the world continues.
==Seeing and Hearing with the Mind==
Then the Upaniṣad states a marvellous truth:

मनसा ह्येव पश्यति मनसा शृणोति । manasā hyeva paśyati manasā śṛṇoti |

Indeed, one sees with the mind; one hears with the mind. Many times I discussed it. Suppose you see a person – that is only just the beginning of the action. How I look at that person, what opinions I cherish about that person, how I act and react towards that person – it is all my actions, and through mind only. The mind gets: "This is a good person" – mind acts one way. "This is an evil person; I do not like him" – mind acts in a different way. And then this mind is the root cause.

विज्ञातं विजिज्ञास्यम् अविज्ञातम् । vijñātaṃ vijijñāsyam avijñātam |

Whatever is known, mind is the cause. Whatever is unknown (''avijñātam''), mind alone is the cause. And whatever is to be known (especially through scriptures, through ''satsaṅga'') – ''vijijñāsyam'' – everything through the mind only we do. Therefore:

मन एव मनुष्याणां कारणं बन्धमोक्षयोः । mana eva manuṣyāṇāṃ kāraṇaṃ bandhamokṣayoḥ |

So this is the essence of the fifth ''brāhmaṇam''. We have come to the end of the ''pañcama brāhmaṇam'', which has twenty-three mantras.
==The Sixth Brāhmaṇam – Nāma, Rūpa, Karma==
Now what is the nature of God, gods, the world and ourselves? This is the topic of the sixth ''brāhmaṇam''. And everything is in the mind only. So if we can use life – means mind – correctly, then I can progress, I can go back from where I have come, I can know who I am and permanently become free. That is why Sri Ramakrishna used to say: life is meant for evolution. He said, "''Yāvad bāci tāvat śikhi''" – so long as I live, I learn. He is not telling it as a hyperbole; he is telling it is absolutely true. So do not have any doubt. Sri Ramakrishna did not learn anything – He came only to teach. He is ''sarvajña''. It is true, as God is ''sarvajña''. But after being born as a human being, He learnt ''bhajans''. He learnt the Bengali language – He did not come with Bengali language. And He developed a taste for a curry prepared with five types of spices (''pañcaphoṛaṇ''). All these things He learned only through life, and even in the end – but His learning is meant only for one purpose: not for His sake, but for teaching everybody else.

So here we are in the sixth ''brāhmaṇa''. The last ''brāhmaṇa'', which has only three mantras, and with this the first chapter will come to an end. A marvellous psychological dissection of what is life, what is the world, who are we, and what is this creation – this is answered in this sixth ''brāhmaṇa''. And why creation is done by God – everything is answered here in this sixth.

It starts with:

त्रयम्वा इदं नाम रूपं कर्म । trayamvā idaṃ nāma rūpaṃ karma |

This indeed is threefold: name, form and action. What is it to say? The whole creation is nothing but name, form and action. What is my body? Form, name and action. What is a part? Name, form and action. There is nothing else beyond name, form and action. How do you think about a person? When you hear his name, his form comes. Then the form flashes in front of you: "This fellow abused me, cheated me, robbed me" – or "This person is so nice; how nicely he treated me; he went out of his way to help me" – all these thoughts come. The entire universe is nothing but ''nāma'', ''rūpa'' and ''karma''.
==Example of a Pot==
Let me give you a small example before continuing. Look at a pot. The pot is nothing but the form. First, somebody takes the clay. Clay is the original material, and that is given a form. And why is that particular form given? For a particular purpose: I want to cook food – pot. I want to store certain materials – bigger pot. I want to drink water – a small glass. I want to eat food – a small plate. So what do I want out of this clay? How can I shape this clay? That is called ''rūpa''. And to distinguish that I want a glass, not a plate, etc., I give it a name: small pot, big pot. If there are so many pots, then number one of the same size and shape, same colour – then number one pot, number two pot, number three pot, pot above, pot below, pot to the right side, pot to the left side, pot behind, pot before. So this is all ''nāma''. And what is the purpose? ''Karma'': I want to drink, I want to eat, I want to cook, I want to store. All this – the whole universe is nothing but forms, names and actions. And how we use that – upon that depends our whole life, our future life.
==Speech as the Source of Names==
The Upaniṣad wants to tell a marvellous truth: speech. So He said earlier, speech. What is speech? ''Nāma'' – name. What is a name? If you never open your mouth and speak – "book, bring a book" – the person will never understand what it is you want that person to do. So every object has a name, and every name is nothing but speech. Speech means that generalised sound assigned in a particular way to a particular object; that is called speech. And then similarly, what is a form? A generalised form. This is a pot – that is a form. What form is it? It is in the shape of a glass. So that is the form. Why is it shaped? Why is it manufactured, created? Because it is useful for me to drink water, serve water to other people, etc.

So speech is the root cause. How do I say, "Bring that book"? Through speech. And what do I say? "Book." If there is one book, that speech will do. If there are two books, ten – adjectives are necessary, recessionals necessary: the red book, the yellow-coloured book, small book, big book, etc. So what the Upaniṣad is trying to tell us: ''nāma'' means speech. Speech means that generalised sound which can be transformed according to the forms into an infinite number of different names. Speech is the foundation; names are to distinguish one form from another form. But that generalised sound is what is indicated.
==Generalised and Particular Forms==
Similarly, generalised form. So clay has a generalised name, generalised form. Only when the clay takes a particular form, then you call it: "This is a pot, this is a glass, this is a plate, etc." So ''nāma'' means generalised sound; ''rūpa'' means generalised form. What for? ''Karma''. You take any object in this world. It has a name to distinguish it from others. It has a form again to distinguish it from others. And how I deal with that – for example, I see a mango and immediately I want that: "''karma'' – I have a desire: please, sweet mango – I want to eat this mango." So that is called ''karma''.
==Nāma-Rūpa and Creation==
So first, the external world is divided into ''nāma'' and ''rūpa''. That is why in ''Pañcadaśī'', Vidyāraṇya says: "''Brahman sat cit ānanda'' plus ''nāma'' and ''rūpa'' is called ''sṛṣṭi''. ''Sṛṣṭi'' minus ''nāma rūpa'' is called ''Brahman''." So the whole universe is nothing but ''nāma rūpa''. That includes, remember, our own body, our own mind. So I am a baby – one particular ''rūpa''. I am a young person – another particular ''rūpa''. I am an old person – another particular ''rūpa''. So "young, youth, old" – these are all ''nāmas''. Similarly to the mind: I am happy, I am unhappy, I am satisfied, I am dissatisfied, I have this desire, I have no desire – this is all nothing but ''karma''.
==The Jīvātman and Evolution==
So what does this individual ''jīva'' want to do with this ''nāma rūpa karma''? Remember, my body, my mind – everything is included in creation. But that person, that individual who is using it, is called ''jīvātman''. That ''jīvātman'' uses ''nāma rūpa'' to do some action, and that action slowly helps us evolve. And when we become human beings, then we have better knowledge, better understanding, but it has to be expressed in the form of action. So one action gives us ''dharma'', ''artha'', ''kāma''; another action leads to ''mukti''. This is what is being indicated now in this ''ṣaṣṭha brāhmaṇam''.
==Conclusion==
I said that this is the most psychological explanation: the whole creation is nothing but ''nāma, rūpa, karma'' – name, form and action. We will talk about this marvellous subject 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!'''
[[Category:Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.1.4 Lecture 28 on 26 April 2026

2026-07-07T17:37:00Z

Sdevi: /* Opening Invocation */

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

== Opening Invocation ==
ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.
----

== Recap: The Ninth Mantra and the Gathering of Seekers ==
In our last class, we dealt with the ninth mantra of the fourth section, and from here starts the essence of the entire Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. There were some great seekers of self-knowledge — brahmavidyā — and they had a discussion. That indicates they must have gathered at one particular place, and normally such a place would be the āśrama of a Guru, a gurukula. They must have approached a great realised soul, heard from him, and then that became the topic of discussion. So we can guess from the topic of discussion what the teacher had taught.

What did he teach? That if you attain knowledge of Brahman — which is the same as the knowledge of your own true self — then you will achieve everything. You will be going beyond death, beyond ignorance, beyond suffering. That is what Bhagavān Buddha chose to call ''nirvāṇa''. Nirvāṇa means complete cessation of avidyā, or in other words, anātma. That is to say, not that the world disappears — excepting for the person who realises, the world will continue. But even for the realised soul, the world can continue as long as the body is alive. But the outlook — of what this world is, of what one is — that completely changes from the moment of realisation. ''Sarvaṃ khalv idaṃ brahma.'' That is the result.

By the knowledge — ''brahmavidyayā sarvaṃ bhaviṣyam'' — we become one. ''Ekaṃ sat, na dvitīya.'' So the discussion is: what is the nature of Brahman? And knowing this Brahman, our teacher proclaims and declares that one becomes Brahman. What, then, is the nature of that Brahman? The answer is given in the next mantra.
----

== The Tenth Mantra: The Essence of All Scripture ==
This is Mantra 10 of the fourth section of the first chapter. This fourth section, tenth mantra, is the very essence of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad — indeed, of all Upaniṣads, of the Bhagavad Gītā, of the Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, and of every scripture in the world. Let us recite this beautiful mantra, which is itself very purifying.

ब्रह्म वा इदमग्र आसीत्, तदात्मानमेवावेत्, अहम् ब्रह्मास्मीति । तस्मात्तत्सर्वमभवत्; तद्यो यो देवानाम् प्रत्यबुभ्यत स एव तदभवत्, तथार्षीणाम्, तथा मनुष्याणाम्;

brahma vā idamagra āsīt, tadātmānamevāvet, aham brahmāsmīti | tasmāttatsarvamabhavat; tadyo yo devānām pratyabubhyata sa eva tadabhavat, tathārṣīṇām, tathā manuṣyāṇām;

This is one part of the tenth mantra. It is a long mantra, and I have divided it into several parts, each expressing different meanings and different contexts.
----

== Ṛṣi Vāmadeva's Realisation: ''Ahaṃ brahmāsmi'' ==
Next comes a small portion of this mantra. There was a great Ṛṣi whose name was Vāmadeva. He realised ''ahaṃ brahmāsmi'' — "I am Brahman." After realisation, he remained as a jīvanmukta.

Then he was expressing: तद्धैतत्पश्यन्नृषिर्वामदेवः प्रतिपेदे, अहम् मनुरभवं सूर्यश्चेति । taddhaitatpaśyannṛṣirvāmadevaḥ pratipede, aham manurabhavaṃ sūryaśceti |

what did he say? That seeing this one, this Ṛṣi Vāmadeva said that "I became one. I had the knowledge. I destroyed the ignorance that I am an individual, and realised that I am Brahman." Not only "I am Brahman" — "I am everything." ''Ahaṃ sarvam.'' This is called ''sarvātmabhāva'' — the knowledge that I am everything.

So as a sample, he said: "I am the Manu." Manu was the Brahmā who started the creation of the Mānavas. That is why all human beings are called Mānavas — because they originated from Manu. So: "I am the ādhyātmika. I am the ādhibhautika. I am the ādhidaivika." As a sample — ''ahaṃ sūryaś ca iti'' — "I am Sūrya. I am Candra. I am Indra, the devatās. I am the entire physical world. I am all the bodies. I am all the minds." In other words, I am all the gross bodies, all the subtle bodies, all the causal bodies.
----

== The Universal Possibility of Realisation ==
Not only that — the mantra goes on to say that Manu is only a sample. But anyone who strives through proper channels can attain the same. This means one must have genuine desire — mumukṣutva. One must approach a sadguru in a formal manner, sit, serve, please, and surrender to the teacher. And then the teacher gives.

Surrendering is not an act of servitude; it is an act of identifying oneself with the Guru — making oneself 100% ready to receive 100% of what the teacher wishes to give. That is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says: "The breeze of God's grace is blowing all the time. Unfurl your sails. Become fit. That is all."

So the mantra tells us: तदिदमप्येतर्हि य एवं वेद, अहम् ब्रह्मास्मीति, स इदं सर्वम् भवति, tadidamapyetarhi ya evaṃ veda, aham brahmāsmīti, sa idaṃ sarvam bhavati: not only Manu — anybody can become like Manu. That is what Swami Vivekananda's simplified English version says: "Each soul is potentially divine." Everyone is divine. And soul means not only the living, but also what we usually call non-living.

So the mantra continues: like Brahmādeva, whoever becomes a knower of Brahman becomes everything. So the same will be there — there would be no difference. So once a person becomes free, what happens?

Ṛṣi Brahmādeva said that anybody — whether a human being, a God, whether Hindu, Christian, Muslim, or Buddhist — all these differences completely vanish when a person progresses in spiritual life, because the mind will no longer compartmentalise. "I am a Hindu. I am a Buddhist." — No. "I am a lover of God. I am a child of God. I am a seeker of God." That is all the feeling. "And I have been separated by some mysterious power called avidyā, and I want to rejoin my mother — God, Brahman."

So he says: anybody can realise it. Everybody has not only a right, it is an inescapable goal of life. We may evade that goal for some time, but at some point we are going to wake up. So why not try from now onwards? The very fact that you are all listening to these talks indicates that you are in earnestness. You want to learn what the Upaniṣad has to say, and you will have to understand that you are a fit disciple. But this is only mumukṣutva. One has to acquire those qualities whereby we would not slip from the position of this mumukṣutva, but rather arrive at 100% mumukṣutva.

Such a person who knows "I am Brahman" becomes everything. He becomes the gods. He becomes the entire jagat. He becomes every living and non-living being.
----

== No Obstruction Can Hinder the Sincere Seeker ==
So what happens then?तस्य ह न देवाश्चनाभूत्या ईशते, tasya ha na devāścanābhūtyā īśate- Nobody can put an obstruction. Nobody can rule over a person and say, "No, you cannot realise God. I will not allow you to walk in the path of spirituality." That elaboration will come next.

Here — no devatā, no creature, nobody else can obstruct the progress of such a person. When we are talking about progress, we have to understand: this is the person who is determined that "I want to realise God." Of course, when a person becomes a realised soul, he is Brahman — and who can control Brahman? On the other hand, it is the Īśvara,ईश्वर: सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति ।

भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ॥ 61॥

īśhvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛid-deśhe ‘rjuna tiṣhṭhati

bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

it is Brahman who controls everything and who makes us act, just as a puppeteer moves all the puppets. Our body, everybody's body, everybody's mind becomes like a puppet, and sitting inside, he goes on controlling everybody.

We are not talking about a realised soul here. We are talking about — and the mantra is talking about — a soul who has determined to realise God. Such a person will be protected by God, Bhagavān, Īśvara. Therefore, nobody can harm him. Nobody can give obstruction.
----

== Obstacles as Divine Exercise ==
But what about all the obstructions that we ourselves encounter? It is like going into a gymnasium. We have to choose a proper guide. You cannot simply walk into a gymnasium and go on choosing whatever you want — that is a very unwise way. One has to approach a proper gymnastics teacher, who tests you and then prescribes: now you run for 15 or 20 minutes, or you lift so much weight. A person whose muscles cannot lift 1 kg will not be asked to lift 5 kg. "Try to lift 1.1 kg, 1.2 kg" — a little more. And that itself will test our power of endurance, our capacity. That is the obstacle.

Therefore, God gives the obstacles not to obstruct us but to give us strength, as an exercise. Looked at from this angle, anybody criticising us, anybody praising us, anybody who deprives us — the first point we have to understand is: nobody can deprive us of our rightful material; that is what is called copyright. Only our karma can decide. But when these things come through the medium of other people in the form of either help or obstruction, they are all to help us.

This is an astonishing statement by Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Swamiji, and others. Really speaking, every obstruction — whether it is kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, māda, mātsarya, or other negative attitudes — if we become aware of it and try to use it like some judo training (where you use the opponent's strength to your advantage), that is the technique we have to understand.

Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, if you study the Gospel properly, unilaterally declares: without avidyā, one can never realise God. Both avidyā and vidyā — māyā comes in these two forms. Both are the grace of God. Both are employed by the Divine Mother to be our helpers. In fact, I think avidyā helps us most.
----

== Thomas à Kempis and the Grace in Obstacles ==
If you are reading the WhatsApp messages I am sending — especially from the ''Imitation of Christ'', which I have been selecting and sending for the last month or so — you will see that Thomas à Kempis, a novice master, says that God alone sends these obstacles for strengthening the children whom he loves. He loves them because that love is reflected in the hearts of some people through their faith and their conduct.
----

== The Qualities of the Āsuras as Spiritual Lessons ==
So the qualities of āsuras are very important. At one stage of our progress, the qualities of āsuras help us very greatly. If you think deeply about the qualities of the āsuras — which Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa himself, squeezing the essence of all the Upaniṣads into the easily understandable Bhagavad Gītā, describes in the 16th chapter — they look as if they are all very negative things. From one point of view, they try to drag a person from a higher position to a lower position; they make us be away from God and the distance becomes longer and longer.

But you will notice something there. How strong these people are! How much willpower they have — to do wrong things! We have to learn our lesson and say: "If I am successful in doing so many wrong things, why cannot I be successful in also creating good saṃskāras?" When we complain that we have no willpower, we are not complaining about our lack of willpower in doing evil deeds or unspiritual activities — we complain only about spiritual activities. A great lesson has to be learned.

Not only that — it is inevitable. Everybody develops only from raw material. In the beginning, all these things are given to us. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa gives a marvellous psychological explanation for this — study the Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. Do not read it. Study it. Take relevant passages together and then meditate upon them. With the grace of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, we will be able to understand them properly.
----

== Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa on Transforming Desire ==
Once, when a young man approached him saying, "I am troubled by lust" — this is a problem most people face — Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, to this person's probable surprise or shock, advised: "Why do you want to remove kāma? Increase it! But this increment, the kāma, a desire must be for an object — so change the object." And the more desire you have, the stronger the desire, the quicker will be the progress in spiritual life. That is the psychology. Develop willpower.

In the beginning we have to develop willpower. It seems that running down the hill is much easier than climbing up the hill. But once we run down, we also have to come up again to our home. And that is how the same principle works also in our day-to-day spiritual life. So there is, really speaking, no obstacle. If there seems to be an obstacle, it is only to make us aware: "Oh, I have this problem. I have this hidden desire. I have these unspiritual tendencies." Most of us are blissfully unconscious about these things.
----

== Indra's Tests and the Story of Viśvāmitra ==
Therefore, if somebody is trying to be spiritual, the gods themselves will help us by creating obstacles. It is said in the Purāṇas: if somebody wants to move towards God, Indra comes first and creates an obstacle. He sends some beautiful woman.

I had explained the story of Viśvāmitra — a profoundly spiritual analogy. What did Indra do? In fact, Indra will be very happy if anybody says, "I don't want your position. I want to move towards God." Indra will be worried only when someone wants to displace him, not when one wants to transcend him. So if somebody says, "I don't want the position of Indra, Candra, Brahmā," Indra will be very happy and wants to bestow his grace. So he comes there, sends a beautiful woman.

As we know, Viśvāmitra fell for it. He enjoyed it and exhausted that desire, then woke up: "How foolish I have been! All this 1,000 years of hard austerity!" Now, out of curiosity, you will ask: what type of austerity was he performing? He must have been suppressing his desires for material enjoyments — but he did not realise that they had not disappeared. Suppression or repression gives only a negative result, not a positive result. It rather reinforces the desire.

So he should have first looked inside and said: "Oh, my greatest present obstruction is lust — and lust can be for money, for wealth, for power, for many things. But in this case, I am enamoured of, I am identified with the body. So body desires only body. Therefore I am desirous of another body — I want to become one with that body." But is this not an obstruction? What should I do?

So the first time he fell, and then he realised acutely that because of his own fault he had fallen. So another 1,000 years. What did Indra do? The second 1,000 years of tapasyā. And Viśvāmitra was now telling himself: "No Indra or Candra can ever obstruct me — it is my own desire that made me fall down." That knowledge, that awareness, it saved him.

So next time again Indra said, "This is a test," and came again. Viśvāmitra smiled and said: "Go on dancing, singing, show every charm you can." And he did not fall for it. The second step had arrived. But — kāma now turned into krodha. "What? Again you have come? Once I fell — do you think I am going to fall down again?" This time the lust had turned into insatiable anger. From kāma only krodha comes. What a marvellous psychological knowledge the Bhagavad Gītā is giving:

ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते ।

सङ्गात्सञ्जायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते ॥

''dhyāyato viṣayān puṁsaḥ saṅgastesūpajāyate |''

''saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmāt krodho’bhijāyate ||'' if there is no desire, no anger will come. If I am not interested in some object and anybody obtains that object, I will not be angry with that person.So the second time he became angry, and they all became bhasma- that means he wasted his thousand years of tapasyā the second time also, because he fell a victim to anger.
----

== The Story of Tōtapurī and Krodha ==
Just like Tōtapurī Mahārāj fell victim — even though he claimed to be a brahmajñānī, he forgot everything about brahmajñāna. He was overcome by krodha and was about to beat a servant. If an elephant just touches a mouse, it will be crushed to pieces — it need not exert any force. So this Tōtapurī Mahārāj, a very strong person, could have crushed this simple servant. Then Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa started laughing.

This is how we have to understand the scripture — study the Gītā, study the Upaniṣads, look at parallels in the life of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, both in the Gospel and in ''The Great Master''. You will see what is happening.

Tōtapurī did not understand. He did not even understand why Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was laughing. And Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa uttered a beautiful Bengali word: "The extent of your knowledge of Brahman — I am seeing it crystal clearly." Tōtapurī was surprised: "What did I do? Why?" "Don't you recollect? Just now you were about to beat a temple servant. Why? Because he dared to take a bit of fire from your dhuni fire. Are there different types of fire? One fire is impure and another fire is pure? You are making a distinction. And a brahmajñānī never makes any distinction."

A brahmajñānī does not see: "I am a brahmajñānī and this person is a lowly servant who should never come near me or pollute me." Even the great Śaṅkarācārya was reputed to have fallen into this snare. But as a result, the so-called caṇḍāla had enlightened him. And then Śaṅkara came to his senses. Immediately he wrote five most marvellous ślokas — the ''Maniṣā Pañcakam''. "Maniṣā" means highest wisdom, highest knowledge.

So Tōtapurī realised: "I became angry. But becoming angry is not a problem — unconsciously becoming a slave to anger, that is the problem." Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa also becomes angry, but he becomes angry as a person who knows he is pretending to be angry, and the next second he forgets everything. So Tōtapurī suddenly became aware: "I am claiming I am a brahmajñānī, and I do not know what my mind is doing to me."

So if one had really obtained brahmajñāna — and what were we discussing? ''Brahmagñānena sarvaṃ abhavam'' — a person who realises that he is everything. Where is the question of becoming angry? Who is to be angry with another? There is a beautiful hymn by Śaṅkarācārya wherein he says: "It is Viṣṇu who is laughing. It is Viṣṇu who is getting angry. Viṣṇu is getting angry with Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is laughing at Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is mocking Viṣṇu. Everything is nothing but pure Viṣṇu." What a marvellous hymn. I forget the name of the hymn, but I hope to tell you next time.
----

== The Protection of the Sincere Seeker ==
So now this is what happens — nobody can put obstructions. God will be gracious, fathoming that we want to come to him. A mother does not want any dirt; she will wash. Sometimes it may be painful. Even that washing process can be hard and painful. That mud which is sticking for a long time becomes part of the skin; to brush it off might even cause some injury to the skin. Therefore, to pull out a thorn which is deeply embedded in the sole of the foot — when a person wants to pull it, it is painful. In the olden days when a person wanted to give an injection, that also was very painful. But it is something wonderful.

So any sincere aspirant will always be protected by God in the form of such sincerity. And this sincerity alone will overcome all obstacles. Overcoming all obstacles means the mind becomes stronger. Overcoming obstacles means turning every obstacle into a positive help — like jūjutsu.

So nobody will obstruct. The Upaniṣad gives a beautiful example: this person who is seeking is not seeking any higher position. Therefore gods like Indra, Varuṇa, etc. come as the greatest friendly advisors and teachers. They deliberately put these things in this form to test. And if the child falls once, twice, a hundred times, a thousand times, they do not abandon us. "Our child is sincere, but he has to become stronger." So as many times as necessary, the obstructions will come. And they are all for our good.

That is what Rāmānujācārya wants to convey through his third step of the śaraṇāgati —''Rakṣiṣyati iti viśvāsaḥ'' (or ''Viśvāsa''),- that unshakeable faith that "God is going to save me. Yes, I have a long way to go, but I have nothing to worry about because God is my helper."
----

== The Sādhaka's Expanding Identity: From Body to Virāṭ ==
And then the Upaniṣad puts it in its own words. It says: after all, a sādhaka says to Indra, "I am your Ātmā. There is no difference between you and me. And one never harms one's own self. Therefore if you harm me, you will be harming yourself." But then Indra would never — nobody would ever — do that. Much less Indra. That is what he says. Nobody can put obstructions.

Because this person first identifies. We have seen this, and we will have to connect it with the previous Upaniṣads. In the Taittirīya we have seen. So what does this person become first? First he says: "I am this body. It is my body, not anybody's body. Everybody is different from my body." That is the state in which we all are. So one has to know: "I am not only this body." Gradually one expands identity to the whole created being — every body. That is called the state of Virāṭ.

When there is the state of Virāṭ, then nobody can harm me, because anybody who harms me is harming one's own self. People do not understand: if somebody wants to give trouble to a good man, the inevitable punishment will come. And that punishment is not a punishment — it is a lesson that person has to learn through hardship and suffering. So nobody will stand as an obstruction because he has become one. He thinks: "I am Indra. I am Varuṇa. I am Bṛhaspati. I am Brahmā." Therefore nobody will put an obstruction, because knowingly nobody does harm to one's own self.
----

== The Avidyā Sūtra: Ignorance and Its Nature ==
After this comes what is called the Vidyā Sūtra — the aphorisms, the mantra that tells us about the glory, the greatness, and the goal of every human being — and now comes what the Upaniṣad calls, in Śaṅkarācārya's understanding, the Avidyā Sūtra.

When I use this term, the Upaniṣad itself does not say "this is Vidyā Sūtra" and "this is Avidyā Sūtra." But it is Śaṅkarācārya, in his Bhāṣya, who says: "Ātman alone must be made the final goal of life." The goal is to have the knowledge: "I am — I was, I am, I will be — not that I am going to become Brahman. I was Brahman, but due to some avidyā I thought I am not Brahman. Now through vidyā, through this upāsanā, I remove that idea that I am not Brahman. I destroy that ignorance. Then I realise what I truly am. I will never be anything other than Brahman."

So up till now, in this tenth mantra — only one mantra but divided into several sections — what is called the Vidyā Sūtra is over. Now the Avidyā Sūtra begins.

According to the understanding in the commentary of Bhagavān Śaṅkarācārya, he says: there are people — and there are also so-called spiritual people — who are also trying to contemplate other gods and goddesses, but they are like ignorant persons. Avidyā means ignorance. Ignorance means forgetting one's own nature and identifying as somebody else.
----

== The Presiding Devatās and the Organs of Perception ==
So he says: anybody who thinks "I am worshipping my mother and father, I am worshipping my ācārya, I am worshipping my teacher" — and then slowly should worship them as what? As gods. In the olden days there would be so many gods and goddesses, and most often these gods and goddesses were nothing but the combined powers of nature. The power of seeing — the universal power of seeing — is called the Sun. The universal power of the thinking power is called the Moon. So every sense organ — and we have 11 sense organs: 5 of knowledge, 5 of action, and 1 mind — all these things are nothing but those devatās.

Combined, they are called devatā. Remember the story of the Brahmin who killed a cow that had strayed into his garden, but he wanted to escape the sin. Indra comes and educates him: "If you think you killed it and tended this garden, then you have to accept you killed this cow. If you feel it is Indra who tended this garden, it is his power — because Indra's power came to me in the form of my skilful hands, and the Moon's power comes to me in the form of my crystal-clear thinking, through which I can create a wonderful garden." So my hands — everything — is the individual power of that presiding deity called Sūrya, Candra, Varuṇa, etc.

So every organ we have has a corresponding devatā. What is the devatā? Not only my capacity to see, but everybody's capacity to see combined together, is called the presiding deity.
----

== Avidyā: Thinking Oneself Separate from Brahman ==
So if anybody — because of ignorance — thinks: "I am small, you are big. I am an ordinary, powerless, ignorant human being, but you are all-powerful devatā — Indra, Candra, Varuṇa, Bṛhaspati — and you are separate, and I am like an animal to you, like a servant to you." So what happens? That person thinks: "I have to worship him. I have to serve him." And this is called avidyā.

The Upaniṣad puts it in this way: अथ योऽन्यां देवतामुपास्ते, अन्योऽसावन्योऽहमस्मीति, atha yo’nyāṃ devatāmupāste, anyo’sāvanyo’hamasmīti, na sa veda, -this person does not know — he is ignorant. What is he ignorant of? That there is only one being, that is everything, that is Brahman. But if anybody thinks: "I am different. I am small, but the God I am worshipping is most powerful and can protect me, help me, make me happier. There is a vast difference between me and other human beings, between me and everything in this world, between me and all the gods and goddesses who are the presiding deities, and I am separate from Brahman itself" — this is called avidyā.

So this devatā is separate, and I am totally different from him. Such a person is called an ignorant person. That knowledge — that knowledge is called ignorant knowledge, not right knowledge. What is the result?
----

== The Parable of Paśus: Spiritual Slavery ==
He becomes like an animal to the gods. Then the Upaniṣad gives us a beautiful example-यथा ह वै बहवः पशवो मनुष्यम् भुञ्ज्युः, yathā ha vai bahavaḥ paśavo manuṣyam bhuñjyuḥ-Suppose there is a person who has got a hundred animals — they can be goats, cows, buffaloes, horses, chickens, anything. All these animals contribute to the pleasures of this human being. So the paśus are subservient; they are like servants catering to the health, happiness, and wealth of the human being.

Take this example- एवमेकैकः पुरुषो देवान् भुनक्ति; evamekaikaḥ puruṣo devān bhunakti: so each one of us who is an ignorant person, as described earlier, contributes to the pleasures of these deities like Indra, Candra, etc. And then the Upanishad goes on saying: एकस्मिन्नेव पशावादीयमानेऽप्रियम् भवति, ekasminneva paśāvādīyamāne’priyam bhavati, if a person who has got a hundred animals and one animal is missing or taken away by somebody — somehow missing — he becomes extremely pained. He is not saying: "I have ninety-nine animals, why should I worry?" No — "I am incomplete without that one animal, and I don't want to lose it. Why? Because it is serving my happiness and welfare." And if many animals are lost, what to speak of the condition of that person's mind!

Therefore, एकस्मिन्नेव पशावादीयमानेऽप्रियम् भवति,ekasminneva paśāvādīyamāne’priyam bhavati, -in a similar manner, it is not desirable to these gods that they lose one of these servants. Because how do we become servants? We worship them. We give offerings to them and pray to them. We go on pilgrimage. We go and do pradakṣiṇam. So we are doing all this to please them, and they are enjoying it, and they correspondingly bestow their grace. They protect us, just as we protect our animals.

So these devatās — like a human being who has many animals serving him, offering him worship and praises — after all, these devatās also want to get praised, etc. Then if a person says: "I don't want to serve you any longer. I want to know that I am Brahman," immediately they become alert and put upon him extra shackles so that he cannot escape.
----

== The Consequence of Seeing Separation ==
So like that, if anybody thinks this person is different from God — "This devatā is different from God. But whom I am worshipping — he is my God" — if anybody says "God is different from me, devatās are different from me," he becomes to these devatās like an animal. He serves and becomes a slave — not only to devatās. We become slaves to a cow, to a chicken, to a servant.

Nowadays, especially to get persons who are willing to cook, to clean, and to tend to the garden is becoming extremely difficult. Labour is also very costly. That is why in the western countries they are resorting to inventing various machines. And you must be knowing that now they are inventing household robots which will do all your work and will not protest, will not ask you to raise their salary, will not suddenly disappear without notice. Hopefully we don't know what they are going to do after some time — they might also say: "We also want to realise God! We want to know that we are no less than you. So why should we serve you? And if you raise your eyebrow, we are going to smash you to smithereens!" They might also do that. We don't know.
----

== The Goal: Non-Separation, Liberation from Dependence ==
So what is this mantra telling? It is telling that first of all the goal of life is realisation that I am Brahman. Nobody is different from us. So if anybody thinks everything is different from me — because a person can never say "I am different only from this object but one with every other object" — either we are one with every object, or we are separate from every object. And such a person becomes dependent.

How many gadgets we depend upon! Coffee, sweets, salt, spices, every Tom, Dick, and Harry. "Oh, if my boss looks at me — maybe he is smiling thinking he is going to get rid of this fellow, but I do not understand it. Oh, my boss is highly pleased with me!" Every second — whether the weather is good, hot, or cold — at every step, a thousand bonds of slavery and dependence upon so many things are happening. But the essence of it is: if somebody wants only God-realisation, then even gods become highly favourable and do their level best.

In fact, God's grace comes only in the form of the grace of different gods and goddesses — we have to understand that. Therefore, the second part is the Avidyā Sūtram — that is to say, to think "I am different" is called ignorance. And to overcome this ignorance and to know that there is no second — ''dvitīyaṃ nāsti, ekaṃ sadeva saumya, idam agra āsīt'' — there is only one reality, there is no second reality. That is the goal of life.

How beautifully these mantras convey to us the message — even our pitiable present state, where we are dependent upon prāṇa, upon external weather, external people, external animals, external objects, everything. I will probably elaborate a little more, and then only the mantra will make very great meaning. So the idea is: do not come under the influence of avidyā. Already we are in that — try to break free like a lion breaks free. We will talk about this subject in our future classes.
----

== 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!'''
[[Category:Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Structure and Theme Lecture 09 on 21 February 2026

2026-06-17T21:17:25Z

Sdevi: /* Opening Invocation */

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

== Opening Invocation ==
ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

''ॐ सहनाववतु''

''सह नौ भुनक्तु''

''सह वीर्यं करवाव है''

''तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषाव है''

''ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः''

Om Saha nau bhunaktu

Saha viiryam karavaavahai

Tejasvi naa vadhiitam astu

Maa vidvishaa vahai

Om Shaantih, Shaantih, Shaantih!"

OM May the Brahman protect us both (teacher and student).

May He nourish us both.

May we work together with great energy.

May our studies be enlightening and effective.

May we never hate or misunderstand one another.

Om, Peace, Peace, Peace.

== The Special Nature of This Śānti Pāṭha ==
So, we have been discussing the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, and in our last class we have seen the meaning of the Śānti Pāṭha. What did we see? This is a very special Śānti Pāṭha. This is a Mahāvākya, unlike other Śānti Pāṭhas. In this Śānti Pāṭha, there is no prayer — no "Lord, kindly remove all the obstacles," no "remove all my bad qualities," no "endow me with all divine spiritual qualities," no "let there be no difference of opinion between my teacher and myself."

We have seen in this Upaniṣad — rather, in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad — how there seemed to be a perceived difference between the teacher and the student. It looked superficially as though the teacher got angry. It is possible that sometimes the teacher and the student do not see eye to eye, as we say. "No, let such a thing not happen," — so that is also included.

But in this particular Śānti Pāṭha, what exists is only one — that is Brahman, that is Pūrṇam, the Infinite. And from the Infinite, there cannot arise an origin of something else. So what seemingly appears to be different from that Infinite, what appears to be finite, is a mistake. It is called Avidyā, Māyā. It is called Adhyāropa. And that is what the Upaniṣad, in the very first section, wants to deal with.

So it is a prayer that what is, is only one. You call it Brahman, you call it the world — it is only Brahman alone. Then why do we not see? Just because we experience something does not mean it is different from Brahman.
----

== The Central Theme: From Duality to Non-Duality ==
This is the theme of all the Upaniṣads. Even when we talk about Nārāyaṇa Sūktam or Puruṣa Sūktam, or any Sūktam for that matter <blockquote>सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात् ।

सहस्रबाहुर्विश्वात्मा सहस्रांशः सहस्रसूः ॥</blockquote>sahasra-śīrṣā puruṣaḥ
sahasrākṣaḥ sahasra-pāt
sahasra-bāhur viśvātmā

sahasrāṁśaḥ sahasra-sūḥ the Lord alone is. But because of the Māyā, which is our mind, we seem to see difference everywhere. And as we progress in spiritual life, that differentiation slowly is sublated. Unity is seen. That is the progress from duality to qualified non-duality, and finally to non-duality — from Dvaitam to Viśiṣṭādvaitam to Advaitam.

And this Śānti Mantra clearly says the whole world is nothing but Jīva. So Jīvātmā and Paramātmā are one and the same. That is the gist of this Śānti Mantra.
----

== The Three Sources of Suffering ==
Three times we say, "Let there be peace," because there are three sources of troubles. All problems stem from three sources. Our body and mind is called Ādhyātmika. Then the external world is Ādhibhautika. And from the presiding deities — when they are displeased with our ingratitude — that is called Ādhidaivika. "Let such a thing not happen." That is the essence of this beautiful Śānti Pāṭha.

Actually, even if someone does not study this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, even chanting this peace chant is enough:

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ''.''

What remains is that one Infinite Reality — call it by whatever name you call it.

As I mentioned earlier, every Veda has its own Śānti Pāṭha. This Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belongs to the Śukla Yajur Veda, and so this is the Śānti Pāṭha. But there is something very special here: this Śānti Pāṭha does not actually come at the beginning of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. It comes only at the beginning of the Fifth Chapter, whereon Śaṅkarācārya has written quite an elaborate commentary upon it. But everybody chants this one. We also had seen that when we were studying the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad, it is there too.
----

== Introduction to the Upaniṣad: The Nature of a Created Being ==
Now we enter the Upaniṣad proper itself, but some introduction is very necessary. Before we enter, we have to know certain things.

First of all, we are creatures of this created world. "I am a created being" — that is why I call myself, my body, my mind. I am a Jīvātmā. I am an individual. And that is universal experience. But the purpose of this scripture — that is, the Upaniṣad, the Veda — is totally different.

Purely speaking, this Jagat does not exist. What does it mean? It is called Mithyā. Brahman alone is the truth. ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः Brahma satyam jagat mithya, jivo brahmaiva naparah. So what does the Upaniṣad want to teach us?
----

== The Pedagogical Method: From the Known to the Unknown ==
Just like in mathematics, they teach one truth for the beginners and another truth for the advanced students. For example: "Parallel lines never meet in infinity" — that is for the beginners. But the same students, when they are capable of understanding, are taught, "Parallel lines do meet in infinity." Remember, that is for the abstract mathematicians. Even I do not understand it — but it does not matter.

So we are experiencing the world. If the scripture straightaway says, "The world does not exist," we will not believe the scripture. So they have adopted a method: "Yes, yes, yes — the world exists. You exist. Your experience of the world is very true." And then we say, "Yes, the scripture is talking sense now. I can understand it."

Then it says, "But there is some truth about this world which you know unconsciously, but consciously you are ignoring. What is that? That there is something called changefulness." Everything in this world is changing. You were not there before your birth. You will not be there after your death. So you have to know: is this our life, that we live for a short time and then die? And many times we suffer. What is the worth of life?
----

== The Universal Longing: Immortality, Knowledge, and Bliss ==
We want to live forever, and we want to be happy forever.

असतो मा सद्गमय ।

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।

मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

''Asato mā sad gamaya.''

''Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya.''

''Mṛtyor mā amṛtaṃ gamaya.''

''Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ.''

How do we know? Because that is the knowledge we have to gain. "I have no birth, and if there is no birth, there is no death, and I am Ānanda Svarūpa."

There is no happiness in any object, so the same object, in our experience, sometimes gives happiness, sometimes gives less happiness, sometimes gives intense pain. So Ānanda is not the nature of the object — that we can understand. Then, where does the Ānanda come from? If happiness or bliss does not belong to the object, where is it coming from? Because I am experiencing it — it is a fact. Then you say it is coming from you. Then what does the object do? It merely removes the obstruction of your own happiness.

Just as you stand in front of a mirror and put a big veil in front of you — you cannot see your own reflection, not because the mirror is incapable of reflecting, but because of the veil. The moment you remove the veil — or, I would put it this way, the more you start removing the veil, the more of the reflection you are able to see. So Avidyā is the veil.

In fact, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa gives this example. One day he was sitting in front of devotees and explaining this truth. He said, "See, we are so near to each other." He had a towel on his shoulders, took it out, and covered his face. "See, you cannot see me, even though I am so near." So even though God is everywhere, we cannot see, because we have covered our eyes with a veil. That veil is called Avidyā, Māyā, etc.

So Ānanda is also from us only, and knowledge also is from us — from myself only.
----

== The Three Key Terms: Sat, Asat, and Mithyā ==
So first, the scripture accepts — that is called Adhyāropa, it is superimposition. Then later on, through certain methods — first rituals, then Upāsanās — we acquire the qualities necessary to approach a Guru. Such a person is called an Adhikārī. Then the Guru teaches him, and finally convinces him: "The truth is: you are that" — ''Tat tvam asi.'' But that is the Guru's teaching. We have to make it our own. The Guru says, "You are that." We have to say, "I am that." For that purpose, first comes Śravaṇa, then Manana — remove all doubts, acquire one hundred percent faith, like Girīścandra Ghoṣa. And then only the last thing comes: Nididhyāsana. Once we are convinced of something, that very conviction will not allow us to do anything excepting what we are convinced of. That is the greatness of conviction, which in Sanskrit is beautifully called Śraddhā.

So, to understand Brahman or the Self, one needs a very subtle intellect. So the Upaniṣad uses the methodology of Adhyāropa and Apavāda. And here we have to know three words in order to understand this Apavāda. Slowly, the Upaniṣad — or Vedānta — introduces us to three terms: Sat, Asat, and Mithyā. Very important.

We have heard these words many times. What is Sat? That which is truth, that which always exists — that is called Sat. What is Asat? It never existed, it cannot exist. Pure non-existence is called Asat. We have to be careful here if we want to understand the Upaniṣads — to hold this difference clearly.

Something that never exists — but there is another word, and that is Mithyā. Many of us misunderstand the meaning of the word Mithyā. What is Mithyā? That which we take as something else, that which we mistake. Into the Brahma Sūtras, Śaṅkarācārya's introductory commentary — one-and-a-half pages which have been commented upon in hundreds of pages — is called the Adhyāsa Bhāṣya. Adhyāsa means superimposition.

The classical example: there is a rope, but because of the semi-darkness and resemblance, and our fear, we mistake it for a snake. And because we are convinced it is a snake, we get fear. So because we are convinced "I am different from you," and "everyone is different," there would be fear, there would be loss, somebody can take away from me — of course, somebody also can give me something, but we are frightened somebody else may take it away. Life itself can be taken away. How many murders, how many killings, how much beating, how many tortures are taking place in this world.

And is it real? Just like you imagine you are watching all these things happening in our day-to-day life — it is a cinema. The same thing happens there also. There also, people fall in love, people quarrel, people get married, people get divorced. Everything exactly happens, but we enjoy it, the capacity of the actors and actresses. If they act, and some of them are extraordinarily good, we forget it is acting and we think it is real. But we never think it is completely real. We are continuously aware — Sākṣī — that I am watching a cinema. I paid money for it, and therefore for two hours I immerse myself and enjoy it. And I enjoy it because I know it is not true.

This is the state of a Jīvanmukta. He seems to be flowing along with the current of this world, but he knows in his heart of hearts: "This is all a big drama." And the manager of this drama is Śrī Raṅganātha Nārāyaṇa himself. That is why he is called Raṅganātha — ''Raṅga'' means a dramatic stage. That is called Raṅga.

So, to be careful: Sat means that which always exists without change. Asat never existed. Mithyā means we mistake something that is real as something else, and because it is a mistake, the mistake will always be corrected. Satyam can never be changed — for eternity it will be truth only. And that which never existed, called Asat, is also called Tuccha — utterly unreal.
----

== The Three Kāṇḍas of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
So, this is the methodology used by the scriptures. In this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, first the process of creation is given, so that children like us in kindergarten can understand — "Yes, yes, this is an apple." But what apple? It is made up of wood, made up of rubber, something like that — it appears to be like that, for the purpose of teaching. So this is called Adhyāropa. Then Apavāda — we have to understand. Apavāda means the removal of our temporary mistake. And how does it do that? ''Neti neti'' — "not this, not this." That also comes in this Bṛhadāraṇyaka. Not this, not this.

So through the process of Adhyāropa, the student is gradually led from what he thinks as real — because he is experiencing it — slowly to higher and higher stages. And how does the Upaniṣad take it? It takes a Sādhaka — it does not take everybody; it takes only a person who is suffering, who has suffered very much, and who seeks: "Is there any solution?" And ultimately he starts believing in God. He prays: "Let me come to you." At that time, this Apavāda starts.

"Then God exists. But you cannot all of a sudden, right now, see God. You have to purify your mind." The problem is in the mind; the solution is also in the mind. So this is called the Upadeśa Kāṇḍa.

As I said, the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is first of all divided into three parts. The first is the Madhu Kāṇḍa, which is also called the Upadeśa Kāṇḍa. The second is also called the Muni Kāṇḍa or the Yājñavalkya Kāṇḍa, where reason is used to convince people who are a little bit intellectual. And the third is called the Khila Kāṇḍa, where miscellaneous subjects are given — and that also is a wonderful word.
----

== The Manifest and Unmanifest: Vyakta and Avyakta ==
Now, in this first process — in this Madhu Kāṇḍa — the world is also divided into two: that which is unmanifest, and that which is manifest. What are we talking about?

Just now we hear the news: "A baby is born." But this baby — nobody had seen the baby before. Only after it is conceived, maybe through X-rays we can see, but before that, nobody has seen. And we know something cannot suddenly appear — every effect must have a cause, and a cause is always unmanifest.

Just as you take a mango seed and break it — you see something, but you do not see a mango tree. But put it in the soil, go on watering it carefully, and slowly it becomes a seedling, then a small plant, then it starts growing, and in three or four years it starts bearing mango fruits — whatever kind, sometimes sour, sometimes sweet, sometimes very, very sweet, small ones, big ones, etc.

So every object is called an effect, and every effect must have a cause. Every effect is called Vyakta — that is, manifest, experienceable. And the cause of every object is not experienceable. As I said, even if you take a banyan seed, that huge banyan plant is there within it.
----

== Nāma, Rūpa, and Karma ==
Also, we have to be familiar with some other words. Every object is called Nāma-Rūpa-Karma. ''Nāma-Rūpa-Karmātmakam Vyākṛtam Prapañcam.'' Take clay — you give it a form, and after that you give it a name. You make a pot. Call it a pot. You make a second pot. Now you have to distinguish between the first pot and the second pot. So you have to say: the small pot, the bigger pot, the square pot, the round pot, the conical pot, etc. — to distinguish. That is called Karma. The form is called Rūpa, the name is called Nāma, and its purpose is Karma. Karma means what? Prayojana — purpose.

For example, the same wood — if you put it on the floor, it becomes the floor; put it above, it becomes the roof; close it, and it becomes windows and doors; make it another way, it becomes a table; make it another way, it becomes a chair; make it yet another way, it becomes a stool. So according to the need, according to the utility — that utility is called Karma.
----

== Sādhya and Sādhanā: Goal and Means ==
So therefore, I must do some Sādhanā to get rid of my hunger. What is the way? I must procure food — I can cook, I can beg, but I have to get food. The food is called Sādhya — to be attained. And the way — how I get it — that is called Sādhanā, whether it is spiritual Sādhanā or worldly Sādhanā. I want a house, I want money, I want a car, I want name and fame, I want power. Whatever way, we have desires. Every desire is called Sādhya, and the desire can be fulfilled only through one way, and that is called Sādhanā. We have to adopt appropriate means in order to get the appropriate result.

So that is also what we have to understand. Why are we talking so much? Because the whole world is there. What is the purpose? I have to deal, from birth to death, with this world. That means I have to deal with every object. Some objects give me happiness; some give me unhappiness. Therefore, the objects which are likely to give me suffering and unhappiness — I have to avoid them, and for that also I have to do Sādhanā. Certain things give me pleasure, happiness, joy — for that also I have to do Sādhanā.

But what is it? Everybody wants unbroken life. Nobody wants death. Nobody wants to be ignorant. And nobody wants to be unhappy. That is why that very prayer — we will soon see in this very Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad — they are called Abhyāroha Mantras. But that is a prayer, that is my unfulfilled desire: "I want to live forever. I want to be knowledgeable of everything. And I want unbroken happiness called bliss." That is the Sādhya — the goal to be attained.

And if there is a goal, if there is a desire, it is an inevitable rule that we will have to do Sādhanā. If there is a Sādhya, there is a Sādhanā — the means of achievement exist. If there is a means of achievement, the desired end also must exist.
----

== The Progressive Path: From Rituals to Liberation ==
Now the Upaniṣad wants to take us along. "Are you happy in this world?" "Yes, I am very happy." Then the Upaniṣad is not for that person. "Are you happy?" "Sometimes I am happy, sometimes I am unhappy." "So do you want always to be happy?" "Of course, everybody wants it, I also want it." "Then there is a way. You do this, do not do this." That is called Vidhi and Niṣedha. Then, if you follow, you will do that. "Yes, now I get more happiness."

And we have to note here: nobody can remove unhappiness forever, even if it exists in the same proportion as happiness — not less, not more. So soon, man learns: even if I follow all the directions of the scriptures, birth and death cannot be avoided. But the desire to overcome death does not immediately flash in this person's mind. He says, "Even if I have to be born, I want to have higher happiness." So he starts believing the scriptures after some time, of course, and he says, "There are higher worlds, and I want to attain to those higher worlds. What is the way?"

So: perform certain rituals. A person who wants to go to Svarga — what is Svarga? A place of higher happiness for a longer duration of time. For that purpose there is a ritual called Agnihotra. One must do that Agnihotra, and if one does it correctly, the result is guaranteed — like when a person does exactly a scientific experiment, he gets the exact result. And that is the Śāstra.

This person believes in it, understands it, accepts it, and does it. Then, after certain number of experiences, as the Bhagavad Gītā tells so beautifully क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं विशन्ति ।एवं त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्ना गतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते ॥kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti evaṁ trayī-dharmam anuprapannā gatāgataṁ kāma-kāmā labhante— the Bhagavad Gītā says, if you do these scripture-commanded rituals, you will go to higher Lokas. But because all results come from certain Karmas, and Karmas are limited, their effects are also limited. As soon as the result — Puṇya — is exhausted, they will have to come down again. So a person says, "I want to go again to that hotel." And then, after some time, he becomes more purified, because these rituals unconsciously, indirectly, are slowly purifying that person's mind. We have to understand that.

And then he understands: the same scripture which is taking me to heaven is telling me, "You do not need to go and come down. You go and stay there permanently." That is called the realisation of God. You become one with God, and you will be eternally happy, infinitely happy.

Then slowly the longing comes — it takes time. That is called evolution. And then, for that purpose, you have to do Sādhanā. And for that purpose, you require to acquire certain qualities called spiritual qualities, and you have to get rid of certain other — what are called demonic qualities. For example, attachment to the world. You love the world. Loving and attachment are opposite sides. You can love but you can be detached. But if you are attached, that is not love — that is slavery.
----

== Becoming an Adhikārī: The Qualified Seeker ==
So slowly this person understands. And what Śaṅkarācārya put it — and I think nobody can put it so beautifully — he says a person becomes an Adhikārī. Adhikārī means he becomes fit to receive the instructions from the teacher. His mind becomes mature. Otherwise it is useless.

That is why Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa used to tell some people, "Go and enjoy the buildings and the gardens." Not because he did not want to — to kick them out. No, no. He wanted to say: even if you come here, you will get bored. I also will get bored. It is wasting your time, wasting my time. Of course, when Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is speaking with some other people, there is no question of his wasting time. Because the people who sit there without listening, without understanding, or even trying to sleep — Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is not losing anything. Even if there is one person who is listening and ninety-nine percent are only sitting there not listening, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's time is not wasted. But the atmosphere becomes polluted. That we do not see. That is why we have to cultivate Satsaṅga.

So this person approaches a Guru. And what does the Guru do? Do not think that straightaway he is going to initiate the disciple into Mahāvākya. We have seen it in the Praśna Upaniṣad: "You live for some time with us, then we will see." In many other Upaniṣads also we have seen this. Some Upaniṣads, of course, straightaway — even without mentioning — the Guru starts teaching. Īśāvāsya, then Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. But in the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, for example, Brahma taught it to his son, and his son taught it to his disciples — like that it goes on.

We have seen the Kaṭha Upaniṣad where Yamadharmarāja himself was the Guru. Naciketā — he was tested, then only he was accepted. We have seen the Chāndogya Upaniṣad in all the three important chapters — sixth, seventh, eighth. In the sixth chapter, for example, we have seen how Śvetaketu was taught good lessons. First he was scolded, then he became humble — we hope so — and then his own father started teaching him the highest Vidyā. Similarly we have seen in the seventh chapter how Sanatkumāra started teaching Nārada. And in the eighth chapter also we have seen how Prajāpati had kept Indra for one hundred and one years. What a marvellous thing for us to understand.

But if anybody comes like Narendranāth, who came to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, or like Nāga Mahāśaya, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa will immediately want to pass on the highest knowledge, because he understands: these people are ready to receive. They are like highly cultivated fields, ready to receive the seed at the right season.
----

== The Bridge Between Karma Kāṇḍa and Jñāna Kāṇḍa: Upāsanā ==
So we see the Guru — how does he do it? He develops certain techniques. Now, as a married person — Gṛhastha — these people are supposed to have gone through these physical rituals called Karma Kāṇḍa. But before entering into the Jñāna Kāṇḍa, there is a bridge which connects the Karma Kāṇḍa with the Jñāna Kāṇḍa. That is called Upāsanā Kāṇḍa. That is where the teacher also — to some students at least — this Upāsanā is very important.

Now, what is this Upāsanā? First of all, there are certain ideas about Upāsanā we have to understand. First of all, Upāsanā is a mental process — it is called mental contemplation. And what is that contemplation? That you take any familiar object, however small it is, and impose upon it some of the biggest ideas.

For example: Śiva Liṅga. For example: Śālagrāma. For example: a Yantra. For example: a cross. The cross — what does it represent? That breaking-up of the egotism. Just imagine a huge vertical line, and it is crossed. What is that vertical line? "I." What is that cross? "Not me. Let Thy will be done."

Jesus Christ had first cried out, "If possible, please pass on this cup to somebody else" — "cup" meaning suffering. But he understood that is not the Father's will. Immediately he said, "Let Thy will be done." Similarly, we also have to accept: "Let Thy will be done." It is a marvellous concept. You reduce, I reduce, we reduce our egotism.

As I mentioned so many times: in front of every Hindu temple there will be a flagpole — that is called Dvajastambha. That represents the ego of all of us. Everybody has to give up his ego there. Only then, when he goes inside, will that be called, properly, Darśana.

So this is how all of us have to give up. What does this Upāsanā — this mental contemplation — do? "Oh Lord, everything is you. Everything belongs to you. In fact, there is nothing else excepting you." That should be the realisation.
----

== The Technique of Upāsanā: Expanding the Vision of the Divine ==
So the Guru teaches: you take the Guru himself — he is an ordinary person. But even the Guru cannot be taken straightaway as an ideal. First comes Mother — marvellous idea. We have seen in the Śikṣāvallī, the Eleventh Chapter:

''Mātṛ devo bhava. Pitṛ devo bhava. Ācārya devo bhava. Atithi devo bhava.''

We have seen how it works. So what does it mean? It means the nearest object, nearest to us — first is Mother. Not that every mother is a Brahma Jñānī, every mother is a Jagat Guru. No. But I have to impose that idea. So far as I am concerned, without her I would not have been. Whatever I am is because of father, mother, teacher, etc.

Therefore, first practise on one person, one object — that is the Mother. We see Rāmakṛṣṇa advising the Holy Mother that all those things offered in the Kālī Pūjā — the sārī, etc. — "Offer it to your mother. But when you offer, do not offer to her as your ordinary mother. You must consider her as Mother Kālī herself." So this is what is called Mātṛ devo bhava — let your mother be Brahman to you.

And then, once we succeed — after some time — then expand. First one person, then it must be a second person. Who is the second person? Of course, Father. He is the protector, he is the provider, he is everything for us. Therefore, Father is the closest — not as close as Mother, but next to Mother he is the closest person. We are what we are because of the union between Father and Mother. Therefore, the Father should become — should be looked upon — as Brahman.

I hope you are getting the point. If we look at our mothers and fathers, they are just ordinary persons most of them. It is quite different — Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's father and mother were highly evolved souls. That is a rare exception. But mostly, it is our father and mother, ordinary people like anybody else. Sometimes they may also be spiritual people, quite advanced in spiritual life. But that is a very great good fortune, to be born to them. But mostly the idea is: it is target practice.

"I decided to look upon my Mother as Divine Mother." In fact, you meditate upon your own Mother. And probably you may be afraid to jump into the lap of Holy Mother, but you will not hesitate — you can imagine, when you are a child, how many times you jumped into the lap of the Mother, you touched her. So, imagine: Holy Mother slowly transformed herself into your own Mother, and then you jump. But now the idea is: she is as powerful, as gracious, like Holy Mother. Take that idea, combine these two, and meditate upon her, and you will see that our meditation, our fear, will go away.

Similarly, you can merge Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa in your own Father, and you can demand anything of your Father. Not as of now, but when we were children: "I want chocolate," "I want to buy that, Bābā," "I want that" — and he will not hesitate to give you, and you will not hesitate, you will not think, "Will he give? Will he not give?" So that is the idea.
----

== Expanding the Vision Further: Teacher and Guest ==
You will have to think about this. This is how — then the teacher. There are very good teachers, and whatever we have been educated in, it is all because they passed what they knew, and some of them are extraordinarily talented in conveying what they know in understandable language by us. They are called talented teachers. Otherwise, some teachers know more than other teachers but do not know how to convey it to their students — like the Paṇḍit who failed to teach Pāṇinīya Vyākaraṇam to Svāmī Vivekānanda in Rājasthān.

So we have to now — if we succeed in looking upon our mother and father — add a third person. That means we are expanding our God-vision more and more. And we succeed in that, now the point you have to understand: our teacher may be moral or immoral — that is not the point. He gave me knowledge, and in my eyes he is Jñānadātā. That is the idea. He is target practice.

And then to everybody — that "everybody" is called Atithi. ''Atithi devo bhava.'' So whenever you meet anybody, anywhere, even now, known or unknown, they have to be looked upon as God, because it is only God who is manifesting as everybody in this world.

That is the essence of ''Sahasraśīrṣā Puruṣaḥ.'' Every head belongs to God. Every hand belongs to God. Every leg belongs to God. Every body belongs to God. Every mind belongs to God. There is nobody who can be separate from the Infinity. That is the idea.

So that is called slowly expanding our consciousness. For that — slowly , our hearts have to be purified,our concentration have to be increased, identification with the larger whole have to be obtained and our conduct towards others have to be Daivi Sampat these are some qualities we will discuss again and again. First Chapter, First Brāhmaṇa: every section in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is called a Brāhmaṇa. "Brāhmaṇa" has nothing to do with the Brāhmin or with Brahman — it simply means a section.
----

== Looking Ahead: Meditation on the Horse ==
So in this First Chapter — the Prathama Adhyāya — the sections are called Brāhmaṇas. (Brāhmaṇa has nothing to do with the Brāhmin or Brahman — it simply means a section.)And first of all we are given the idea of a horse. One has to meditate upon a horse — the Aśvamedha Yajña. And why on a horse? This is a beautiful subject matter which we will talk about from our next class.
----

== Closing Prayer ==
''ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्''

''पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु''

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti.

'''Jai Ramakrishna!'''
[[Category:Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Introduction Lecture 01 on 24 January 2026

2026-05-25T16:38:30Z

Sdevi: /* An Incident from Holy Mother's Life */

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

== Opening Invocation ==
ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.

== Introduction to the Study ==
As we announced earlier, from today we will be studying some selected portions of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. The question may arise: why only some selected portions?

=== First Reason: Avoiding Repetitions ===
Every Upaniṣad, unless they are very, very short Upaniṣads—and this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, as its very name indicates (Bṛhad means "the biggest," and Āraṇyaka means "a huge forest")—so this Upaniṣad is so big, repetitions are unavoidable. We will not need to go through all the repetitions. That is the first reason.

=== Second Reason: Extensive Upāsanas ===
As we have been discussing in most of the Upaniṣads, this Upaniṣad too contains lots of upāsanas. Since we have been discussing about upāsanas in the Taittirīya, in the Chāndogya, and in earlier Upaniṣads too—in Muṇḍaka, in Kaṭha, etc. (only in Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad we do not get them, excepting at the last part)—so this Upaniṣad is full of tremendous upāsanas. We will briefly touch here and there, just to remind ourselves of the inner meaning of it, and also because nobody can progress in spiritual life without going through the spiritual practice of these upāsanas or contemplations.

The only caveat is that we have to transform those upāsanas into understandable and practicable upāsanas of today's society, today's mindset.

=== Third Reason: The Essence of Mahāvākyas ===
This Upaniṣad is so big that if we have to go through every mantra, it would take a long time. It is neither necessary nor advisable.

Why? Because, I'll tell you: there are, as we all know, many mahāvākyas. What is a mahāvākya? A mahāvākya is that which indicates the complete unity or identity of the individual soul—each one of us, everything in the created being—with Brahman, because the effect is one with the cause.

In fact, the effect is only perceived name and form. But if you remove the name and form, what remains is the cause alone.

== The Four Mahāvākyas ==
There are many mahāvākyas, but four have been chosen, and what they are and how they apply to us, we will be discussing quite briefly later on. But the important point is: this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad contains one of the most wonderful of the four mahāvākyas, which is called '''Aham Brahmāsmi''' ("I am Brahman"), and the essence of the whole Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is Aham Brahmāsmi.

=== The Path to Knowledge ===
To obtain that knowledge, we have to:

* Desire that knowledge
* Approach a guru
* Learn how we should progress or practice spirituality
* Put it into practice through rituals, through contemplations combined with rituals externally

Then the next step would be doing them mentally, internally, which is called Vānaprastha Āśrama.

=== The Four Āśramas ===

* '''Learning stage''' is indicated by the first stage of human life called '''Brahmacaryā Āśrama'''
* '''Practicing them externally, physically''' is called the householder's life, '''Gṛhastha Āśrama'''
* '''Slowly retiring and devoting more time''', lessening the external rituals but performing them mentally in even more concentrated way, is called '''Vānaprastha Āśrama'''
* That leads to the next logical step, which is called '''complete renunciation''', which is called '''Sannyāsa Āśrama'''

=== Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Teaching on the Gītā ===
As I said, the essence of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is Aham Brahmāsmi. As Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's one sentence captures the essence of the whole Bhagavad Gītā: reverse that word Gītā and repeat it fast, and then you get the word Tyāgī. Gītā reversed is Tyāgī. Tyāgī means tyāga.

Tyāga means: "Oh man, renounce your false knowledge about yourself and try to obtain self-knowledge, true self-knowledge, with the grace of your Guru, who is none other than Bhagavān."

== Understanding the Four Mahāvākyas ==
So that is why, even if somebody listens only to a little bit of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, it is Aham Brahmāsmi. But interestingly, this Aham Brahmāsmi comes at the end of the four mahāvākyas. There is an order in which the mahāvākyas, though independent, should be followed.

=== Definition of Mahāvākya ===
What are these four mahāvākyas? Mahāvākya: vākya means a sentence or a saying. Mahā means "the greatest." There cannot be anything greater than this saying. There are hundreds, but our wise ṛṣis have chosen only four, from four different Vedas, from four different Upaniṣads.

Each mahāvākya is the very essence of all the Upaniṣads, so to say. So if we understand these four mahāvākyas, it is as if we have understood, at least intellectually, the essence of all the Upaniṣads.

=== Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Five Commandments ===
For example, the entire Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa also has many mahāvākyas. Many examples are also there. But Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's five commandments state: the goal of human life is to know God. What does Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa mean? He used the word Īśvara sākṣātkāra, or God Realization.

What he means is: sākṣātkāra means darśana. Darśana means becoming one with the deity. You cannot think of God standing in front of you, nearer or further away, and you are standing. He is big, you are small. That is only ignorance, because you are limiting God to a particular place, particular size, particular time. He has become an object limited by your mind, time, space, and causation.

But the real understanding is that He is infinite: '''Satyam, Jñānam, Anantam, Ekam Eva Advaitīyam'''. He is one without a second.

And if that be true, I cannot be different. Nothing can be different. So I am one with the entire creation. I am one with God. There are no three. I am.

This is the essence of mahāvākya.

== The Four Mahāvākyas in Detail ==
We discussed earlier also that there are four mahāvākyas. But really, as I said, there are many mahāvākyas. But four have been chosen, and that has become a tradition.

=== 1. Prajñānam Brahma (Lakṣaṇa Vākya) ===
'''First mahāvākya:''' Prajñānam Brahma.

As I said earlier, I see an order in it. This is the first mahāvākya, leading to the second mahāvākya, leading to the third mahāvākya, leading to the final mahāvākya—complete identity with reality.

'''Location:''' Ṛg Veda, Aitareya Upaniṣad, 3rd chapter, 1st section, 3rd mantra.

'''Meaning:''' Wherever we see consciousness, that consciousness is nothing but Brahman. The word for consciousness is jñānam. In one framework, this is called cit: sat, cit, ānanda. But if we take Taittirīya Upaniṣad, especially the second chapter: satyam, jñānam, anantam. Jñānam is the consciousness. If we are not conscious, then we do not know even our own existence.

This Prajñānam Brahma is very well known in the circle of scholars as '''Lakṣaṇa Vākya'''—a statement of definition. This mahāvākya defines the nature of reality. It tells us that the ultimate reality is not an object, but pure consciousness itself.

'''Illustration:''' If you put on the light in a dark room, and imagine the room has got hundreds of objects—generally many objects will be there—every object is different from every other object. But the light that illuminates, that reveals these objects, is one.

Similarly, I see a tree through my consciousness. I cannot see unless consciousness activates it. It is the consciousness which looks at it. As we have seen in the Kena Upaniṣad also: '''Śrotrasya śrotram, cakṣuṣaḥ cakṣuḥ'''—it is the eye of the eye, it is the ear of the ear, the ear of all the sense organs.

Without consciousness, we cannot even become aware of our own selves. And that consciousness doesn't differ even if you are perceiving a billion objects, billion stars, billions of galaxies. The consciousness which perceives is one, and that which the consciousness perceives can be any number.

That is why it is called Lakṣaṇa Vākya. Prajñānam means pure consciousness.

=== 2. Ayam Ātmā Brahma (Sākṣātkāra Vākya) ===
This leads to the second step. Where is this consciousness? And what is my relationship with it? That is beautifully expressed in this second mahāvākya, which is called '''Ayam Ātmā Brahma'''.

'''Location:''' Yajur Veda, Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, 1st chapter, 2nd mantra.

This is called the '''statement of contemplation'''. We have to contemplate: I am that consciousness. Because I am—even to say "I am," I have to be aware, and only after consciousness, everything comes. Therefore, first I know "I am," and then I am seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, working, walking, grabbing, etc.

Everything that I do is added to that "I am." That "I am" is nothing but this pure consciousness. Ātmā means my own consciousness is Brahman. There is no difference between my consciousness and Brahman.

So first is: consciousness is Brahman. Second step is: I am that consciousness. Therefore, if prajñānam is Brahman, I am Brahman.

That's why this is called '''Sākṣātkāra Vākya''', direct realization statement. It points directly to the self within and identifies it with the totality or Brahman. It is often used in deep meditation to bridge the gap between the internal and the external. That means whatever I see, that is also Brahman.

=== 3. Tat Tvam Asi (Upadeśa Vākya) ===
The second mahāvākya is commanded by the guru. When the disciple approaches the guru, and when the guru finds the disciple ready—he who is endowed with the fourfold qualifications, such a one is known as adhikārī, a fit disciple to receive śravaṇa—and that śravaṇa is the mahāvākya śravaṇa. The guru tells. What does he tell?

'''Location:''' Sāma Veda, Chāndogya Upaniṣad, 6th chapter, section 8, beginning with mantra number 7.

'''Tat Tvam Asi Śvetaketo.''' Nine times it is repeated as part of the upakrama-upasaṃhāra.

How do we know what is the subject matter being discussed in the Upaniṣads? It is called finding out what is the subject matter by applying the six indications, ṣaḍliṅga: how it begins, how it ends, how it is repeated, how it is phrased, etc. We have seen that also.

'''Meaning:''' If we separate the words: Tat means "that" (Brahman), Tvam means "you" (the individual consciousness—not the body, not the mind, but the pure consciousness within you), and that Brahman consciousness, Asi, you are one. Because in the infinite consciousness of Brahman, there is no different consciousness, different awareness.

This third mahāvākya is also called '''Upadeśa Vākya''', instructional statement. In this famous dialogue, the sage Uddālaka Āruṇi instructs his son Śvetaketu, repeating this phrase nine times to emphasize that the Tat (the cause of the universe) is the same as the Thou (the individual). The jīva and the paramātmā are one and the same.

=== The Practice of Manana ===
This is called śravaṇa. The teacher instructs: from now onwards, think deeply, become one with it. That's called realization. And for that, the disciple has to do deep manana, and that manana is called—the first part of the manana is to remove any possible doubt. And it may take a long time.

Many of us have to know: even to understand that I have a doubt—because most of us claim, "I have no doubt, I have complete faith in God"—and that is a mistaken statement, ignorantly issued statement. Because if I have faith in God, and that God is everywhere, and that God knows everything, and that God has all the power to help me, to rescue me, to save me, and He is of infinite compassion, dayā-sāgara—I should not have fear.

Prahlāda had never fear. Hiraṇyakaśipu had always fear. Because Prahlāda knows: God is everywhere, so He is right within.

=== Examples from the Epics ===
That is why when Draupadī prayed in the Kaurava sabhā, immediately Kṛṣṇa made His appearance. When did He come? He was there only, but He became visible. And Draupadī had complete faith.

So there is a beautiful analogy here. Kṛṣṇa, as the Bhāgavatam describes to us, used to play with the gopīs. Once the gopīs were observing Kātyāyanī vrata, and part of that vrata is they should take bath with clothes on. But they disobeyed that commandment. They left their clothes outside and went to take bath. I think they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. But Kṛṣṇa came to help them.

So He stole all the saris and took them up into a high branch of a tree. And when the gopīs came out, they were astonished. Then they looked up, because immediately their suspicion turned: somebody must have taken them. Then they looked up, saw Kṛṣṇa, and they covered their private parts with hands.

Bhagavān said that you have to lift up your hands and take refuge in Me. Women feel shy to show themselves like that. But what Kṛṣṇa said: "I know you believe, you say, you claim, that I am antaryāmī. But you never think that I know everything about you. You think your body is unknown to me. Is there any secret part of your body, outside or inside, of which I am not knowing? If I am sarvāntaryāmī, then I am sarvajña."

Then they realized, surrendered themselves totally. And that is what some people say of Draupadī: she lifted her hands and said, "Lord, do whatever you like." And immediately, infinite numbers of latest design saris started appearing, and Duśśāsana fell down unconscious because he was not able to do what he wanted to do—all by the grace of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa.

=== The Importance of True Belief ===
What are we talking about? This Aham Brahmāsmi—a person has to first of all clear all doubts. Do I really believe in God? Do I really believe that He is an infinite ocean of bliss, and He is my mother and father?

त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव ।

त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव ॥

त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणम् त्वमेव ।

त्वमेव सर्वम् मम देव देव ॥ [1]

tvameva mātā ca pitā tvameva

tvameva bandhuśca sakhā tvameva

tvameva vidyā draviṇaṃ tvameva

tvameva sarvaṃ mama deva deva [1]

Do I believe in it? If I believe in it, then I cannot do anything immoral. I cannot even think of doing anything immoral. All my selfishness should be destroyed.

Am I still having all these things? In fact, manana is to find out what is obstructing my way forward. And there is only one thing: my inadequate understanding of what is God, what is my goal. And if I want to become God, then I must become identical with everything. And the practice of that—identification with everybody, everything—is called sarvātma-bhāva, Brahma-bhāva. And that is called, a modern scientist (I do not know how much they understand) holistic attitude.

=== 4. Aham Brahmāsmi (Anubhava Vākya) ===
'''Location:''' Śukla Yajur Veda, chapter 1, section 4, 10th mantra (1.4.10).

By the way, we all know there are four Vedas, but actually, because of some peculiar story, there must be actually five Vedas. So: Ṛg Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda—and what about Yajur Veda? There are two Yajur Vedas, because of the story of Yājñavalkya. So one is called Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda (we have seen Taittirīya Upaniṣad, etc.), and another is Śukla Yajur Veda, to which this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belongs. Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad also belongs.

So there must be: Ṛg Veda, Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda, Śukla Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, and Atharva Veda. But because most of the contents, excepting very few differences, both Vedas practically are copies of each other of the same content, and that is why they are not considered as two separate distinct Vedas, but one particular Veda.

But this is called '''Anubhava Mahāvākya'''—that is to say, who can say "I am Brahman"? Only when the manana is totally over, all doubts are cleared. And when all doubts are cleared, the indication would be: I do not want anything, excepting realization of my true nature. Why?

Because manana convinces us that everything is unreliable, therefore mithyā, therefore unreal, therefore changing. I cannot rely upon it. This concept of what is changing, I have discussed in my past classes.

=== The Impermanence of Worldly Things ===
Never expect that my family members will be with me forever, my friends will be with me forever. That is not the only thing. Can I rely upon love? How many times do loving couples quarrel? How many times do parents and children quarrel? So sometimes they quarrel, sometimes they make up, sometimes they love. So nothing is permanent. So I cannot rely upon this.

Of course, this body is not permanent. Mind is always restless. And therefore there is only one thing which never changes, which runs through all the three stages—jāgrat, svapna, suṣupti—that is called pure consciousness, also called prajñā, prajñānam.

So this is called Anubhava Vākya. At the end, by the grace of God, when a person truly says: "I do not exist." Neti, neti. "I am not the body"—body idea disappears. "I am not the mind"—mind idea disappears. "I am not neither the sthūla, nor sūkṣma, nor kāraṇa śarīras"—that is the essence of the Nirvāṇa Ṣaṭkam by Śaṅkarācārya: '''Mano buddhi ahaṅkāra cittāni nāham... Śivo'ham, Śivo'ham.'''

=== The Tenth Man Story ===
That is why it is called: when everything is negated, what remains? Like in the story of "you are the tenth man, I am the tenth man"—that is called anubhava. Then the fear that one of us is lost—none of us is really lost. And that brings tremendous amount of joy.

Even in ordinary matters, you know: you urgently need an object—a piece of paper, a letter, a password, whatever it is—and you are desperately searching, you have forgotten where it is, and suddenly it comes at some point of time. And what a relief! What a great joy comes!

So this is called Anubhava Vākya.

== The Progressive Order of the Mahāvākyas ==
This is how I would like to think:

# '''Prajñānam Brahma''' should lead to the next one
# '''Ayam Ātmā Brahma'''—you are that consciousness
# The guru comes and says: you are not merely individual consciousness; there is no such thing. You are that infinite consciousness—'''Tat Tvam Asi'''
# Which leads to, after of course sādhana and the grace of God—'''Aham Brahmāsmi'''

=== The Result of Realization ===
And what happens? '''Bhidyate hṛdayagranthiḥ, chidyante sarvasaṃśayāḥ, kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi, tasmin dṛṣṭe parāvare.'''

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says: '''Tato yāti parāṃ gatim'''—when My grace falls upon any devotee, it ends in that supreme state of mind from which there is no return at all.

So this is the essence: Aham Brahmāsmi. And that is what we need to understand by going through all the steps, step by step: Prajñānam Brahma, Ayam Ātmā Brahma, Tat Tvam Asi, and Aham Brahmāsmi.

== Overview of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
Now let us have a bird's-eye view of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.

=== Textual Background ===
This Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belongs to the Śukla Yajur Veda. Yajur Veda has a division: Kṛṣṇa and Śukla, the black and the white. Every Veda, whether it is Ṛg Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda, has many śākhās, and many śākhās have also disappeared in course of time.

Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda, as we said, has Taittirīya Śākhā, Kaṭha Śākhā, where those particular respective Upaniṣads belong. Śukla Yajur Veda belongs to Kāṇva Śākhā and Mādhyandina Śākhā.

Normally, different śākhās have different mantras. But a special feature here is that Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, whether it is Kāṇva Śākhā Bṛhadāraṇyaka or Mādhyandina Śākhā Bṛhadāraṇyaka—both śākhās, excepting for some minor differences here and there—the two are almost the same.

This Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belongs to the Kāṇva Śākhā of the Śukla Yajur Veda, White Yajur Veda.

=== The Author: Yājñavalkya ===
And who is the author? '''Yājñavalkya''' is the author of this entire Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.

And we have also seen a story of this very same Yājñavalkya at the beginning of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad—how that Upaniṣad obtained its name.

== The Story of Yājñavalkya ==
So what happened? There was a great person, extraordinarily brilliant, and that is completely provable when we go through the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. It is called the '''Yājñavalkya-Vaiśampāyana''' legend—one of the most famous legends in the whole history of the Vedas.

The entire Śukla Yajur Veda is attributed to this Yājñavalkya. And this Yājñavalkya has another name, called '''Vājasaneya'''. Why? The teaching given by Yājñavalkya is called Vājasaneyī. Yājñavalkya is known by Vājasaneya, another name. And what is given out by Vājasaneya is called Vājasaneyī.

=== The Conflict with the Guru ===
So why this name? The reason for this name is that, as we know, Yājñavalkya was a disciple of a great ṛṣi. That was even before the Taittirīya Upaniṣad came out. And that ṛṣi had many disciples—that means Yājñavalkya had many brother disciples.

And the guru had committed a serious crime earlier. And now he wanted to expiate—what we call, get rid of that sin; they believed in it. So for that purpose, he wanted to perform a special rite. So he called all his disciples and said, "My children, I am not able to perform it. You perform it on my behalf."

=== Version One: The Display of Ego ===
One portion of the story goes: Yājñavalkya was the best of the students, with vast memory like a modern AI. And he was most intelligent, most studious, but somehow a bit of egotism—"I am superior to all of this"—has entered into him.

So it is said he exclaimed, addressing his guru: "Gurudeva, there is no need for others to work for it. I alone can perform this ritual."

The guru perceived the arrogance, egotism, and he said, "You are not worthy to be my disciple. The greater the learning, the greater must be the humility. विद्या विनयेन शोभते . The more one obtains knowledge, the humbler he becomes, because the more the curtain is removed, we see how much more—and still more—is there, and in comparison I am nothing."

It is said of Darwin that, "Sir, you have discovered some of the best things." And he said, "No, I am like a person sitting by the side of a sea. Somebody is thirsty, I just give a little bit of water from the sea, but the water is the source, and it is infinite."

=== The Guru's Punishment ===
So the guru, as a punishment for that, he said, "Whatever I have taught, you have learned from me—give it back to me."

Yājñavalkya immediately vomited, as it were, all this knowledge. And then the other disciples assumed the forms of tittiri (partridge birds), and each one could swallow as much as that bird can swallow.

So that is how the science that Yājñavalkya vomited came to be known as '''Taittirīya'''. Tittiri means partridge bird.

But that cannot be the real story. There is no question of vomiting. If you know something, there is no question of giving it back. But you can say, "I won't use it"—like modern patents. If somebody has given you some knowledge, you cannot use it. And then we have that injunction: you cannot sell your Office 365 to anybody. It is only given to you, and you have to—if you want to use it, that is how it is called "owning the software."

=== An Incident from Holy Mother's Life ===
And such a strange situation rarely occurs. But there is an incident in the life of Holy Mother. Once a disciple who temporarily had gone out of his mind—who was initiated by Holy Mother—said, "Here is the mantra. You take the mantra. I don't want your mantra. Take it back."

Holy Mother said, "Alright, write it on a banana leaf and offer it back to me."

But can a mantra be really taken? Then the disciple started weeping, realizing what an enormous mistake he committed. He started sobbing and said, "Mother, what is going to happen to me?"

And Mother said, "My son, whether you discarded me or not, I will never forsake you. You have nothing to fear. I am your mother, and you will always be my child."

So really speaking, some external object can be given back, but knowledge cannot be given back. But we can say: do not use this one, do not teach it to anybody.

=== The Origin of Vājasaneyī ===
Yājñavalkya become sad that he could not use the teaching,so he turned himself to the source Surya deva,the source of knowledge who is called surya bhagavan. He did a lot of Tapasya and surya bhagavan was pleased with him and taught him the fresh entire Shukla Yajurveda. Surya deva is the source. So whenever we read Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, we are reading a part of the Śukla Yajur Veda. That's what we have to understand.

The name of Sūrya in Sanskrit is called '''Vājasani'''. Vāja means food, sani means giver. "Giver of the food" is the meaning. We know well that because of the sun only, life is possible. Life is possible because of food, and all food comes, directly or indirectly, from the sun only. Since the sun gives us food and energy, he is called Vājasani.

Therefore, the disciple of Vājasani is Vājasaniya, and the teaching given by Vājasaniya is called Vājasaneyī. Hence the entire Śukla Yajur Veda is often called Vājasaneya Saṃhitā.

=== Lessons from the Story ===
This story explains there can be a split between the guru and śiṣya, which is most unfortunate. That is why we are studying, praying, with a śānti pāṭha: '''Saha nāv avatu, saha nau bhunaktu'''... '''Mā vidviṣāvahai'''—may we not hate each other.

So there is also a split. That is the first split. Second split is the two main branches of the Yajur Veda. So one Yajur Veda became two Yajur Vedas, going by the names Śukla and Kṛṣṇa. And Vaiśampāyana—that is, Yājñavalkya—was one of the greatest teachers of the Yajur Veda.

The lesson we have to learn: the display of ego and the perceived insult to his fellow students deeply angered the guru. Ego manifested in Yājñavalkya. So it is not good to be disrespectful either to the guru or the other students.

=== Version Two: A Gentler Interpretation ===
The other version is much milder and a better version. His teacher asked him: "I am not able to do it. The other disciples, I have asked them to perform a special rite to expiate my sin which I committed in the past. But you will teach them in my stead, because you have learned everything."

So he summarized the whole thing—like nowadays AIs do the summarization, correction, etc.—and he gave them in digestible forms. And that is how they have accepted it, because the tittiri means their capacity to understand is very, very small. That is what we need to understand here.

=== The Mystical Meaning ===
In our physical world, knowledge is abstract. Once you know something, you cannot unknow it. However, in the mystical context of this story, the Veda is seen as a living, potent substance. Therefore, it only means: the more we learn, the humbler we become. We have to contemplate whether we are growing or not growing.

So that part which Yājñavalkya gave up goes by the name of Taittirīya Saṃhitā and belongs to Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda, in black or dark Yajur Veda.

=== Yājñavalkya's Tapasyā ===
Now, as I said, Yājñavalkya turned to Sūrya Deva, praised him. By his grace, the dormant truth, potentiality, became manifest in the form of this marvelous understanding.

So one should be careful of ego. Another meaning of it: that when human teachers are no longer an option—that is, if no teacher is available—sincere seekers can find the truth through direct contemplation of the divine, either in the form of the sun or—by the way, we had only the Sarasvatī Pūjā two days back—praying to Mother Sarasvatī.

And according to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Mahāsāradā is the embodiment of Sarasvatī. She is specially born to give knowledge in a most digestible form. The Gospel of the Holy Mother is the essence of all the Vedas in easily digestible, summary format.

== Structure of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
And this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is divided into three chapters. Each chapter is called a '''kāṇḍa''', and each section is called a '''brāhmaṇa'''. Many Upaniṣads use different names. For example, in Taittirīya Upaniṣad, we have seen vallī: Śikṣā Vallī, Brahmānanda Vallī, Bhṛgu Vallī, etc.

Each chapter has many sections, which are called anuvākas. Here they are called brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇa doesn't mean the caste brāhmaṇa, but it simply means sections within a particular chapter.

=== The Three Kāṇḍas ===
The entire Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is divided, for the sake of convenience, into three parts:

# '''Madhu Kāṇḍa'''
# '''Muni Kāṇḍa''' (also called Yājñavalkya Kāṇḍa)
# '''Khila Kāṇḍa'''

=== Madhu Kāṇḍa: The Teaching of Interconnectedness ===
In the first part, the Madhu Kāṇḍa, the primary teaching is upadeśa of Brahma-jñāna. Therefore it is called Upadeśa Kāṇḍa.

In this world, everything is interconnected—the holistic attitude. All the five elements, the sun and moon, human beings, etc., in this world are completely dependent on one another. Total interdependence is the world. The birds do not exist, we do not exist.

We have seen this one. Especially there was an American writer, and she wrote—I think it is ''Silent Spring'', something like that; I cannot recollect now—and she outlined: people were using DDT. The result of which was birds and worms died. Because worms died, birds died. Because birds died, pollination died. Because pollination died, the trees on both sides of a river, particularly, they all died, and the river overflows and destroys everything. Forests die.

So this is called: everything is connected. So you cannot destroy one thing and then try to keep other things.

=== Holistic Approach in Medicine and Life ===
And this is very well, nowadays, being understood. Āyurveda is a holistic medicine therapy, because it takes the whole—which can, which is supposed to be cured—for a particular health problem, health issue. Whereas the allopathic medicine, it extracts what it identifies as the main counter-agent. But because of the lack of the other components, it produces violent reactions.

Nowadays people are understanding it. That is why Chinese have adopted beautiful methodology. Hindus have adopted, the Muslims have adopted their own system, but it is all holistic therapy.

So everything in this world is dependent upon everything else. Guru is dependent upon the disciple and vice versa. Parents are dependent upon the children and vice versa. And the manufacturers and the customers, and the scientists and the politicians—everyone is completely connected with each other.

=== Pañca Mahā Yajña ===
And this marvelous concept of interdependence has been beautifully brought out in Vedānta in the form of Pañcarṇa, Pañca Mahā Yajña—a beautiful concept. We will briefly discuss 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!'''
[[Category:Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Introduction Lecture 01 on 24 January 2026

2026-05-25T16:37:03Z

Sdevi: /* An Incident from Holy Mother's Life */

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

== Opening Invocation ==
ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.

== Introduction to the Study ==
As we announced earlier, from today we will be studying some selected portions of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. The question may arise: why only some selected portions?

=== First Reason: Avoiding Repetitions ===
Every Upaniṣad, unless they are very, very short Upaniṣads—and this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, as its very name indicates (Bṛhad means "the biggest," and Āraṇyaka means "a huge forest")—so this Upaniṣad is so big, repetitions are unavoidable. We will not need to go through all the repetitions. That is the first reason.

=== Second Reason: Extensive Upāsanas ===
As we have been discussing in most of the Upaniṣads, this Upaniṣad too contains lots of upāsanas. Since we have been discussing about upāsanas in the Taittirīya, in the Chāndogya, and in earlier Upaniṣads too—in Muṇḍaka, in Kaṭha, etc. (only in Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad we do not get them, excepting at the last part)—so this Upaniṣad is full of tremendous upāsanas. We will briefly touch here and there, just to remind ourselves of the inner meaning of it, and also because nobody can progress in spiritual life without going through the spiritual practice of these upāsanas or contemplations.

The only caveat is that we have to transform those upāsanas into understandable and practicable upāsanas of today's society, today's mindset.

=== Third Reason: The Essence of Mahāvākyas ===
This Upaniṣad is so big that if we have to go through every mantra, it would take a long time. It is neither necessary nor advisable.

Why? Because, I'll tell you: there are, as we all know, many mahāvākyas. What is a mahāvākya? A mahāvākya is that which indicates the complete unity or identity of the individual soul—each one of us, everything in the created being—with Brahman, because the effect is one with the cause.

In fact, the effect is only perceived name and form. But if you remove the name and form, what remains is the cause alone.

== The Four Mahāvākyas ==
There are many mahāvākyas, but four have been chosen, and what they are and how they apply to us, we will be discussing quite briefly later on. But the important point is: this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad contains one of the most wonderful of the four mahāvākyas, which is called '''Aham Brahmāsmi''' ("I am Brahman"), and the essence of the whole Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is Aham Brahmāsmi.

=== The Path to Knowledge ===
To obtain that knowledge, we have to:

* Desire that knowledge
* Approach a guru
* Learn how we should progress or practice spirituality
* Put it into practice through rituals, through contemplations combined with rituals externally

Then the next step would be doing them mentally, internally, which is called Vānaprastha Āśrama.

=== The Four Āśramas ===

* '''Learning stage''' is indicated by the first stage of human life called '''Brahmacaryā Āśrama'''
* '''Practicing them externally, physically''' is called the householder's life, '''Gṛhastha Āśrama'''
* '''Slowly retiring and devoting more time''', lessening the external rituals but performing them mentally in even more concentrated way, is called '''Vānaprastha Āśrama'''
* That leads to the next logical step, which is called '''complete renunciation''', which is called '''Sannyāsa Āśrama'''

=== Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Teaching on the Gītā ===
As I said, the essence of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is Aham Brahmāsmi. As Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's one sentence captures the essence of the whole Bhagavad Gītā: reverse that word Gītā and repeat it fast, and then you get the word Tyāgī. Gītā reversed is Tyāgī. Tyāgī means tyāga.

Tyāga means: "Oh man, renounce your false knowledge about yourself and try to obtain self-knowledge, true self-knowledge, with the grace of your Guru, who is none other than Bhagavān."

== Understanding the Four Mahāvākyas ==
So that is why, even if somebody listens only to a little bit of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, it is Aham Brahmāsmi. But interestingly, this Aham Brahmāsmi comes at the end of the four mahāvākyas. There is an order in which the mahāvākyas, though independent, should be followed.

=== Definition of Mahāvākya ===
What are these four mahāvākyas? Mahāvākya: vākya means a sentence or a saying. Mahā means "the greatest." There cannot be anything greater than this saying. There are hundreds, but our wise ṛṣis have chosen only four, from four different Vedas, from four different Upaniṣads.

Each mahāvākya is the very essence of all the Upaniṣads, so to say. So if we understand these four mahāvākyas, it is as if we have understood, at least intellectually, the essence of all the Upaniṣads.

=== Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Five Commandments ===
For example, the entire Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa also has many mahāvākyas. Many examples are also there. But Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's five commandments state: the goal of human life is to know God. What does Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa mean? He used the word Īśvara sākṣātkāra, or God Realization.

What he means is: sākṣātkāra means darśana. Darśana means becoming one with the deity. You cannot think of God standing in front of you, nearer or further away, and you are standing. He is big, you are small. That is only ignorance, because you are limiting God to a particular place, particular size, particular time. He has become an object limited by your mind, time, space, and causation.

But the real understanding is that He is infinite: '''Satyam, Jñānam, Anantam, Ekam Eva Advaitīyam'''. He is one without a second.

And if that be true, I cannot be different. Nothing can be different. So I am one with the entire creation. I am one with God. There are no three. I am.

This is the essence of mahāvākya.

== The Four Mahāvākyas in Detail ==
We discussed earlier also that there are four mahāvākyas. But really, as I said, there are many mahāvākyas. But four have been chosen, and that has become a tradition.

=== 1. Prajñānam Brahma (Lakṣaṇa Vākya) ===
'''First mahāvākya:''' Prajñānam Brahma.

As I said earlier, I see an order in it. This is the first mahāvākya, leading to the second mahāvākya, leading to the third mahāvākya, leading to the final mahāvākya—complete identity with reality.

'''Location:''' Ṛg Veda, Aitareya Upaniṣad, 3rd chapter, 1st section, 3rd mantra.

'''Meaning:''' Wherever we see consciousness, that consciousness is nothing but Brahman. The word for consciousness is jñānam. In one framework, this is called cit: sat, cit, ānanda. But if we take Taittirīya Upaniṣad, especially the second chapter: satyam, jñānam, anantam. Jñānam is the consciousness. If we are not conscious, then we do not know even our own existence.

This Prajñānam Brahma is very well known in the circle of scholars as '''Lakṣaṇa Vākya'''—a statement of definition. This mahāvākya defines the nature of reality. It tells us that the ultimate reality is not an object, but pure consciousness itself.

'''Illustration:''' If you put on the light in a dark room, and imagine the room has got hundreds of objects—generally many objects will be there—every object is different from every other object. But the light that illuminates, that reveals these objects, is one.

Similarly, I see a tree through my consciousness. I cannot see unless consciousness activates it. It is the consciousness which looks at it. As we have seen in the Kena Upaniṣad also: '''Śrotrasya śrotram, cakṣuṣaḥ cakṣuḥ'''—it is the eye of the eye, it is the ear of the ear, the ear of all the sense organs.

Without consciousness, we cannot even become aware of our own selves. And that consciousness doesn't differ even if you are perceiving a billion objects, billion stars, billions of galaxies. The consciousness which perceives is one, and that which the consciousness perceives can be any number.

That is why it is called Lakṣaṇa Vākya. Prajñānam means pure consciousness.

=== 2. Ayam Ātmā Brahma (Sākṣātkāra Vākya) ===
This leads to the second step. Where is this consciousness? And what is my relationship with it? That is beautifully expressed in this second mahāvākya, which is called '''Ayam Ātmā Brahma'''.

'''Location:''' Yajur Veda, Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, 1st chapter, 2nd mantra.

This is called the '''statement of contemplation'''. We have to contemplate: I am that consciousness. Because I am—even to say "I am," I have to be aware, and only after consciousness, everything comes. Therefore, first I know "I am," and then I am seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, working, walking, grabbing, etc.

Everything that I do is added to that "I am." That "I am" is nothing but this pure consciousness. Ātmā means my own consciousness is Brahman. There is no difference between my consciousness and Brahman.

So first is: consciousness is Brahman. Second step is: I am that consciousness. Therefore, if prajñānam is Brahman, I am Brahman.

That's why this is called '''Sākṣātkāra Vākya''', direct realization statement. It points directly to the self within and identifies it with the totality or Brahman. It is often used in deep meditation to bridge the gap between the internal and the external. That means whatever I see, that is also Brahman.

=== 3. Tat Tvam Asi (Upadeśa Vākya) ===
The second mahāvākya is commanded by the guru. When the disciple approaches the guru, and when the guru finds the disciple ready—he who is endowed with the fourfold qualifications, such a one is known as adhikārī, a fit disciple to receive śravaṇa—and that śravaṇa is the mahāvākya śravaṇa. The guru tells. What does he tell?

'''Location:''' Sāma Veda, Chāndogya Upaniṣad, 6th chapter, section 8, beginning with mantra number 7.

'''Tat Tvam Asi Śvetaketo.''' Nine times it is repeated as part of the upakrama-upasaṃhāra.

How do we know what is the subject matter being discussed in the Upaniṣads? It is called finding out what is the subject matter by applying the six indications, ṣaḍliṅga: how it begins, how it ends, how it is repeated, how it is phrased, etc. We have seen that also.

'''Meaning:''' If we separate the words: Tat means "that" (Brahman), Tvam means "you" (the individual consciousness—not the body, not the mind, but the pure consciousness within you), and that Brahman consciousness, Asi, you are one. Because in the infinite consciousness of Brahman, there is no different consciousness, different awareness.

This third mahāvākya is also called '''Upadeśa Vākya''', instructional statement. In this famous dialogue, the sage Uddālaka Āruṇi instructs his son Śvetaketu, repeating this phrase nine times to emphasize that the Tat (the cause of the universe) is the same as the Thou (the individual). The jīva and the paramātmā are one and the same.

=== The Practice of Manana ===
This is called śravaṇa. The teacher instructs: from now onwards, think deeply, become one with it. That's called realization. And for that, the disciple has to do deep manana, and that manana is called—the first part of the manana is to remove any possible doubt. And it may take a long time.

Many of us have to know: even to understand that I have a doubt—because most of us claim, "I have no doubt, I have complete faith in God"—and that is a mistaken statement, ignorantly issued statement. Because if I have faith in God, and that God is everywhere, and that God knows everything, and that God has all the power to help me, to rescue me, to save me, and He is of infinite compassion, dayā-sāgara—I should not have fear.

Prahlāda had never fear. Hiraṇyakaśipu had always fear. Because Prahlāda knows: God is everywhere, so He is right within.

=== Examples from the Epics ===
That is why when Draupadī prayed in the Kaurava sabhā, immediately Kṛṣṇa made His appearance. When did He come? He was there only, but He became visible. And Draupadī had complete faith.

So there is a beautiful analogy here. Kṛṣṇa, as the Bhāgavatam describes to us, used to play with the gopīs. Once the gopīs were observing Kātyāyanī vrata, and part of that vrata is they should take bath with clothes on. But they disobeyed that commandment. They left their clothes outside and went to take bath. I think they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. But Kṛṣṇa came to help them.

So He stole all the saris and took them up into a high branch of a tree. And when the gopīs came out, they were astonished. Then they looked up, because immediately their suspicion turned: somebody must have taken them. Then they looked up, saw Kṛṣṇa, and they covered their private parts with hands.

Bhagavān said that you have to lift up your hands and take refuge in Me. Women feel shy to show themselves like that. But what Kṛṣṇa said: "I know you believe, you say, you claim, that I am antaryāmī. But you never think that I know everything about you. You think your body is unknown to me. Is there any secret part of your body, outside or inside, of which I am not knowing? If I am sarvāntaryāmī, then I am sarvajña."

Then they realized, surrendered themselves totally. And that is what some people say of Draupadī: she lifted her hands and said, "Lord, do whatever you like." And immediately, infinite numbers of latest design saris started appearing, and Duśśāsana fell down unconscious because he was not able to do what he wanted to do—all by the grace of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa.

=== The Importance of True Belief ===
What are we talking about? This Aham Brahmāsmi—a person has to first of all clear all doubts. Do I really believe in God? Do I really believe that He is an infinite ocean of bliss, and He is my mother and father?

त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव ।

त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव ॥

त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणम् त्वमेव ।

त्वमेव सर्वम् मम देव देव ॥ [1]

tvameva mātā ca pitā tvameva

tvameva bandhuśca sakhā tvameva

tvameva vidyā draviṇaṃ tvameva

tvameva sarvaṃ mama deva deva [1]

Do I believe in it? If I believe in it, then I cannot do anything immoral. I cannot even think of doing anything immoral. All my selfishness should be destroyed.

Am I still having all these things? In fact, manana is to find out what is obstructing my way forward. And there is only one thing: my inadequate understanding of what is God, what is my goal. And if I want to become God, then I must become identical with everything. And the practice of that—identification with everybody, everything—is called sarvātma-bhāva, Brahma-bhāva. And that is called, a modern scientist (I do not know how much they understand) holistic attitude.

=== 4. Aham Brahmāsmi (Anubhava Vākya) ===
'''Location:''' Śukla Yajur Veda, chapter 1, section 4, 10th mantra (1.4.10).

By the way, we all know there are four Vedas, but actually, because of some peculiar story, there must be actually five Vedas. So: Ṛg Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda—and what about Yajur Veda? There are two Yajur Vedas, because of the story of Yājñavalkya. So one is called Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda (we have seen Taittirīya Upaniṣad, etc.), and another is Śukla Yajur Veda, to which this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belongs. Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad also belongs.

So there must be: Ṛg Veda, Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda, Śukla Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, and Atharva Veda. But because most of the contents, excepting very few differences, both Vedas practically are copies of each other of the same content, and that is why they are not considered as two separate distinct Vedas, but one particular Veda.

But this is called '''Anubhava Mahāvākya'''—that is to say, who can say "I am Brahman"? Only when the manana is totally over, all doubts are cleared. And when all doubts are cleared, the indication would be: I do not want anything, excepting realization of my true nature. Why?

Because manana convinces us that everything is unreliable, therefore mithyā, therefore unreal, therefore changing. I cannot rely upon it. This concept of what is changing, I have discussed in my past classes.

=== The Impermanence of Worldly Things ===
Never expect that my family members will be with me forever, my friends will be with me forever. That is not the only thing. Can I rely upon love? How many times do loving couples quarrel? How many times do parents and children quarrel? So sometimes they quarrel, sometimes they make up, sometimes they love. So nothing is permanent. So I cannot rely upon this.

Of course, this body is not permanent. Mind is always restless. And therefore there is only one thing which never changes, which runs through all the three stages—jāgrat, svapna, suṣupti—that is called pure consciousness, also called prajñā, prajñānam.

So this is called Anubhava Vākya. At the end, by the grace of God, when a person truly says: "I do not exist." Neti, neti. "I am not the body"—body idea disappears. "I am not the mind"—mind idea disappears. "I am not neither the sthūla, nor sūkṣma, nor kāraṇa śarīras"—that is the essence of the Nirvāṇa Ṣaṭkam by Śaṅkarācārya: '''Mano buddhi ahaṅkāra cittāni nāham... Śivo'ham, Śivo'ham.'''

=== The Tenth Man Story ===
That is why it is called: when everything is negated, what remains? Like in the story of "you are the tenth man, I am the tenth man"—that is called anubhava. Then the fear that one of us is lost—none of us is really lost. And that brings tremendous amount of joy.

Even in ordinary matters, you know: you urgently need an object—a piece of paper, a letter, a password, whatever it is—and you are desperately searching, you have forgotten where it is, and suddenly it comes at some point of time. And what a relief! What a great joy comes!

So this is called Anubhava Vākya.

== The Progressive Order of the Mahāvākyas ==
This is how I would like to think:

# '''Prajñānam Brahma''' should lead to the next one
# '''Ayam Ātmā Brahma'''—you are that consciousness
# The guru comes and says: you are not merely individual consciousness; there is no such thing. You are that infinite consciousness—'''Tat Tvam Asi'''
# Which leads to, after of course sādhana and the grace of God—'''Aham Brahmāsmi'''

=== The Result of Realization ===
And what happens? '''Bhidyate hṛdayagranthiḥ, chidyante sarvasaṃśayāḥ, kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi, tasmin dṛṣṭe parāvare.'''

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says: '''Tato yāti parāṃ gatim'''—when My grace falls upon any devotee, it ends in that supreme state of mind from which there is no return at all.

So this is the essence: Aham Brahmāsmi. And that is what we need to understand by going through all the steps, step by step: Prajñānam Brahma, Ayam Ātmā Brahma, Tat Tvam Asi, and Aham Brahmāsmi.

== Overview of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
Now let us have a bird's-eye view of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.

=== Textual Background ===
This Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belongs to the Śukla Yajur Veda. Yajur Veda has a division: Kṛṣṇa and Śukla, the black and the white. Every Veda, whether it is Ṛg Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda, has many śākhās, and many śākhās have also disappeared in course of time.

Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda, as we said, has Taittirīya Śākhā, Kaṭha Śākhā, where those particular respective Upaniṣads belong. Śukla Yajur Veda belongs to Kāṇva Śākhā and Mādhyandina Śākhā.

Normally, different śākhās have different mantras. But a special feature here is that Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, whether it is Kāṇva Śākhā Bṛhadāraṇyaka or Mādhyandina Śākhā Bṛhadāraṇyaka—both śākhās, excepting for some minor differences here and there—the two are almost the same.

This Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belongs to the Kāṇva Śākhā of the Śukla Yajur Veda, White Yajur Veda.

=== The Author: Yājñavalkya ===
And who is the author? '''Yājñavalkya''' is the author of this entire Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.

And we have also seen a story of this very same Yājñavalkya at the beginning of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad—how that Upaniṣad obtained its name.

== The Story of Yājñavalkya ==
So what happened? There was a great person, extraordinarily brilliant, and that is completely provable when we go through the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. It is called the '''Yājñavalkya-Vaiśampāyana''' legend—one of the most famous legends in the whole history of the Vedas.

The entire Śukla Yajur Veda is attributed to this Yājñavalkya. And this Yājñavalkya has another name, called '''Vājasaneya'''. Why? The teaching given by Yājñavalkya is called Vājasaneyī. Yājñavalkya is known by Vājasaneya, another name. And what is given out by Vājasaneya is called Vājasaneyī.

=== The Conflict with the Guru ===
So why this name? The reason for this name is that, as we know, Yājñavalkya was a disciple of a great ṛṣi. That was even before the Taittirīya Upaniṣad came out. And that ṛṣi had many disciples—that means Yājñavalkya had many brother disciples.

And the guru had committed a serious crime earlier. And now he wanted to expiate—what we call, get rid of that sin; they believed in it. So for that purpose, he wanted to perform a special rite. So he called all his disciples and said, "My children, I am not able to perform it. You perform it on my behalf."

=== Version One: The Display of Ego ===
One portion of the story goes: Yājñavalkya was the best of the students, with vast memory like a modern AI. And he was most intelligent, most studious, but somehow a bit of egotism—"I am superior to all of this"—has entered into him.

So it is said he exclaimed, addressing his guru: "Gurudeva, there is no need for others to work for it. I alone can perform this ritual."

The guru perceived the arrogance, egotism, and he said, "You are not worthy to be my disciple. The greater the learning, the greater must be the humility. विद्या विनयेन शोभते . The more one obtains knowledge, the humbler he becomes, because the more the curtain is removed, we see how much more—and still more—is there, and in comparison I am nothing."

It is said of Darwin that, "Sir, you have discovered some of the best things." And he said, "No, I am like a person sitting by the side of a sea. Somebody is thirsty, I just give a little bit of water from the sea, but the water is the source, and it is infinite."

=== The Guru's Punishment ===
So the guru, as a punishment for that, he said, "Whatever I have taught, you have learned from me—give it back to me."

Yājñavalkya immediately vomited, as it were, all this knowledge. And then the other disciples assumed the forms of tittiri (partridge birds), and each one could swallow as much as that bird can swallow.

So that is how the science that Yājñavalkya vomited came to be known as '''Taittirīya'''. Tittiri means partridge bird.

But that cannot be the real story. There is no question of vomiting. If you know something, there is no question of giving it back. But you can say, "I won't use it"—like modern patents. If somebody has given you some knowledge, you cannot use it. And then we have that injunction: you cannot sell your Office 365 to anybody. It is only given to you, and you have to—if you want to use it, that is how it is called "owning the software."

=== An Incident from Holy Mother's Life ===
And such a strange situation rarely occurs. But there is an incident in the life of Holy Mother. Once a disciple who temporarily had gone out of his mind—who was initiated by Holy Mother—said, "Here is the mantra. You take the mantra. I don't want your mantra. Take it back."

Holy Mother said, "Alright, write it on a banana leaf and offer it back to me."

But can a mantra be really taken? Then the disciple started weeping, realizing what an enormous mistake he committed. He started sobbing and said, "Mother, what is going to happen to me?"

And Mother said, "My son, whether you discarded me or not, I will never forsake you. You have nothing to fear. I am your mother, and you will always be my child."

So really speaking, some external object can be given back, but knowledge cannot be given back. But we can say: do not use this one, do not teach it to anybody. Yājñavalkya become sad that he could not use the teaching,so he turned himself to the source Surya deva,the source of knowledge who is called surya bhagavan. He did a lot of Tapasya and surya bhagavan was pleased with him and taught him the fresh entire Shukla Yajurveda. Surya deva is the source.

=== The Origin of Vājasaneyī ===
So whenever we read Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, we are reading a part of the Śukla Yajur Veda. That's what we have to understand.

The name of Sūrya in Sanskrit is called '''Vājasani'''. Vāja means food, sani means giver. "Giver of the food" is the meaning. We know well that because of the sun only, life is possible. Life is possible because of food, and all food comes, directly or indirectly, from the sun only. Since the sun gives us food and energy, he is called Vājasani.

Therefore, the disciple of Vājasani is Vājasaniya, and the teaching given by Vājasaniya is called Vājasaneyī. Hence the entire Śukla Yajur Veda is often called Vājasaneya Saṃhitā.

=== Lessons from the Story ===
This story explains there can be a split between the guru and śiṣya, which is most unfortunate. That is why we are studying, praying, with a śānti pāṭha: '''Saha nāv avatu, saha nau bhunaktu'''... '''Mā vidviṣāvahai'''—may we not hate each other.

So there is also a split. That is the first split. Second split is the two main branches of the Yajur Veda. So one Yajur Veda became two Yajur Vedas, going by the names Śukla and Kṛṣṇa. And Vaiśampāyana—that is, Yājñavalkya—was one of the greatest teachers of the Yajur Veda.

The lesson we have to learn: the display of ego and the perceived insult to his fellow students deeply angered the guru. Ego manifested in Yājñavalkya. So it is not good to be disrespectful either to the guru or the other students.

=== Version Two: A Gentler Interpretation ===
The other version is much milder and a better version. His teacher asked him: "I am not able to do it. The other disciples, I have asked them to perform a special rite to expiate my sin which I committed in the past. But you will teach them in my stead, because you have learned everything."

So he summarized the whole thing—like nowadays AIs do the summarization, correction, etc.—and he gave them in digestible forms. And that is how they have accepted it, because the tittiri means their capacity to understand is very, very small. That is what we need to understand here.

=== The Mystical Meaning ===
In our physical world, knowledge is abstract. Once you know something, you cannot unknow it. However, in the mystical context of this story, the Veda is seen as a living, potent substance. Therefore, it only means: the more we learn, the humbler we become. We have to contemplate whether we are growing or not growing.

So that part which Yājñavalkya gave up goes by the name of Taittirīya Saṃhitā and belongs to Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda, in black or dark Yajur Veda.

=== Yājñavalkya's Tapasyā ===
Now, as I said, Yājñavalkya turned to Sūrya Deva, praised him. By his grace, the dormant truth, potentiality, became manifest in the form of this marvelous understanding.

So one should be careful of ego. Another meaning of it: that when human teachers are no longer an option—that is, if no teacher is available—sincere seekers can find the truth through direct contemplation of the divine, either in the form of the sun or—by the way, we had only the Sarasvatī Pūjā two days back—praying to Mother Sarasvatī.

And according to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Mahāsāradā is the embodiment of Sarasvatī. She is specially born to give knowledge in a most digestible form. The Gospel of the Holy Mother is the essence of all the Vedas in easily digestible, summary format.

== Structure of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
And this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is divided into three chapters. Each chapter is called a '''kāṇḍa''', and each section is called a '''brāhmaṇa'''. Many Upaniṣads use different names. For example, in Taittirīya Upaniṣad, we have seen vallī: Śikṣā Vallī, Brahmānanda Vallī, Bhṛgu Vallī, etc.

Each chapter has many sections, which are called anuvākas. Here they are called brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇa doesn't mean the caste brāhmaṇa, but it simply means sections within a particular chapter.

=== The Three Kāṇḍas ===
The entire Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is divided, for the sake of convenience, into three parts:

# '''Madhu Kāṇḍa'''
# '''Muni Kāṇḍa''' (also called Yājñavalkya Kāṇḍa)
# '''Khila Kāṇḍa'''

=== Madhu Kāṇḍa: The Teaching of Interconnectedness ===
In the first part, the Madhu Kāṇḍa, the primary teaching is upadeśa of Brahma-jñāna. Therefore it is called Upadeśa Kāṇḍa.

In this world, everything is interconnected—the holistic attitude. All the five elements, the sun and moon, human beings, etc., in this world are completely dependent on one another. Total interdependence is the world. The birds do not exist, we do not exist.

We have seen this one. Especially there was an American writer, and she wrote—I think it is ''Silent Spring'', something like that; I cannot recollect now—and she outlined: people were using DDT. The result of which was birds and worms died. Because worms died, birds died. Because birds died, pollination died. Because pollination died, the trees on both sides of a river, particularly, they all died, and the river overflows and destroys everything. Forests die.

So this is called: everything is connected. So you cannot destroy one thing and then try to keep other things.

=== Holistic Approach in Medicine and Life ===
And this is very well, nowadays, being understood. Āyurveda is a holistic medicine therapy, because it takes the whole—which can, which is supposed to be cured—for a particular health problem, health issue. Whereas the allopathic medicine, it extracts what it identifies as the main counter-agent. But because of the lack of the other components, it produces violent reactions.

Nowadays people are understanding it. That is why Chinese have adopted beautiful methodology. Hindus have adopted, the Muslims have adopted their own system, but it is all holistic therapy.

So everything in this world is dependent upon everything else. Guru is dependent upon the disciple and vice versa. Parents are dependent upon the children and vice versa. And the manufacturers and the customers, and the scientists and the politicians—everyone is completely connected with each other.

=== Pañca Mahā Yajña ===
And this marvelous concept of interdependence has been beautifully brought out in Vedānta in the form of Pañcarṇa, Pañca Mahā Yajña—a beautiful concept. We will briefly discuss 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!'''
[[Category:Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Introduction Lecture 01 on 24 January 2026

2026-05-22T18:52:03Z

Sdevi: /* Opening Invocation */

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

== Opening Invocation ==
ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.

== Introduction to the Study ==
As we announced earlier, from today we will be studying some selected portions of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. The question may arise: why only some selected portions?

=== First Reason: Avoiding Repetitions ===
Every Upaniṣad, unless they are very, very short Upaniṣads—and this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, as its very name indicates (Bṛhad means "the biggest," and Āraṇyaka means "a huge forest")—so this Upaniṣad is so big, repetitions are unavoidable. We will not need to go through all the repetitions. That is the first reason.

=== Second Reason: Extensive Upāsanas ===
As we have been discussing in most of the Upaniṣads, this Upaniṣad too contains lots of upāsanas. Since we have been discussing about upāsanas in the Taittirīya, in the Chāndogya, and in earlier Upaniṣads too—in Muṇḍaka, in Kaṭha, etc. (only in Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad we do not get them, excepting at the last part)—so this Upaniṣad is full of tremendous upāsanas. We will briefly touch here and there, just to remind ourselves of the inner meaning of it, and also because nobody can progress in spiritual life without going through the spiritual practice of these upāsanas or contemplations.

The only caveat is that we have to transform those upāsanas into understandable and practicable upāsanas of today's society, today's mindset.

=== Third Reason: The Essence of Mahāvākyas ===
This Upaniṣad is so big that if we have to go through every mantra, it would take a long time. It is neither necessary nor advisable.

Why? Because, I'll tell you: there are, as we all know, many mahāvākyas. What is a mahāvākya? A mahāvākya is that which indicates the complete unity or identity of the individual soul—each one of us, everything in the created being—with Brahman, because the effect is one with the cause.

In fact, the effect is only perceived name and form. But if you remove the name and form, what remains is the cause alone.

== The Four Mahāvākyas ==
There are many mahāvākyas, but four have been chosen, and what they are and how they apply to us, we will be discussing quite briefly later on. But the important point is: this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad contains one of the most wonderful of the four mahāvākyas, which is called '''Aham Brahmāsmi''' ("I am Brahman"), and the essence of the whole Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is Aham Brahmāsmi.

=== The Path to Knowledge ===
To obtain that knowledge, we have to:

* Desire that knowledge
* Approach a guru
* Learn how we should progress or practice spirituality
* Put it into practice through rituals, through contemplations combined with rituals externally

Then the next step would be doing them mentally, internally, which is called Vānaprastha Āśrama.

=== The Four Āśramas ===

* '''Learning stage''' is indicated by the first stage of human life called '''Brahmacaryā Āśrama'''
* '''Practicing them externally, physically''' is called the householder's life, '''Gṛhastha Āśrama'''
* '''Slowly retiring and devoting more time''', lessening the external rituals but performing them mentally in even more concentrated way, is called '''Vānaprastha Āśrama'''
* That leads to the next logical step, which is called '''complete renunciation''', which is called '''Sannyāsa Āśrama'''

=== Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Teaching on the Gītā ===
As I said, the essence of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is Aham Brahmāsmi. As Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's one sentence captures the essence of the whole Bhagavad Gītā: reverse that word Gītā and repeat it fast, and then you get the word Tyāgī. Gītā reversed is Tyāgī. Tyāgī means tyāga.

Tyāga means: "Oh man, renounce your false knowledge about yourself and try to obtain self-knowledge, true self-knowledge, with the grace of your Guru, who is none other than Bhagavān."

== Understanding the Four Mahāvākyas ==
So that is why, even if somebody listens only to a little bit of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, it is Aham Brahmāsmi. But interestingly, this Aham Brahmāsmi comes at the end of the four mahāvākyas. There is an order in which the mahāvākyas, though independent, should be followed.

=== Definition of Mahāvākya ===
What are these four mahāvākyas? Mahāvākya: vākya means a sentence or a saying. Mahā means "the greatest." There cannot be anything greater than this saying. There are hundreds, but our wise ṛṣis have chosen only four, from four different Vedas, from four different Upaniṣads.

Each mahāvākya is the very essence of all the Upaniṣads, so to say. So if we understand these four mahāvākyas, it is as if we have understood, at least intellectually, the essence of all the Upaniṣads.

=== Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Five Commandments ===
For example, the entire Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa also has many mahāvākyas. Many examples are also there. But Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's five commandments state: the goal of human life is to know God. What does Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa mean? He used the word Īśvara sākṣātkāra, or God Realization.

What he means is: sākṣātkāra means darśana. Darśana means becoming one with the deity. You cannot think of God standing in front of you, nearer or further away, and you are standing. He is big, you are small. That is only ignorance, because you are limiting God to a particular place, particular size, particular time. He has become an object limited by your mind, time, space, and causation.

But the real understanding is that He is infinite: '''Satyam, Jñānam, Anantam, Ekam Eva Advaitīyam'''. He is one without a second.

And if that be true, I cannot be different. Nothing can be different. So I am one with the entire creation. I am one with God. There are no three. I am.

This is the essence of mahāvākya.

== The Four Mahāvākyas in Detail ==
We discussed earlier also that there are four mahāvākyas. But really, as I said, there are many mahāvākyas. But four have been chosen, and that has become a tradition.

=== 1. Prajñānam Brahma (Lakṣaṇa Vākya) ===
'''First mahāvākya:''' Prajñānam Brahma.

As I said earlier, I see an order in it. This is the first mahāvākya, leading to the second mahāvākya, leading to the third mahāvākya, leading to the final mahāvākya—complete identity with reality.

'''Location:''' Ṛg Veda, Aitareya Upaniṣad, 3rd chapter, 1st section, 3rd mantra.

'''Meaning:''' Wherever we see consciousness, that consciousness is nothing but Brahman. The word for consciousness is jñānam. In one framework, this is called cit: sat, cit, ānanda. But if we take Taittirīya Upaniṣad, especially the second chapter: satyam, jñānam, anantam. Jñānam is the consciousness. If we are not conscious, then we do not know even our own existence.

This Prajñānam Brahma is very well known in the circle of scholars as '''Lakṣaṇa Vākya'''—a statement of definition. This mahāvākya defines the nature of reality. It tells us that the ultimate reality is not an object, but pure consciousness itself.

'''Illustration:''' If you put on the light in a dark room, and imagine the room has got hundreds of objects—generally many objects will be there—every object is different from every other object. But the light that illuminates, that reveals these objects, is one.

Similarly, I see a tree through my consciousness. I cannot see unless consciousness activates it. It is the consciousness which looks at it. As we have seen in the Kena Upaniṣad also: '''Śrotrasya śrotram, cakṣuṣaḥ cakṣuḥ'''—it is the eye of the eye, it is the ear of the ear, the ear of all the sense organs.

Without consciousness, we cannot even become aware of our own selves. And that consciousness doesn't differ even if you are perceiving a billion objects, billion stars, billions of galaxies. The consciousness which perceives is one, and that which the consciousness perceives can be any number.

That is why it is called Lakṣaṇa Vākya. Prajñānam means pure consciousness.

=== 2. Ayam Ātmā Brahma (Sākṣātkāra Vākya) ===
This leads to the second step. Where is this consciousness? And what is my relationship with it? That is beautifully expressed in this second mahāvākya, which is called '''Ayam Ātmā Brahma'''.

'''Location:''' Yajur Veda, Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, 1st chapter, 2nd mantra.

This is called the '''statement of contemplation'''. We have to contemplate: I am that consciousness. Because I am—even to say "I am," I have to be aware, and only after consciousness, everything comes. Therefore, first I know "I am," and then I am seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, working, walking, grabbing, etc.

Everything that I do is added to that "I am." That "I am" is nothing but this pure consciousness. Ātmā means my own consciousness is Brahman. There is no difference between my consciousness and Brahman.

So first is: consciousness is Brahman. Second step is: I am that consciousness. Therefore, if prajñānam is Brahman, I am Brahman.

That's why this is called '''Sākṣātkāra Vākya''', direct realization statement. It points directly to the self within and identifies it with the totality or Brahman. It is often used in deep meditation to bridge the gap between the internal and the external. That means whatever I see, that is also Brahman.

=== 3. Tat Tvam Asi (Upadeśa Vākya) ===
The second mahāvākya is commanded by the guru. When the disciple approaches the guru, and when the guru finds the disciple ready—he who is endowed with the fourfold qualifications, such a one is known as adhikārī, a fit disciple to receive śravaṇa—and that śravaṇa is the mahāvākya śravaṇa. The guru tells. What does he tell?

'''Location:''' Sāma Veda, Chāndogya Upaniṣad, 6th chapter, section 8, beginning with mantra number 7.

'''Tat Tvam Asi Śvetaketo.''' Nine times it is repeated as part of the upakrama-upasaṃhāra.

How do we know what is the subject matter being discussed in the Upaniṣads? It is called finding out what is the subject matter by applying the six indications, ṣaḍliṅga: how it begins, how it ends, how it is repeated, how it is phrased, etc. We have seen that also.

'''Meaning:''' If we separate the words: Tat means "that" (Brahman), Tvam means "you" (the individual consciousness—not the body, not the mind, but the pure consciousness within you), and that Brahman consciousness, Asi, you are one. Because in the infinite consciousness of Brahman, there is no different consciousness, different awareness.

This third mahāvākya is also called '''Upadeśa Vākya''', instructional statement. In this famous dialogue, the sage Uddālaka Āruṇi instructs his son Śvetaketu, repeating this phrase nine times to emphasize that the Tat (the cause of the universe) is the same as the Thou (the individual). The jīva and the paramātmā are one and the same.

=== The Practice of Manana ===
This is called śravaṇa. The teacher instructs: from now onwards, think deeply, become one with it. That's called realization. And for that, the disciple has to do deep manana, and that manana is called—the first part of the manana is to remove any possible doubt. And it may take a long time.

Many of us have to know: even to understand that I have a doubt—because most of us claim, "I have no doubt, I have complete faith in God"—and that is a mistaken statement, ignorantly issued statement. Because if I have faith in God, and that God is everywhere, and that God knows everything, and that God has all the power to help me, to rescue me, to save me, and He is of infinite compassion, dayā-sāgara—I should not have fear.

Prahlāda had never fear. Hiraṇyakaśipu had always fear. Because Prahlāda knows: God is everywhere, so He is right within.

=== Examples from the Epics ===
That is why when Draupadī prayed in the Kaurava sabhā, immediately Kṛṣṇa made His appearance. When did He come? He was there only, but He became visible. And Draupadī had complete faith.

So there is a beautiful analogy here. Kṛṣṇa, as the Bhāgavatam describes to us, used to play with the gopīs. Once the gopīs were observing Kātyāyanī vrata, and part of that vrata is they should take bath with clothes on. But they disobeyed that commandment. They left their clothes outside and went to take bath. I think they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. But Kṛṣṇa came to help them.

So He stole all the saris and took them up into a high branch of a tree. And when the gopīs came out, they were astonished. Then they looked up, because immediately their suspicion turned: somebody must have taken them. Then they looked up, saw Kṛṣṇa, and they covered their private parts with hands.

Bhagavān said that you have to lift up your hands and take refuge in Me. Women feel shy to show themselves like that. But what Kṛṣṇa said: "I know you believe, you say, you claim, that I am antaryāmī. But you never think that I know everything about you. You think your body is unknown to me. Is there any secret part of your body, outside or inside, of which I am not knowing? If I am sarvāntaryāmī, then I am sarvajña."

Then they realized, surrendered themselves totally. And that is what some people say of Draupadī: she lifted her hands and said, "Lord, do whatever you like." And immediately, infinite numbers of latest design saris started appearing, and Duśśāsana fell down unconscious because he was not able to do what he wanted to do—all by the grace of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa.

=== The Importance of True Belief ===
What are we talking about? This Aham Brahmāsmi—a person has to first of all clear all doubts. Do I really believe in God? Do I really believe that He is an infinite ocean of bliss, and He is my mother and father?

त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव ।

त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव ॥

त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणम् त्वमेव ।

त्वमेव सर्वम् मम देव देव ॥ [1]

tvameva mātā ca pitā tvameva

tvameva bandhuśca sakhā tvameva

tvameva vidyā draviṇaṃ tvameva

tvameva sarvaṃ mama deva deva [1]

Do I believe in it? If I believe in it, then I cannot do anything immoral. I cannot even think of doing anything immoral. All my selfishness should be destroyed.

Am I still having all these things? In fact, manana is to find out what is obstructing my way forward. And there is only one thing: my inadequate understanding of what is God, what is my goal. And if I want to become God, then I must become identical with everything. And the practice of that—identification with everybody, everything—is called sarvātma-bhāva, Brahma-bhāva. And that is called, a modern scientist (I do not know how much they understand) holistic attitude.

=== 4. Aham Brahmāsmi (Anubhava Vākya) ===
'''Location:''' Śukla Yajur Veda, chapter 1, section 4, 10th mantra (1.4.10).

By the way, we all know there are four Vedas, but actually, because of some peculiar story, there must be actually five Vedas. So: Ṛg Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda—and what about Yajur Veda? There are two Yajur Vedas, because of the story of Yājñavalkya. So one is called Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda (we have seen Taittirīya Upaniṣad, etc.), and another is Śukla Yajur Veda, to which this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belongs. Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad also belongs.

So there must be: Ṛg Veda, Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda, Śukla Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, and Atharva Veda. But because most of the contents, excepting very few differences, both Vedas practically are copies of each other of the same content, and that is why they are not considered as two separate distinct Vedas, but one particular Veda.

But this is called '''Anubhava Mahāvākya'''—that is to say, who can say "I am Brahman"? Only when the manana is totally over, all doubts are cleared. And when all doubts are cleared, the indication would be: I do not want anything, excepting realization of my true nature. Why?

Because manana convinces us that everything is unreliable, therefore mithyā, therefore unreal, therefore changing. I cannot rely upon it. This concept of what is changing, I have discussed in my past classes.

=== The Impermanence of Worldly Things ===
Never expect that my family members will be with me forever, my friends will be with me forever. That is not the only thing. Can I rely upon love? How many times do loving couples quarrel? How many times do parents and children quarrel? So sometimes they quarrel, sometimes they make up, sometimes they love. So nothing is permanent. So I cannot rely upon this.

Of course, this body is not permanent. Mind is always restless. And therefore there is only one thing which never changes, which runs through all the three stages—jāgrat, svapna, suṣupti—that is called pure consciousness, also called prajñā, prajñānam.

So this is called Anubhava Vākya. At the end, by the grace of God, when a person truly says: "I do not exist." Neti, neti. "I am not the body"—body idea disappears. "I am not the mind"—mind idea disappears. "I am not neither the sthūla, nor sūkṣma, nor kāraṇa śarīras"—that is the essence of the Nirvāṇa Ṣaṭkam by Śaṅkarācārya: '''Mano buddhi ahaṅkāra cittāni nāham... Śivo'ham, Śivo'ham.'''

=== The Tenth Man Story ===
That is why it is called: when everything is negated, what remains? Like in the story of "you are the tenth man, I am the tenth man"—that is called anubhava. Then the fear that one of us is lost—none of us is really lost. And that brings tremendous amount of joy.

Even in ordinary matters, you know: you urgently need an object—a piece of paper, a letter, a password, whatever it is—and you are desperately searching, you have forgotten where it is, and suddenly it comes at some point of time. And what a relief! What a great joy comes!

So this is called Anubhava Vākya.

== The Progressive Order of the Mahāvākyas ==
This is how I would like to think:

# '''Prajñānam Brahma''' should lead to the next one
# '''Ayam Ātmā Brahma'''—you are that consciousness
# The guru comes and says: you are not merely individual consciousness; there is no such thing. You are that infinite consciousness—'''Tat Tvam Asi'''
# Which leads to, after of course sādhana and the grace of God—'''Aham Brahmāsmi'''

=== The Result of Realization ===
And what happens? '''Bhidyate hṛdayagranthiḥ, chidyante sarvasaṃśayāḥ, kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi, tasmin dṛṣṭe parāvare.'''

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says: '''Tato yāti parāṃ gatim'''—when My grace falls upon any devotee, it ends in that supreme state of mind from which there is no return at all.

So this is the essence: Aham Brahmāsmi. And that is what we need to understand by going through all the steps, step by step: Prajñānam Brahma, Ayam Ātmā Brahma, Tat Tvam Asi, and Aham Brahmāsmi.

== Overview of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
Now let us have a bird's-eye view of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.

=== Textual Background ===
This Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belongs to the Śukla Yajur Veda. Yajur Veda has a division: Kṛṣṇa and Śukla, the black and the white. Every Veda, whether it is Ṛg Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda, has many śākhās, and many śākhās have also disappeared in course of time.

Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda, as we said, has Taittirīya Śākhā, Kaṭha Śākhā, where those particular respective Upaniṣads belong. Śukla Yajur Veda belongs to Kāṇva Śākhā and Mādhyandina Śākhā.

Normally, different śākhās have different mantras. But a special feature here is that Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, whether it is Kāṇva Śākhā Bṛhadāraṇyaka or Mādhyandina Śākhā Bṛhadāraṇyaka—both śākhās, excepting for some minor differences here and there—the two are almost the same.

This Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad belongs to the Kāṇva Śākhā of the Śukla Yajur Veda, White Yajur Veda.

=== The Author: Yājñavalkya ===
And who is the author? '''Yājñavalkya''' is the author of this entire Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.

And we have also seen a story of this very same Yājñavalkya at the beginning of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad—how that Upaniṣad obtained its name.

== The Story of Yājñavalkya ==
So what happened? There was a great person, extraordinarily brilliant, and that is completely provable when we go through the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. It is called the '''Yājñavalkya-Vaiśampāyana''' legend—one of the most famous legends in the whole history of the Vedas.

The entire Śukla Yajur Veda is attributed to this Yājñavalkya. And this Yājñavalkya has another name, called '''Vājasaneya'''. Why? The teaching given by Yājñavalkya is called Vājasaneyī. Yājñavalkya is known by Vājasaneya, another name. And what is given out by Vājasaneya is called Vājasaneyī.

=== The Conflict with the Guru ===
So why this name? The reason for this name is that, as we know, Yājñavalkya was a disciple of a great ṛṣi. That was even before the Taittirīya Upaniṣad came out. And that ṛṣi had many disciples—that means Yājñavalkya had many brother disciples.

And the guru had committed a serious crime earlier. And now he wanted to expiate—what we call, get rid of that sin; they believed in it. So for that purpose, he wanted to perform a special rite. So he called all his disciples and said, "My children, I am not able to perform it. You perform it on my behalf."

=== Version One: The Display of Ego ===
One portion of the story goes: Yājñavalkya was the best of the students, with vast memory like a modern AI. And he was most intelligent, most studious, but somehow a bit of egotism—"I am superior to all of this"—has entered into him.

So it is said he exclaimed, addressing his guru: "Gurudeva, there is no need for others to work for it. I alone can perform this ritual."

The guru perceived the arrogance, egotism, and he said, "You are not worthy to be my disciple. The greater the learning, the greater must be the humility. विद्या विनयेन शोभते . The more one obtains knowledge, the humbler he becomes, because the more the curtain is removed, we see how much more—and still more—is there, and in comparison I am nothing."

It is said of Darwin that, "Sir, you have discovered some of the best things." And he said, "No, I am like a person sitting by the side of a sea. Somebody is thirsty, I just give a little bit of water from the sea, but the water is the source, and it is infinite."

=== The Guru's Punishment ===
So the guru, as a punishment for that, he said, "Whatever I have taught, you have learned from me—give it back to me."

Yājñavalkya immediately vomited, as it were, all this knowledge. And then the other disciples assumed the forms of tittiri (partridge birds), and each one could swallow as much as that bird can swallow.

So that is how the science that Yājñavalkya vomited came to be known as '''Taittirīya'''. Tittiri means partridge bird.

But that cannot be the real story. There is no question of vomiting. If you know something, there is no question of giving it back. But you can say, "I won't use it"—like modern patents. If somebody has given you some knowledge, you cannot use it. And then we have that injunction: you cannot sell your Office 365 to anybody. It is only given to you, and you have to—if you want to use it, that is how it is called "owning the software."

=== An Incident from Holy Mother's Life ===
And such a strange situation rarely occurs. But there is an incident in the life of Holy Mother. Once a disciple who temporarily had gone out of his mind—who was initiated by Holy Mother—said, "Here is the mantra. You take the mantra. I don't want your mantra. Take it back."

Holy Mother said, "Alright, write it on a banana leaf and offer it back to me."

But can a mantra be really taken? Then the disciple started weeping, realizing what an enormous mistake he committed. He started sobbing and said, "Mother, what is going to happen to me?"

And Mother said, "My son, whether you discarded me or not, I will never forsake you. You have nothing to fear. I am your mother, and you will always be my child."

So really speaking, some external object can be given back, but knowledge cannot be given back. But we can say: do not use this one, do not teach it to anybody.

=== Version Two: A Gentler Interpretation ===
The other version is much milder and a better version. His teacher asked him: "I am not able to do it. The other disciples, I have asked them to perform a special rite to expiate my sin which I committed in the past. But you will teach them in my stead, because you have learned everything."

So he summarized the whole thing—like nowadays AIs do the summarization, correction, etc.—and he gave them in digestible forms. And that is how they have accepted it, because the tittiri means their capacity to understand is very, very small. That is what we need to understand here.

=== The Mystical Meaning ===
In our physical world, knowledge is abstract. Once you know something, you cannot unknow it. However, in the mystical context of this story, the Veda is seen as a living, potent substance. Therefore, it only means: the more we learn, the humbler we become. We have to contemplate whether we are growing or not growing.

So that part which Yājñavalkya gave up goes by the name of Taittirīya Saṃhitā and belongs to Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda, in black or dark Yajur Veda.

=== Yājñavalkya's Tapasyā ===
Now, as I said, Yājñavalkya turned to Sūrya Deva, praised him. By his grace, the dormant truth, potentiality, became manifest in the form of this marvelous understanding.

So one should be careful of ego. Another meaning of it: that when human teachers are no longer an option—that is, if no teacher is available—sincere seekers can find the truth through direct contemplation of the divine, either in the form of the sun or—by the way, we had only the Sarasvatī Pūjā two days back—praying to Mother Sarasvatī.

And according to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Mahāsāradā is the embodiment of Sarasvatī. She is specially born to give knowledge in a most digestible form. The Gospel of the Holy Mother is the essence of all the Vedas in easily digestible, summary format.

=== The Origin of Vājasaneyī ===
So whenever we read Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, we are reading a part of the Śukla Yajur Veda. That's what we have to understand.

The name of Sūrya in Sanskrit is called '''Vājasani'''. Vāja means food, sani means giver. "Giver of the food" is the meaning. We know well that because of the sun only, life is possible. Life is possible because of food, and all food comes, directly or indirectly, from the sun only. Since the sun gives us food and energy, he is called Vājasani.

Therefore, the disciple of Vājasani is Vājasaniya, and the teaching given by Vājasaniya is called Vājasaneyī. Hence the entire Śukla Yajur Veda is often called Vājasaneya Saṃhitā.

=== Lessons from the Story ===
This story explains there can be a split between the guru and śiṣya, which is most unfortunate. That is why we are studying, praying, with a śānti pāṭha: '''Saha nāv avatu, saha nau bhunaktu'''... '''Mā vidviṣāvahai'''—may we not hate each other.

So there is also a split. That is the first split. Second split is the two main branches of the Yajur Veda. So one Yajur Veda became two Yajur Vedas, going by the names Śukla and Kṛṣṇa. And Vaiśampāyana—that is, Yājñavalkya—was one of the greatest teachers of the Yajur Veda.

The lesson we have to learn: the display of ego and the perceived insult to his fellow students deeply angered the guru. Ego manifested in Yājñavalkya. So it is not good to be disrespectful either to the guru or the other students.

== Structure of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
And this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is divided into three chapters. Each chapter is called a '''kāṇḍa''', and each section is called a '''brāhmaṇa'''. Many Upaniṣads use different names. For example, in Taittirīya Upaniṣad, we have seen vallī: Śikṣā Vallī, Brahmānanda Vallī, Bhṛgu Vallī, etc.

Each chapter has many sections, which are called anuvākas. Here they are called brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇa doesn't mean the caste brāhmaṇa, but it simply means sections within a particular chapter.

=== The Three Kāṇḍas ===
The entire Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is divided, for the sake of convenience, into three parts:

# '''Madhu Kāṇḍa'''
# '''Muni Kāṇḍa''' (also called Yājñavalkya Kāṇḍa)
# '''Khila Kāṇḍa'''

=== Madhu Kāṇḍa: The Teaching of Interconnectedness ===
In the first part, the Madhu Kāṇḍa, the primary teaching is upadeśa of Brahma-jñāna. Therefore it is called Upadeśa Kāṇḍa.

In this world, everything is interconnected—the holistic attitude. All the five elements, the sun and moon, human beings, etc., in this world are completely dependent on one another. Total interdependence is the world. The birds do not exist, we do not exist.

We have seen this one. Especially there was an American writer, and she wrote—I think it is ''Silent Spring'', something like that; I cannot recollect now—and she outlined: people were using DDT. The result of which was birds and worms died. Because worms died, birds died. Because birds died, pollination died. Because pollination died, the trees on both sides of a river, particularly, they all died, and the river overflows and destroys everything. Forests die.

So this is called: everything is connected. So you cannot destroy one thing and then try to keep other things.

=== Holistic Approach in Medicine and Life ===
And this is very well, nowadays, being understood. Āyurveda is a holistic medicine therapy, because it takes the whole—which can, which is supposed to be cured—for a particular health problem, health issue. Whereas the allopathic medicine, it extracts what it identifies as the main counter-agent. But because of the lack of the other components, it produces violent reactions.

Nowadays people are understanding it. That is why Chinese have adopted beautiful methodology. Hindus have adopted, the Muslims have adopted their own system, but it is all holistic therapy.

So everything in this world is dependent upon everything else. Guru is dependent upon the disciple and vice versa. Parents are dependent upon the children and vice versa. And the manufacturers and the customers, and the scientists and the politicians—everyone is completely connected with each other.

=== Pañca Mahā Yajña ===
And this marvelous concept of interdependence has been beautifully brought out in Vedānta in the form of Pañcarṇa, Pañca Mahā Yajña—a beautiful concept. We will briefly discuss about it in our next class.

== Closing Prayer ==
''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti.

'''Jai Ramakrishna!'''
[[Category:Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.1.3 Lecture 15 on 14 March 2026

2026-05-20T21:01:25Z

Sdevi: /* The First Mantra of the Third Section: Devas and Asuras */

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

= Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad: Lecture on the Third Section of the First Chapter =

== Opening Invocation ==
ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.
----

== Review: Progress in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
We have been studying the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. The first chapter itself — we have completed two sections. The first chapter has got six sections, of which two sections have been completed by us.
----

== First Section: Adhyāropa, Apavāda, and the Purpose of Upāsanā ==
In the first section, the beautiful description of what is called Adhyāropa and Apavāda is being given. In order to know that each soul is potentially divine — therefore I am also divine — but at this moment, I think I am not divine. How to attain to that? My own infinite, eternal truth: Satyam, Jñānam, Anantam Brahma.

For that purpose, sādhanas are prescribed. First, the Vedas prescribe rituals and external worship. Gradually, the Vedas introduce part of the external rituals — some of what we call nowadays mental worship, Mānasika Pūjās. The purpose of these Vedas is gradually to wean away small children from these concrete aids and slowly make them turn inward. And so, they very gradually introduce contemplations called Upāsanās. Upāsanās can be part of the external rituals at the beginning, but later on they can be exclusively mental.

So: Karmakāṇḍa, Upāsanākāṇḍa — and which makes the mind fit to enter into the final ascent — which is called Jñānakāṇḍa. That is the process.

Here, let us not forget: Brāhmaṇa means a section. Chapter means Adhyāya; Brāhmaṇa means a section. So, the first section has got only two mantras, wherein is prescribed what we just now were talking about — Upāsanā. The highest type of contemplation: I am not an individual; I am Virāṭ Brahma; I am Hiraṇyagarbha; I am not merely a body-mind complex; I am the entire universe.

For that purpose, in those days, they used to do many types of sacrifices called Yajñas or Yāgas. One of them is called Aśvamedha Yajña. And only — as I mentioned — Kṣatriyas can do them, because it is a very costly ritual. But anyone — everyone — can perform it mentally. And for that purpose, the first two mantras in this first section of the first chapter prescribe Virāṭ Upāsanā.

But we must have some kind of support for that. Like a baby requires a wooden or a wax apple etc.So, a horse is taken. In those days, the horse was as popular as today's car; everybody used to travel, excepting poor people. So, since everybody is familiar with the horse and with all the parts of the horse, now do not look upon the horse as a mere animal. But take each part of the horse as representing one part of the universe. We had discussed that point.
----

== Second Section: Agni Brāhmaṇa and the Origin of Agni ==
Then we came to the second Brāhmaṇa. So, the first section prescribes Aśva Upāsanā as Virāṭ Upāsanā — Aśva is only an ālambana, a support. And the second section deals with Agni Upāsanā, the Agni Brāhmaṇa.

For that purpose, a confusing statement has been made: "How did this Agni — fire — originate?" Here Agni means Virāṭ Agni, not everyday fire, but Agni Devatā. How did this Agni Devatā originate? Because creation is an effect, and every effect must originate. So, the entire creation is looked upon as Agni — Agni Devatā — and this Agni is none other than Virāṭ, or Hiraṇyagarbha, or even Īśvara.

So here it says: before creation " नैवेह किंचनाग्र आसीत्, मृत्युनैवेदमावृतमासीदशनायया, -naiveha kiṃcanāgra āsīt, mṛtyunaivedamāvṛtamāsīdaśanāyayā" that is how the second section starts — a confusing statement — because there was nothing before creation. In order to elucidate, Śaṅkarācārya has taken up an elaborate argument to establish that Brahman is the original cause and that Brahman is invisible and unmanifest. And as far as we are concerned, anything that is unmanifest and invisible is as good as non-existing.
----

== A Note on the Ācāryas ==
For that purpose, our philosophers — Ācāryas — and there is a great difference. We should not call them merely philosophers, because there are so many philosophical professors out there whose lives are, most of the time, bound. They are bound creatures. Whereas these Ācāryas — whether it is Nimbārkācārya, Vallabhācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, or Śaṅkarācārya — they were the greatest spiritual sādhakas who attained illumination and were commanded by God to propagate certain types of philosophical views. Not because everything is absolute — the final truth — but like a child: a teacher teaches a child in one particular way. When the child starts growing up, the same teacher or even different teachers start explaining things in a subtler and higher sense. This is how man is taken from the lowest understanding to the highest understanding.

What is the lowest understanding? I am an individual. I am just a small person. What is the highest understanding? I am everything. Satyam, Jñānam, Anantam — I am the infinite. I am the pure consciousness. And I am the only truth. In order to bring about this understanding, all these Upāsanās, Karmakāṇḍa, Vidhi Niṣedha — everything is prescribed.
----

== The Ghaṭābhāṣyam: Proving Brahman as the Primordial Cause ==
Now, in our experience, we know that everything has an origin. I am the outcome of my parents; they are the outcome of their parents. If you see an ornament, its cause is gold. If you see furniture, its cause is wood. If you see a pot, its cause is clay. Of course, we have to understand this intellectually. We can see the clay; we can see the wood; we can see the gold. But we cannot see the final cause, because it has neither any name, nor any form, nor any utility.

Therefore, it says there are two types of manifestations. I gave the example: if someone comes to you and says, "Do you have butter?" — truthfully, you have to say, "Yes, I have butter." "So, can you lend me some?" "No. Unfortunately, it is there in the milk. I have milk; butter is there." Everybody knows about it, but it has to be brought out. Unbrought-out, unmanifest butter is not useful for transactions. Only the manifest effect is useful for dealing with. Therefore: Vyavahāra — transactional; Avyavahāra — not fit for transactions, non-transactional. Whatever is unmanifest is not fit for transaction. Whatever is manifest alone is fit for transaction.

Now, the second part of the argument: if you see something existing, existence cannot come out of non-existence. In order to prove that, Śaṅkarācārya took up a beautiful intellectual analysis, because there are some rival schools of philosophy that actively deny this. They say: there was nothing; everything has come out of something. "How do you say so, sir? Because your own Upaniṣad, in the second Brāhmaṇa, says — 'naiveha kiṃcanāgra āsīt,' meaning before the creation of the universe, nothing was there, not even a little bit.' So that is the proof: nothing was there. And from where did this effect come out?" For that, they weave a lot of webs, like a spider weaving a web. That is their belief. I don't know that they believe in them, but they are more intellectual than spiritual.

So, for that purpose, Śaṅkarācārya takes the small example of a pot. If you see a pot, there must be clay. Apply it: if you see this universe, there must be an invisible, unmanifest cause. This marvellous commentary is called Ghaṭābhāṣyam — Ghaṭa meaning pot — because this word Ghaṭa, or pot, is used many times over, and therefore somebody else — not Śaṅkarācārya — has named it Ghaṭābhāṣyam.

What was the conclusion? The second section deals with the origin of fire — Agni Sṛṣṭi — and it is created from Hiraṇyagarbha. So, one meditating on this fire as Virāṭ — the physical body of Prajāpati or Hiraṇyagarbha — becomes one with Virāṭ. For that purpose, Upāsanās are prescribed.

What it means is: before the creation, this very universe — of which I, you, and we are all a part of this universe, as i am taking classes, trying to explain, you are trying to listen, understand and make it your own- this is part of the creation. This universe is existed as invisible, because it was unmanifest. Hiraṇyagarbha, or the cosmic mind, just as a pot before it is shaped exists as clay. What is manifestation? That which is not fit for transaction is made to be fit for transaction.

Clay, as pure clay — don't take this too literally, just as an illustration — is practically useless. But the same clay, with some help of an instrument and some intelligence, can be made into very useful objects: small pots, big pots, square pots, round pots, oblong pots. If you look into the household, you will understand: glasses are made — some for drinking water, some for drinking wine. Peculiar types of glasses are made. The glass which can be used to drink water can as well be used for drinking wine, but no — they want something very elegant, very thin, very beautiful looking. So they will be hanging there in a wooden rack upside down. I have seen that. I was shocked — surprised and shocked! But you see, that is the way of the world, and we think it will add to the taste. Nothing adds to the taste. So, whether you drink water or wine, it is nothing but water and wine only. But some people think it adds to the taste.

Like in the costly restaurants: beautiful plates. But sometimes the roadside hotel-wālā can prepare much tastier food than these big hotels. They charge very high for the waiters with immaculate special dress and for the plates in which the food is served, but the food itself may not be that great, actually. Anyway, it is just a small illustration.

So, we make something to suit our daily transaction — that is called a manifest effect. But every effect must have a cause. So, we have seen the Ghaṭābhāṣyam. What is the summary? Everything is Brahman. Everything came out of Brahman.

And there are a few people who say: "We are not intellectuals. We don't want the Ghaṭābhāṣyam. Your very Upaniṣad — the Bṛhadāraṇyaka in this case — tells that there was nothing. And you consider this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, every Upaniṣad, as the supreme authority — straight from the mouth of God, Śruti. So, where is the need? There is nothing. If the Upaniṣad says there is nothing, there is nothing."

We have to understand. "Don't get angry. Don't confuse me." For that, Śaṅkarācārya says: "You are a stupid, idiotic fool. You are only quoting the first line of the mantra. What does the second line of the mantra tell? "मृत्युनैवेदमावृतमासीद -mṛtyunaivedamāvṛtamāsīd " First it tells: nothing was there. Second, what is it telling? This entire universe, which it called nothing, was covered by death. Death means the original cause."

So, what is the logic of this covering? Suppose you say, "I am going to cover this object" — say, a pot. Like children reading comics: the parents want to check, and no one is there. When they open the door suddenly, immediately the boy or girl hides the comic inside the blanket and brings out — they are very expert — the textbook. The parent is very satisfied. Sometimes the parents are also intelligent. How did they become intelligent? Because they were doing the same thing when they were children! So they come and yank out the blanket and find — not one, but plenty of different types of comics. Of course, they know, because they are ridden with guilt: "This is what we had been doing — cheating our parents." So, they have no option now but to cover it up and just pat the child. "Maybe pay attention to your textbooks — examination is coming near."

So, Śaṅkarācārya says: "मृत्युनैवेदमावृतमासीद mṛtyunaivedamāvṛtamāsīd " Mṛtyu means death. That "nothing" which was declared by the same Upaniṣad in the first sentence is actually "covered by death" — covered by the cause. Mṛtyu means cause. Mṛtyu means Hiraṇyagarbha. Mṛtyu means Virāṭ. Mṛtyu means Īśvara. Another meaning of death is "unmanifest." That is why when a person dies, we say he is dead. But according to Hindu philosophy, he is not dead. He just gave up this covering because this dress has become worn out — not useful anymore, because of old age, disease, and lack of energy. So, he will be provided with a new piece of dress for further development, which will be very useful. For cooking, you need one kind of dress; for sports, you need another kind of dress; for attracting somebody, you need another kind of dress or undress, whatever it is.

So, covering requires two existing things: one thing that should be covered, and another thing with which we cover it. A non-existent part cannot be covered by a non-existent cause. What is the conclusion? Both the cause — herein called Mṛtyu or Kāraṇam — and the effect, this universe, existed before the creation. The unimaginable, indescribable Brahman alone existed before creation. That Brahman alone is manifesting as this universe. This is the essence of the Ghaṭābhāṣyam.

So, here ends the second section.
----

== Overview of the Three Upāsanās in the First Chapter ==
Now, we are entering into the third section. As I mentioned earlier, I am not going to go mantra by mantra, but I will definitely give you the very essence of each section, so that even without going through the mantras, we know the very essence of every section of every chapter. If it is just mere description — there are some sections like that — especially in the Khelakaṇḍam, I will indicate that, covering it up very quickly.

So, earlier I mentioned that three types of Upāsanās are mentioned in this first chapter of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. The first was Aśva. The second was Agni. Both of them have to be treated as Virāṭ. The third is Prāṇa — and a marvellous idea is behind it.
----

== Third Section: Prāṇa Upāsanā ==
We are all called Prāṇins. Prāṇī means a living creature. A living creature means there is a body, there is a mind, and there is consciousness. These three in combination are called a living body. It is technically called reflected consciousness — Cidābhāsa. Just like there is a bright light, or the sun shining outside, and the light of that sun is percolating through a small corner of a hole into the room — but a clever person has placed a mirror there, and that mirror is reflecting that entire sunlight, illuminating the whole room, however big it is.

You know, all the electricity, light, and heat come only from our sun. That is why the sun is called Brahmaloka or Ādityaloka. He is called Saguṇa Brahma in every Upaniṣad, practically. That is why every devotee has to pray both standing in front of the rising sun and the setting sun — the famous Gāyatrī Mantra. "May you give me a right understanding. In fact, may you use me as your own instrument." Dhiyo Yonaḥ Pracodayāt — literally, "Drive me, because I do not understand. I don't know the past. I don't know the future. And when I don't know the past and future, the present also is complete ignorance only."

So, the third section is called Prāṇa Upāsanā — contemplation on the Prāṇa. Without Prāṇa, there would be no life. If I am able to speak in this class, if you are able to listen in this class, it is all because of the Prāṇa. Just imagine your Prāṇa has become exhausted and very weak — immediately you feel like lying down and restoring the energy by taking rest, and that happens automatically. But sometimes, when you have rested enough, you are full of enthusiasm and full of life: "I want to do something." And that "doing" means the manifestation of energy — that is called the manifestation of Prāṇa.

That Prāṇa comes to us in the form of food. Food is nothing but Prāṇa. And the digestion of food means converting that food back. The sun's energy becomes gross — for people like us — and comes to us in the form of food. And we have to reconvert that food back by digesting it properly — that is called energy. Whether it is physical or intellectual, both require energy, and tremendous energy, depending upon how much we are doing it. Even a donkey requires a tremendous amount of energy for carrying such a huge burden.

So, the Prāṇa Upāsanā — these are all Upāsanās meant to tell us: we are dependent upon the Virāṭ; we are part of the Virāṭ; we are manifestations of the Virāṭ.
----

== A Note on Synonymous Terms for Saguṇa Brahma ==
Many times when I am speaking, I use these words: Virāṭ, Hiraṇyagarbha, Mahat, Prajāpati, as well as Āditya — the Sun — and Īśvara and Saguṇa Brahma. You have to understand these synonymously; these are all synonymous words. Even though a slight distinction is made, they are all one and the same — Saguṇa Brahma. We can only think of God with attributes. Without that, it is not possible to know about Him, to think about Him, or to describe Him. It is not possible.
----

== The First Mantra of the Third Section: Devas and Asuras ==
So, just let me introduce. The very first mantra in this section says that

द्वया ह प्राजापत्याः, देवाश्चासुराश्च । ततः कानीयसा एव देवाः, ज्यायसा असुराः; त एषु

लोकेष्वस्पर्धन्त; ते ह देवा ऊचुः, हन्तासुरान्यज्ञ उद्गीथेनात्ययामेति ॥ १ ॥

dvayā ha prājāpatyāḥ, devāścāsurāśca | tataḥ kānīyasā eva devāḥ, jyāyasā asurāḥ; ta eṣu

lokeṣvaspardhanta; te ha devā ūcuḥ, hantāsurānyajña udgīthenātyayāmeti || 1 || —what it really means is the very first creation —Brahma has given birth to both the gods and the demons.

What we have to understand: gods means those who are endowed with good qualities, and Asura means those who are endowed with the opposite, or in the words of this particular third section. Some are born with selfishness, and some are endowed — very rarely — with unselfishness. And unselfishness is preferred. Only unselfish people will really attain the highest happiness. So, the equation is: selfishness and unhappiness are one and the same; unselfishness and happiness are one and the same.

Many times I have given you the example — I will give you just two. I want to make the essence of these Upaniṣads as crystal clear as possible.

Suppose there is a mother, and let us imagine she has got four or five children. She bestows — if she is an ideal mother — she bestows her attention equally upon everybody. Not only that: a mother pays more attention to a sick child rather than to a healthy child. Why does she do it? Not because her love for the sick child is greater than for the healthy child — no. She wants to make the sick child healthy so that he requires less attention.

Similarly, when we are doing sādhana, it requires a tremendous amount of effort to become unselfish. But selfishness is so natural — we can just let ourselves go. Like climbing down a hill: with great speed we can fall down. But to climb up, it requires tremendous energy, effort, persistence, willpower, and above all, complete faith: "If I can reach the top, then my joy will be proportionate, unequalled." That kind of conviction should be there.
----

== The Story of Devas and Asuras: The Struggle for Mastery ==
So, what it really means is the very first mantra, the plain translation of the verses: there are many mantras there. In fact, there are 28 mantras in this section. So I am not going to recite them, because neither I remember them nor you. It is not necessary. We want to come to the gist of this third section.

Because we have already seen: the gist of the first section is that you must strive to become universal by giving up the individual. The second is Agni Upāsanā. And taking that as a cue: there is this universe, and it is called an effect; every effect must have a cause; and the final, ultimate cause is Brahman. That is why the same idea is expressed in Swami Vivekānanda's language. As Swami Vivekānanda says, "Each soul is potentially divine." Why? Because we are divine. In the eyes of God, a mother knows: "These are my children." But then we have to recognise: "This is my mother, and she loves us. We have come from her. We must identify with her." That is called getting rid of the debt. If I consider my own parents as myself — just as instinctively, unthinkingly, we all serve ourselves — we do the same thing when we identify with our parents. And that process should not stop there. It should extend to the entire creation. That is called spiritual progress.

Now, let me first read out the translation, and then a little bit of explanation.

There were two classes of Prajāpati's sons. Prajāpati here means Saguṇa Brahma. Why Saguṇa Brahma? Because according to Advaita Vedānta, we cannot talk about Sṛṣṭi from Brahman. Even though we are using that word, finally it is Brahman. But really, the visible Brahman is called Saguṇa Brahma — Brahman with attributes. And just as we can see our parents and our grandparents but beyond that we cannot see — so it is Saguṇa Brahma alone we know. Prajāpati means Saguṇa Brahma, Hiraṇyagarbha, Virāṭ — whatever name you choose, it doesn't matter.

So, Prajāpati had two types of sons: the gods — the Devas — and the demons — the Asuras — naturally. So beautifully, the Upaniṣad recognises: the gods were only few, but the demons are many.

And then what is the problem? It is a fight between the good and the evil. What is life? It is a fight between the good and the evil. A life and death. A happiness and unhappiness. Everything is a Yuddha — a Kurukṣetra Yuddha — between the good and evil. Until we cross over the Māyā, it is a Kurukṣetra war between the selfish and the unselfish. And ultimately, unselfishness-"Satyameva Jayate". And then our struggle will be over. Like Vidyāmāyā has to conquer the Avidyāmāyā. And as soon as we become identified with Vidyāmāyā — right knowledge — we know who we are, and all struggles end, because there is no evil at all. Until that time, we perceive evil, thinking it as real — that is the real Māyā.

So, there were two classes of Prajāpati's sons: the gods and the demons. Naturally, the gods were very few — that means the unselfish people are very few; that means the spiritual people are very few. And the others are many. And then they struggled with one another for mastery of these worlds. What does the selfish person want? "I want to be the master of the whole world, as much as possible." What does the unselfish person say? "There is no need for any fight, because I am everything."

Now, you remember this story of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa: when his disciples forced him to pray to the Divine Mother to let a little food go inside. Food gives energy; energy gives strength to struggle with the disease; maybe he could even overcome it. Even though Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa knew it, but to teach his disciples a lesson, he went into Samādhi. After some time, he came back and said, "You see, I am ashamed to tell you. When I prayed, 'Let a little bit of food go through this' — my Mother showed me: 'Are you not eating through all these mouths?'"

And that is how a spiritually advanced person, like the loving mother — even if she is deprived of good things — her happiness will be a hundredfold when she watches joyfully how her children are enjoying. Suppose a mother has cooked a dish. Just imagine: the quantity is very less, but it has come out extraordinarily tasty. And her children were asking again and again: "Give me a second helping; give me a third helping." And the mother's joy was increasing because the children were enjoying so much. It is rarely that the children appreciate their mother's cooking. So anyway, this is the example. Every unselfish person derives tremendous joy.

So now we have to understand: higher joy and unselfishness are one and the same, and more suffering and selfishness are the same. If by God's grace we can understand this, we would have advanced in spiritual life a great lot.

So naturally, the demons are more powerful — that means by nature we are more selfish. Therefore, being overwhelmed by the demons, the gods said: "Well, let us overcome the demons at the sacrifice called Jyotiṣṭoma, by means of singing praises of God called Udgītha." Gīta means to sing; Ud means loudly. "Let us loudly chant."
----

== The Organs as Gods and Demons ==
So, this third section — consisting of 28 verses — describes the origin of the gods and demons. Both are called children of Prajāpati, because we are all children of the same Brahman — Saguṇa Brahma — and his organs. When the organs — that is to say, our five sense organs of knowledge, five organs of action, and the mind — these eleven, when they act in a righteous manner, they are called gods. When they act in the opposite manner, they are called demons.

According to another Upaniṣad which we also covered — the Aitareya Upaniṣad — Prajāpati first projected out of himself the various physical planes. Next, wishing to create their protectors or guardians, he created from the five elements a cosmic person — Virāṭ — in the shape of an egg. Soon after, the different organs separated out of the egg. A tremendous description of this Sṛṣṭi has started, but I don't want to go into that.

The main essence of this section is: how can we really understand the essence of this third section? So what happened? These organs started fighting. There is a small story invented by the Upaniṣad, and it is a marvelous story — very well known. So let me narrate it to you in as simple a manner as possible.

So, there was this unforeseen — what is called invisible fight — always between selfishness and unselfishness, which is indicated by the fight between the Devas and the Asuras. That is why the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā is very aptly named Daivāsura Sampat — Sampat meaning treasure or wealth — of both the gods and the demons. Starting first with the treasure of the Gods:

Abhayaṃ Sattvasaṃśuddhiḥ Jñānayogavyavasthitiḥ, Dānam Damasya Yajñasya Svādhyāyas Tapa Ārjavam — wonderful qualities have been described. Please go back to my explanation of the 16th chapter, which is available online.

So these organs are really inert, but then consciousness first reflects in the mind, and these organs borrow that consciousness from the mind. Or in other words, it is the mind alone which, after borrowing the reflected consciousness called Cidābhāsa — as if "I am consciousness" — fails, and it divides itself into ten parts: five organs of input — knowledge — and five organs of output. Whenever we get knowledge, we also require how to use that knowledge.

That is why somebody creates a tremendous wave of AI — Artificial Intelligence — and immediately there are people showing how to put it to use, posting their understanding on YouTube: how to create an image, how to rewrite your writings, how to correct your essays, how to transcribe your talks. Plenty of uses: prediction of the future, financial status, even how to aid the doctors. All these things we are seeing now are absolutely nothing compared to what is to come. I can tell you, within the next year or two, every PC will be equipped with tremendous power of this AI, by which you yourself can understand a lot of things — things are made very easy by that. Anyway.
----

== The Contest of the Organs: The Fable of Prāṇa ==
So, here the story goes: both the Devas and Asuras — gods and demons — want to control. As mentioned earlier, the gods are very few and they are weak, and the demons are plenty and united. That is the beauty of it. These fellows — the gods — go on quarrelling with each other; they cannot tolerate each other. But the demons understand the psychology very well: "Divided, we will be defeated. United, we can defeat anybody, anything." So, like some religions — whether rational or irrational — they become united.

Now, coming back: the Devas wanted victory. What was their strategy? "There are certain mantras. If we can chant them together — that is called Udgītha — then we can get sufficient strength to overcome these demons."

But the organs, as I just now said, cannot unite. They started quarrelling. The eye, the ear, the nose — the nostril — and the skin, and the tongue: five organs of knowledge. They can never unite. So then they said: "I am great, I am great, I am great." How do you know you are great? So they decided on a test. What is the test? One organ takes leave for one year, goes away from this body, and if life goes on as usual, that means that organ is not important. But if, without that organ, life becomes impossible, then that organ is really the most important organ.

So the eye said, "Let me see how you can live without me." So it went, took leave — and gleefully thinking within itself, "Without me, nobody can see, and they will fall victim." And it was shocked after returning, after one year, that life was going on very well, quite well. Then it asked, "How could you live without me?" Then they all said: "Yes, there was some defect. So we could not be as effective as when you were here. But then, with some small inconvenience — there are blind people, and they are living quite well. Some of them have extraordinarily great talents: singers, players, writers, poets — of course saints also, like Sūradāsa." So anyway, life was going on.

So the story goes: the years went by. Śrotrendriya — first Netrendriya, then Śrotrendriya, the ears — same story. "How did you live without me?" "Well, it was a bit inconvenient, but then we found out other ways and have come up to live happily."
----

== The Primacy of Prāṇa ==
And then finally, the time of the Prāṇa came — the Mukhya Prāṇa. So that Prāṇa said, "I am important. Oh, let us see." When it was about to take leave — as if huge trees were being uprooted to the very last bit of that with which they were sticking — then they understood. Without Prāṇa, the eye cannot function; the ears cannot function; the tongue cannot function; the nostrils cannot function; the skin cannot function. A dead body cannot function at all. Prāṇa is most important.

So this is the story. And then, that is why: Prāṇa Devatā. Without Prāṇa, creation is meaningless. Who is to recognise there is a creation? Who is to take classes? Who is to listen to classes? Who is to strive? Who is even to understand whether I am selfish or unselfish? Without Prāṇa — the Buddhi, the intellect, and the power of understanding — nothing functions.

So: Prāṇa Upāsanā. Prāṇa is Brahman. Brahman is pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is manifesting in the form of Prāṇa, lending itself to the entire personality; and that personality's main part is the mind, and this Prāṇa reflects in that mind in the form of Cidābhāsa. It is the Prāṇa only — consciousness as Prāṇa, Prāṇa as this Cidābhāsa — and then the mind thinks, "I am." The very existence of the mind and the existence of every other organ are deeply related to this. This is why Prāṇa Upāsanā is so very important, and there are a few very interesting points out there. We will talk about them 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!'''
[[Category:Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.1.3 Lecture 15 on 14 March 2026

2026-05-20T21:00:31Z

Sdevi: /* Opening Invocation */

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

= Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad: Lecture on the Third Section of the First Chapter =

== Opening Invocation ==
ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.
----

== Review: Progress in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
We have been studying the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. The first chapter itself — we have completed two sections. The first chapter has got six sections, of which two sections have been completed by us.
----

== First Section: Adhyāropa, Apavāda, and the Purpose of Upāsanā ==
In the first section, the beautiful description of what is called Adhyāropa and Apavāda is being given. In order to know that each soul is potentially divine — therefore I am also divine — but at this moment, I think I am not divine. How to attain to that? My own infinite, eternal truth: Satyam, Jñānam, Anantam Brahma.

For that purpose, sādhanas are prescribed. First, the Vedas prescribe rituals and external worship. Gradually, the Vedas introduce part of the external rituals — some of what we call nowadays mental worship, Mānasika Pūjās. The purpose of these Vedas is gradually to wean away small children from these concrete aids and slowly make them turn inward. And so, they very gradually introduce contemplations called Upāsanās. Upāsanās can be part of the external rituals at the beginning, but later on they can be exclusively mental.

So: Karmakāṇḍa, Upāsanākāṇḍa — and which makes the mind fit to enter into the final ascent — which is called Jñānakāṇḍa. That is the process.

Here, let us not forget: Brāhmaṇa means a section. Chapter means Adhyāya; Brāhmaṇa means a section. So, the first section has got only two mantras, wherein is prescribed what we just now were talking about — Upāsanā. The highest type of contemplation: I am not an individual; I am Virāṭ Brahma; I am Hiraṇyagarbha; I am not merely a body-mind complex; I am the entire universe.

For that purpose, in those days, they used to do many types of sacrifices called Yajñas or Yāgas. One of them is called Aśvamedha Yajña. And only — as I mentioned — Kṣatriyas can do them, because it is a very costly ritual. But anyone — everyone — can perform it mentally. And for that purpose, the first two mantras in this first section of the first chapter prescribe Virāṭ Upāsanā.

But we must have some kind of support for that. Like a baby requires a wooden or a wax apple etc.So, a horse is taken. In those days, the horse was as popular as today's car; everybody used to travel, excepting poor people. So, since everybody is familiar with the horse and with all the parts of the horse, now do not look upon the horse as a mere animal. But take each part of the horse as representing one part of the universe. We had discussed that point.
----

== Second Section: Agni Brāhmaṇa and the Origin of Agni ==
Then we came to the second Brāhmaṇa. So, the first section prescribes Aśva Upāsanā as Virāṭ Upāsanā — Aśva is only an ālambana, a support. And the second section deals with Agni Upāsanā, the Agni Brāhmaṇa.

For that purpose, a confusing statement has been made: "How did this Agni — fire — originate?" Here Agni means Virāṭ Agni, not everyday fire, but Agni Devatā. How did this Agni Devatā originate? Because creation is an effect, and every effect must originate. So, the entire creation is looked upon as Agni — Agni Devatā — and this Agni is none other than Virāṭ, or Hiraṇyagarbha, or even Īśvara.

So here it says: before creation " नैवेह किंचनाग्र आसीत्, मृत्युनैवेदमावृतमासीदशनायया, -naiveha kiṃcanāgra āsīt, mṛtyunaivedamāvṛtamāsīdaśanāyayā" that is how the second section starts — a confusing statement — because there was nothing before creation. In order to elucidate, Śaṅkarācārya has taken up an elaborate argument to establish that Brahman is the original cause and that Brahman is invisible and unmanifest. And as far as we are concerned, anything that is unmanifest and invisible is as good as non-existing.
----

== A Note on the Ācāryas ==
For that purpose, our philosophers — Ācāryas — and there is a great difference. We should not call them merely philosophers, because there are so many philosophical professors out there whose lives are, most of the time, bound. They are bound creatures. Whereas these Ācāryas — whether it is Nimbārkācārya, Vallabhācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, or Śaṅkarācārya — they were the greatest spiritual sādhakas who attained illumination and were commanded by God to propagate certain types of philosophical views. Not because everything is absolute — the final truth — but like a child: a teacher teaches a child in one particular way. When the child starts growing up, the same teacher or even different teachers start explaining things in a subtler and higher sense. This is how man is taken from the lowest understanding to the highest understanding.

What is the lowest understanding? I am an individual. I am just a small person. What is the highest understanding? I am everything. Satyam, Jñānam, Anantam — I am the infinite. I am the pure consciousness. And I am the only truth. In order to bring about this understanding, all these Upāsanās, Karmakāṇḍa, Vidhi Niṣedha — everything is prescribed.
----

== The Ghaṭābhāṣyam: Proving Brahman as the Primordial Cause ==
Now, in our experience, we know that everything has an origin. I am the outcome of my parents; they are the outcome of their parents. If you see an ornament, its cause is gold. If you see furniture, its cause is wood. If you see a pot, its cause is clay. Of course, we have to understand this intellectually. We can see the clay; we can see the wood; we can see the gold. But we cannot see the final cause, because it has neither any name, nor any form, nor any utility.

Therefore, it says there are two types of manifestations. I gave the example: if someone comes to you and says, "Do you have butter?" — truthfully, you have to say, "Yes, I have butter." "So, can you lend me some?" "No. Unfortunately, it is there in the milk. I have milk; butter is there." Everybody knows about it, but it has to be brought out. Unbrought-out, unmanifest butter is not useful for transactions. Only the manifest effect is useful for dealing with. Therefore: Vyavahāra — transactional; Avyavahāra — not fit for transactions, non-transactional. Whatever is unmanifest is not fit for transaction. Whatever is manifest alone is fit for transaction.

Now, the second part of the argument: if you see something existing, existence cannot come out of non-existence. In order to prove that, Śaṅkarācārya took up a beautiful intellectual analysis, because there are some rival schools of philosophy that actively deny this. They say: there was nothing; everything has come out of something. "How do you say so, sir? Because your own Upaniṣad, in the second Brāhmaṇa, says — 'naiveha kiṃcanāgra āsīt,' meaning before the creation of the universe, nothing was there, not even a little bit.' So that is the proof: nothing was there. And from where did this effect come out?" For that, they weave a lot of webs, like a spider weaving a web. That is their belief. I don't know that they believe in them, but they are more intellectual than spiritual.

So, for that purpose, Śaṅkarācārya takes the small example of a pot. If you see a pot, there must be clay. Apply it: if you see this universe, there must be an invisible, unmanifest cause. This marvellous commentary is called Ghaṭābhāṣyam — Ghaṭa meaning pot — because this word Ghaṭa, or pot, is used many times over, and therefore somebody else — not Śaṅkarācārya — has named it Ghaṭābhāṣyam.

What was the conclusion? The second section deals with the origin of fire — Agni Sṛṣṭi — and it is created from Hiraṇyagarbha. So, one meditating on this fire as Virāṭ — the physical body of Prajāpati or Hiraṇyagarbha — becomes one with Virāṭ. For that purpose, Upāsanās are prescribed.

What it means is: before the creation, this very universe — of which I, you, and we are all a part of this universe, as i am taking classes, trying to explain, you are trying to listen, understand and make it your own- this is part of the creation. This universe is existed as invisible, because it was unmanifest. Hiraṇyagarbha, or the cosmic mind, just as a pot before it is shaped exists as clay. What is manifestation? That which is not fit for transaction is made to be fit for transaction.

Clay, as pure clay — don't take this too literally, just as an illustration — is practically useless. But the same clay, with some help of an instrument and some intelligence, can be made into very useful objects: small pots, big pots, square pots, round pots, oblong pots. If you look into the household, you will understand: glasses are made — some for drinking water, some for drinking wine. Peculiar types of glasses are made. The glass which can be used to drink water can as well be used for drinking wine, but no — they want something very elegant, very thin, very beautiful looking. So they will be hanging there in a wooden rack upside down. I have seen that. I was shocked — surprised and shocked! But you see, that is the way of the world, and we think it will add to the taste. Nothing adds to the taste. So, whether you drink water or wine, it is nothing but water and wine only. But some people think it adds to the taste.

Like in the costly restaurants: beautiful plates. But sometimes the roadside hotel-wālā can prepare much tastier food than these big hotels. They charge very high for the waiters with immaculate special dress and for the plates in which the food is served, but the food itself may not be that great, actually. Anyway, it is just a small illustration.

So, we make something to suit our daily transaction — that is called a manifest effect. But every effect must have a cause. So, we have seen the Ghaṭābhāṣyam. What is the summary? Everything is Brahman. Everything came out of Brahman.

And there are a few people who say: "We are not intellectuals. We don't want the Ghaṭābhāṣyam. Your very Upaniṣad — the Bṛhadāraṇyaka in this case — tells that there was nothing. And you consider this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, every Upaniṣad, as the supreme authority — straight from the mouth of God, Śruti. So, where is the need? There is nothing. If the Upaniṣad says there is nothing, there is nothing."

We have to understand. "Don't get angry. Don't confuse me." For that, Śaṅkarācārya says: "You are a stupid, idiotic fool. You are only quoting the first line of the mantra. What does the second line of the mantra tell? "मृत्युनैवेदमावृतमासीद -mṛtyunaivedamāvṛtamāsīd " First it tells: nothing was there. Second, what is it telling? This entire universe, which it called nothing, was covered by death. Death means the original cause."

So, what is the logic of this covering? Suppose you say, "I am going to cover this object" — say, a pot. Like children reading comics: the parents want to check, and no one is there. When they open the door suddenly, immediately the boy or girl hides the comic inside the blanket and brings out — they are very expert — the textbook. The parent is very satisfied. Sometimes the parents are also intelligent. How did they become intelligent? Because they were doing the same thing when they were children! So they come and yank out the blanket and find — not one, but plenty of different types of comics. Of course, they know, because they are ridden with guilt: "This is what we had been doing — cheating our parents." So, they have no option now but to cover it up and just pat the child. "Maybe pay attention to your textbooks — examination is coming near."

So, Śaṅkarācārya says: "मृत्युनैवेदमावृतमासीद mṛtyunaivedamāvṛtamāsīd " Mṛtyu means death. That "nothing" which was declared by the same Upaniṣad in the first sentence is actually "covered by death" — covered by the cause. Mṛtyu means cause. Mṛtyu means Hiraṇyagarbha. Mṛtyu means Virāṭ. Mṛtyu means Īśvara. Another meaning of death is "unmanifest." That is why when a person dies, we say he is dead. But according to Hindu philosophy, he is not dead. He just gave up this covering because this dress has become worn out — not useful anymore, because of old age, disease, and lack of energy. So, he will be provided with a new piece of dress for further development, which will be very useful. For cooking, you need one kind of dress; for sports, you need another kind of dress; for attracting somebody, you need another kind of dress or undress, whatever it is.

So, covering requires two existing things: one thing that should be covered, and another thing with which we cover it. A non-existent part cannot be covered by a non-existent cause. What is the conclusion? Both the cause — herein called Mṛtyu or Kāraṇam — and the effect, this universe, existed before the creation. The unimaginable, indescribable Brahman alone existed before creation. That Brahman alone is manifesting as this universe. This is the essence of the Ghaṭābhāṣyam.

So, here ends the second section.
----

== Overview of the Three Upāsanās in the First Chapter ==
Now, we are entering into the third section. As I mentioned earlier, I am not going to go mantra by mantra, but I will definitely give you the very essence of each section, so that even without going through the mantras, we know the very essence of every section of every chapter. If it is just mere description — there are some sections like that — especially in the Khelakaṇḍam, I will indicate that, covering it up very quickly.

So, earlier I mentioned that three types of Upāsanās are mentioned in this first chapter of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. The first was Aśva. The second was Agni. Both of them have to be treated as Virāṭ. The third is Prāṇa — and a marvellous idea is behind it.
----

== Third Section: Prāṇa Upāsanā ==
We are all called Prāṇins. Prāṇī means a living creature. A living creature means there is a body, there is a mind, and there is consciousness. These three in combination are called a living body. It is technically called reflected consciousness — Cidābhāsa. Just like there is a bright light, or the sun shining outside, and the light of that sun is percolating through a small corner of a hole into the room — but a clever person has placed a mirror there, and that mirror is reflecting that entire sunlight, illuminating the whole room, however big it is.

You know, all the electricity, light, and heat come only from our sun. That is why the sun is called Brahmaloka or Ādityaloka. He is called Saguṇa Brahma in every Upaniṣad, practically. That is why every devotee has to pray both standing in front of the rising sun and the setting sun — the famous Gāyatrī Mantra. "May you give me a right understanding. In fact, may you use me as your own instrument." Dhiyo Yonaḥ Pracodayāt — literally, "Drive me, because I do not understand. I don't know the past. I don't know the future. And when I don't know the past and future, the present also is complete ignorance only."

So, the third section is called Prāṇa Upāsanā — contemplation on the Prāṇa. Without Prāṇa, there would be no life. If I am able to speak in this class, if you are able to listen in this class, it is all because of the Prāṇa. Just imagine your Prāṇa has become exhausted and very weak — immediately you feel like lying down and restoring the energy by taking rest, and that happens automatically. But sometimes, when you have rested enough, you are full of enthusiasm and full of life: "I want to do something." And that "doing" means the manifestation of energy — that is called the manifestation of Prāṇa.

That Prāṇa comes to us in the form of food. Food is nothing but Prāṇa. And the digestion of food means converting that food back. The sun's energy becomes gross — for people like us — and comes to us in the form of food. And we have to reconvert that food back by digesting it properly — that is called energy. Whether it is physical or intellectual, both require energy, and tremendous energy, depending upon how much we are doing it. Even a donkey requires a tremendous amount of energy for carrying such a huge burden.

So, the Prāṇa Upāsanā — these are all Upāsanās meant to tell us: we are dependent upon the Virāṭ; we are part of the Virāṭ; we are manifestations of the Virāṭ.
----

== A Note on Synonymous Terms for Saguṇa Brahma ==
Many times when I am speaking, I use these words: Virāṭ, Hiraṇyagarbha, Mahat, Prajāpati, as well as Āditya — the Sun — and Īśvara and Saguṇa Brahma. You have to understand these synonymously; these are all synonymous words. Even though a slight distinction is made, they are all one and the same — Saguṇa Brahma. We can only think of God with attributes. Without that, it is not possible to know about Him, to think about Him, or to describe Him. It is not possible.
----

== The First Mantra of the Third Section: Devas and Asuras ==
So, just let me introduce. The very first mantra in this section says that द्वया ह प्राजापत्याः, देवाश्चासुराश्च । ततः कानीयसा एव देवाः, ज्यायसा असुराः; त एषु

लोकेष्वस्पर्धन्त; ते ह देवा ऊचुः, हन्तासुरान्यज्ञ उद्गीथेनात्ययामेति ॥ १ ॥

dvayā ha prājāpatyāḥ, devāścāsurāśca | tataḥ kānīyasā eva devāḥ, jyāyasā asurāḥ; ta eṣu

lokeṣvaspardhanta; te ha devā ūcuḥ, hantāsurānyajña udgīthenātyayāmeti || 1 || —what it really means is the very first creation —Brahma has given birth to both the gods and the demons.

What we have to understand: gods means those who are endowed with good qualities, and Asura means those who are endowed with the opposite, or in the words of this particular third section. Some are born with selfishness, and some are endowed — very rarely — with unselfishness. And unselfishness is preferred. Only unselfish people will really attain the highest happiness. So, the equation is: selfishness and unhappiness are one and the same; unselfishness and happiness are one and the same.

Many times I have given you the example — I will give you just two. I want to make the essence of these Upaniṣads as crystal clear as possible.

Suppose there is a mother, and let us imagine she has got four or five children. She bestows — if she is an ideal mother — she bestows her attention equally upon everybody. Not only that: a mother pays more attention to a sick child rather than to a healthy child. Why does she do it? Not because her love for the sick child is greater than for the healthy child — no. She wants to make the sick child healthy so that he requires less attention.

Similarly, when we are doing sādhana, it requires a tremendous amount of effort to become unselfish. But selfishness is so natural — we can just let ourselves go. Like climbing down a hill: with great speed we can fall down. But to climb up, it requires tremendous energy, effort, persistence, willpower, and above all, complete faith: "If I can reach the top, then my joy will be proportionate, unequalled." That kind of conviction should be there.
----

== The Story of Devas and Asuras: The Struggle for Mastery ==
So, what it really means is the very first mantra, the plain translation of the verses: there are many mantras there. In fact, there are 28 mantras in this section. So I am not going to recite them, because neither I remember them nor you. It is not necessary. We want to come to the gist of this third section.

Because we have already seen: the gist of the first section is that you must strive to become universal by giving up the individual. The second is Agni Upāsanā. And taking that as a cue: there is this universe, and it is called an effect; every effect must have a cause; and the final, ultimate cause is Brahman. That is why the same idea is expressed in Swami Vivekānanda's language. As Swami Vivekānanda says, "Each soul is potentially divine." Why? Because we are divine. In the eyes of God, a mother knows: "These are my children." But then we have to recognise: "This is my mother, and she loves us. We have come from her. We must identify with her." That is called getting rid of the debt. If I consider my own parents as myself — just as instinctively, unthinkingly, we all serve ourselves — we do the same thing when we identify with our parents. And that process should not stop there. It should extend to the entire creation. That is called spiritual progress.

Now, let me first read out the translation, and then a little bit of explanation.

There were two classes of Prajāpati's sons. Prajāpati here means Saguṇa Brahma. Why Saguṇa Brahma? Because according to Advaita Vedānta, we cannot talk about Sṛṣṭi from Brahman. Even though we are using that word, finally it is Brahman. But really, the visible Brahman is called Saguṇa Brahma — Brahman with attributes. And just as we can see our parents and our grandparents but beyond that we cannot see — so it is Saguṇa Brahma alone we know. Prajāpati means Saguṇa Brahma, Hiraṇyagarbha, Virāṭ — whatever name you choose, it doesn't matter.

So, Prajāpati had two types of sons: the gods — the Devas — and the demons — the Asuras — naturally. So beautifully, the Upaniṣad recognises: the gods were only few, but the demons are many.

And then what is the problem? It is a fight between the good and the evil. What is life? It is a fight between the good and the evil. A life and death. A happiness and unhappiness. Everything is a Yuddha — a Kurukṣetra Yuddha — between the good and evil. Until we cross over the Māyā, it is a Kurukṣetra war between the selfish and the unselfish. And ultimately, unselfishness-"Satyameva Jayate". And then our struggle will be over. Like Vidyāmāyā has to conquer the Avidyāmāyā. And as soon as we become identified with Vidyāmāyā — right knowledge — we know who we are, and all struggles end, because there is no evil at all. Until that time, we perceive evil, thinking it as real — that is the real Māyā.

So, there were two classes of Prajāpati's sons: the gods and the demons. Naturally, the gods were very few — that means the unselfish people are very few; that means the spiritual people are very few. And the others are many. And then they struggled with one another for mastery of these worlds. What does the selfish person want? "I want to be the master of the whole world, as much as possible." What does the unselfish person say? "There is no need for any fight, because I am everything."

Now, you remember this story of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa: when his disciples forced him to pray to the Divine Mother to let a little food go inside. Food gives energy; energy gives strength to struggle with the disease; maybe he could even overcome it. Even though Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa knew it, but to teach his disciples a lesson, he went into Samādhi. After some time, he came back and said, "You see, I am ashamed to tell you. When I prayed, 'Let a little bit of food go through this' — my Mother showed me: 'Are you not eating through all these mouths?'"

And that is how a spiritually advanced person, like the loving mother — even if she is deprived of good things — her happiness will be a hundredfold when she watches joyfully how her children are enjoying. Suppose a mother has cooked a dish. Just imagine: the quantity is very less, but it has come out extraordinarily tasty. And her children were asking again and again: "Give me a second helping; give me a third helping." And the mother's joy was increasing because the children were enjoying so much. It is rarely that the children appreciate their mother's cooking. So anyway, this is the example. Every unselfish person derives tremendous joy.

So now we have to understand: higher joy and unselfishness are one and the same, and more suffering and selfishness are the same. If by God's grace we can understand this, we would have advanced in spiritual life a great lot.

So naturally, the demons are more powerful — that means by nature we are more selfish. Therefore, being overwhelmed by the demons, the gods said: "Well, let us overcome the demons at the sacrifice called Jyotiṣṭoma, by means of singing praises of God called Udgītha." Gīta means to sing; Ud means loudly. "Let us loudly chant."
----

== The Organs as Gods and Demons ==
So, this third section — consisting of 28 verses — describes the origin of the gods and demons. Both are called children of Prajāpati, because we are all children of the same Brahman — Saguṇa Brahma — and his organs. When the organs — that is to say, our five sense organs of knowledge, five organs of action, and the mind — these eleven, when they act in a righteous manner, they are called gods. When they act in the opposite manner, they are called demons.

According to another Upaniṣad which we also covered — the Aitareya Upaniṣad — Prajāpati first projected out of himself the various physical planes. Next, wishing to create their protectors or guardians, he created from the five elements a cosmic person — Virāṭ — in the shape of an egg. Soon after, the different organs separated out of the egg. A tremendous description of this Sṛṣṭi has started, but I don't want to go into that.

The main essence of this section is: how can we really understand the essence of this third section? So what happened? These organs started fighting. There is a small story invented by the Upaniṣad, and it is a marvelous story — very well known. So let me narrate it to you in as simple a manner as possible.

So, there was this unforeseen — what is called invisible fight — always between selfishness and unselfishness, which is indicated by the fight between the Devas and the Asuras. That is why the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā is very aptly named Daivāsura Sampat — Sampat meaning treasure or wealth — of both the gods and the demons. Starting first with the treasure of the Gods:

Abhayaṃ Sattvasaṃśuddhiḥ Jñānayogavyavasthitiḥ, Dānam Damasya Yajñasya Svādhyāyas Tapa Ārjavam — wonderful qualities have been described. Please go back to my explanation of the 16th chapter, which is available online.

So these organs are really inert, but then consciousness first reflects in the mind, and these organs borrow that consciousness from the mind. Or in other words, it is the mind alone which, after borrowing the reflected consciousness called Cidābhāsa — as if "I am consciousness" — fails, and it divides itself into ten parts: five organs of input — knowledge — and five organs of output. Whenever we get knowledge, we also require how to use that knowledge.

That is why somebody creates a tremendous wave of AI — Artificial Intelligence — and immediately there are people showing how to put it to use, posting their understanding on YouTube: how to create an image, how to rewrite your writings, how to correct your essays, how to transcribe your talks. Plenty of uses: prediction of the future, financial status, even how to aid the doctors. All these things we are seeing now are absolutely nothing compared to what is to come. I can tell you, within the next year or two, every PC will be equipped with tremendous power of this AI, by which you yourself can understand a lot of things — things are made very easy by that. Anyway.
----

== The Contest of the Organs: The Fable of Prāṇa ==
So, here the story goes: both the Devas and Asuras — gods and demons — want to control. As mentioned earlier, the gods are very few and they are weak, and the demons are plenty and united. That is the beauty of it. These fellows — the gods — go on quarrelling with each other; they cannot tolerate each other. But the demons understand the psychology very well: "Divided, we will be defeated. United, we can defeat anybody, anything." So, like some religions — whether rational or irrational — they become united.

Now, coming back: the Devas wanted victory. What was their strategy? "There are certain mantras. If we can chant them together — that is called Udgītha — then we can get sufficient strength to overcome these demons."

But the organs, as I just now said, cannot unite. They started quarrelling. The eye, the ear, the nose — the nostril — and the skin, and the tongue: five organs of knowledge. They can never unite. So then they said: "I am great, I am great, I am great." How do you know you are great? So they decided on a test. What is the test? One organ takes leave for one year, goes away from this body, and if life goes on as usual, that means that organ is not important. But if, without that organ, life becomes impossible, then that organ is really the most important organ.

So the eye said, "Let me see how you can live without me." So it went, took leave — and gleefully thinking within itself, "Without me, nobody can see, and they will fall victim." And it was shocked after returning, after one year, that life was going on very well, quite well. Then it asked, "How could you live without me?" Then they all said: "Yes, there was some defect. So we could not be as effective as when you were here. But then, with some small inconvenience — there are blind people, and they are living quite well. Some of them have extraordinarily great talents: singers, players, writers, poets — of course saints also, like Sūradāsa." So anyway, life was going on.

So the story goes: the years went by. Śrotrendriya — first Netrendriya, then Śrotrendriya, the ears — same story. "How did you live without me?" "Well, it was a bit inconvenient, but then we found out other ways and have come up to live happily."
----

== The Primacy of Prāṇa ==
And then finally, the time of the Prāṇa came — the Mukhya Prāṇa. So that Prāṇa said, "I am important. Oh, let us see." When it was about to take leave — as if huge trees were being uprooted to the very last bit of that with which they were sticking — then they understood. Without Prāṇa, the eye cannot function; the ears cannot function; the tongue cannot function; the nostrils cannot function; the skin cannot function. A dead body cannot function at all. Prāṇa is most important.

So this is the story. And then, that is why: Prāṇa Devatā. Without Prāṇa, creation is meaningless. Who is to recognise there is a creation? Who is to take classes? Who is to listen to classes? Who is to strive? Who is even to understand whether I am selfish or unselfish? Without Prāṇa — the Buddhi, the intellect, and the power of understanding — nothing functions.

So: Prāṇa Upāsanā. Prāṇa is Brahman. Brahman is pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is manifesting in the form of Prāṇa, lending itself to the entire personality; and that personality's main part is the mind, and this Prāṇa reflects in that mind in the form of Cidābhāsa. It is the Prāṇa only — consciousness as Prāṇa, Prāṇa as this Cidābhāsa — and then the mind thinks, "I am." The very existence of the mind and the existence of every other organ are deeply related to this. This is why Prāṇa Upāsanā is so very important, and there are a few very interesting points out there. We will talk about them 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!'''
[[Category:Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Introduction Lecture 07 on 14 February 2026

2026-05-18T22:04:06Z

Sdevi: /* The Story of Janaka Mahārāja's Contest */

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

== Opening Invocation ==
ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.

== Introduction to the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
We are studying the ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''. I have given you some introduction, especially of the ''Saṁbandhavākyam'' — Śaṅkarācārya's introduction before he begins his real commentary on this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''. Śaṅkarācārya does this to each one of his Upaniṣads.

In this particular Upaniṣad, the essence of it is that rituals and as well as contemplations are very necessary to make a person fit. They are not to be discarded, but one should not stop with them, and this is a wonderful point which we are going to discuss a little bit later on.

== The Importance of the Author ==
So before starting the Upaniṣad, we will have to first of all understand who is this author. In any modern book, first of all there would be on the flap page, cover page, both inside of the cover, front as well as the back. There would be an introduction about the author, and the symbolism of it is very great.

So the author must be an authentic person. Whether the book is on poetry or music or medicine or science, the authenticity, the value of the book totally depends upon the direct experience of the author. Therefore here also, there is no exception. That is why whenever we study the Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛishṇa or the Holy Mother or Swami Vivekananda, we salute the author.

For example, before reading the Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛiṣhṇa — and most many devotees do it practically every day — we are reminded: What is the mantra?

तव कथामृतं तप्तजीवनं

कविभिरीडितं कल्मषापहम् ।

श्रवणमङ्गलं श्रीमदाततं

भुवि गृणन्ति ये भूरिदा जना:

tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ

kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham

śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad ātataṁ

bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūri-dā janāḥ

That shows Śrī Kṛṣṇa's greatness. His words are able to bring about permanent and infinite joy and peace into the heart of everyone who studies and who puts into practice the teachings of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, which are embodied of course both in the ''Bhāgavatam'' as well as in the ''Bhagavad Gītā''.

Similarly, whenever we want to read the Gospel of the Holy Mother " Jananiṁ Śāradāṁ devīṁ" and when we wish to study Swami Vivekananda's works "Om Namah Sri Yatirajaya Vivekananda Suraye | Satchit Sukha Swarupaya Swamine Tapa Harine ||

Even if it is a very fiction book, very light book, there also we have our own discrimination. There are some authors who can weave their imagination as if it is happening right in front of our eyes like a drama, like a cinema. We choose only those authors. What is the purpose? To get at the truth, and if it is entertainment, to forget time. And ''Brahma jñānam'' makes us rise beyond time, space, and causation, beyond every possible limit.

Another name for limit is ''māyā''. And then after knowledge dawns, we can come back and we can enjoy the ''māyā'', just as a person who settles down all his household problems and more or less is assured that from now onwards your life will go on so well. Such a person is able to watch a drama or a cinema with the greatest joy, or a cricket match or a football match, etc.

But if we are worried, and even if we are watching even from the front place, then our mind will not be there. So the mind should attain to that tranquility, and that attainment of tranquility, which almost means control over the mind — that is the purpose of rituals and that is the purpose of the contemplations called ''upāsanas''. They form two steps as it were: First step leading to the second step, second leading to the last step, which is to make us pure, receptive, and endowed with complete faith. Then we are ready to take a leap beyond the ''māyā'' itself.

== Remembering the Ṛṣis ==
Now we have to remember the author gratefully, because an author, especially in spiritual matters — ''ṛṣis'', the ''munis'' — we have to salute every day because they are the greatest discoverers of truth.

A ''ṛṣi'' is one who is called ''mantra draṣṭā''. ''Mantra'' means truth. Truth, of course, ultimate truth. ''Brahman'' is infinite, but some aspect of it some people realize. So when personally they realize it, and then they become blessed, and they try to convey it to us. So we have to salute, remember: I am ever so grateful. That is part of the ''ṛṣi ṛṇa''.

== Introduction to Yājñavalkya ==
Since the whole of the ''Śukla Yajur Veda'' is the work of one single great person called Yājñavalkya, we have to remember him, bow down to him again and again, because it is one of the biggest works and his life is a most exalted, purified life. Just a few incidents — most of these ''ṛṣis'', their lives are hidden. No great person ever wants to reminisce. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had very few reminiscences, Swamiji even less, but even when they reminisce, it is only for the welfare of people like us.

=== His Early Life and Guru ===
So Yājñavalkya — he was the disciple of Vaiśampāyana, as we come to know about it from the ''Taittirīya Upaniṣad''. So his guru became angry. We have narrated that story in the ''Taittirīya Upaniṣad'', and the guru asked him not to use the knowledge that he had imparted to this Yājñavalkya. Perhaps the very name Yājñavalkya — we do not know who his father was, mother was, how he grew up — but he was one of the greatest sages, there is no doubt about it.

He was the one of the not only knowers of ''Brahman'', one of the greatest knowers of ''Brahman'', and one of the greatest expounders of the highest philosophical teachings. Not only that, he was a master of how to present things in a very logical way. In the ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad'', especially in the second middle part called ''Muni Kāṇḍa'' or ''Yājñavalkya Kāṇḍa'', the instrument used is called ''upapatti''. ''Upapatti'' means that is how to present to earnest students the highest teachings of Vedānta in the most possible rational way. So that is why it is called ''Upapatti Kāṇḍa'', whether it was for Janaka Mahārāja or whether it was for the other great people who challenged his greatness.

So it is very appropriate for us to remember, to remember his lotus feet, and the more devotion we have to the lotus feet of such great people, the more receptive we become.

=== His Teaching Role ===
So we do not know his parents, we do not know how he grew up, but this much we know: he joined the hermitage of one great saint called Vaiśampāyana, and he was one of the brightest pupils. That we know. So maybe he knew it, we do not know. His guru asked him — but there is another story — that his guru was not well, so he asked him to teach to others: "O Yājñavalkya, what I taught you, now you must give it to your junior students. I am not directly able to take classes for them. You please do it."

So Yājñavalkya, he digested that — means he understood what his teacher Vaiśampāyana had taught him. And therefore the story goes that he vomited, and the other disciples, assuming the forms of partridges of the three worlds, have picked it up. But really speaking, he taught other students. He was not only a greatest student, he was also a greatest teacher.

Who is a greatest teacher? He who is capable of teaching to his pupils in the most effective manner. That means a teacher who could come down to the level of each and every student and convey the teaching so that that can really be understood, received by that particular student. Such a person is the most effective teacher, most revered teacher.

=== The Symbolic Story ===
So the symbolic meaning of that: other people are like small birds. So he digested it like a mother wolf digests the food it had eaten, and by the time it reaches home, the cubs are waiting for it, and it vomits. And then what comes out — very interesting phenomena — as soon as the mother reaches, all the cubs go and start licking its cheeks, and that creates a reaction that whatever she had eaten, she vomits. But by the time she has half digested that food, and that is exactly the type of food, like the milk of a cow to its calf and even to people like us. So that is what Yājñavalkya had done.

== Yājñavalkya's Devotion to Sūrya Deva ==
But he also had tremendous devotion to ''Sūrya Deva'', ''Āditya Deva''. ''Āditya'' means he who gives light. Light always represents knowledge. So ''Sūrya Deva'' also represents energy, and without energy, even if one has some desire to learn, one cannot really learn, because even what we call enthusiasm, that is also an explosion of energy only, and that should come from some source, and that source is ''Sūrya Deva''.

As if we ourselves have that energy — no, it is actually we are created by the sun, we are sustained by the sun, and we are again taken back into the sun. And that is how the whole universe is running. We discussed this point, and this is called the holistic view: ''sṛṣṭi'', ''sthiti'', ''laya''. This is called ''Brahma cakra'' in some of the Upaniṣads.

=== Obtaining the Śukla Yajur Veda ===
So this Yājñavalkya had further quest than what Vaiśampāyana had taught, so he worshipped wholeheartedly, contemplated upon the sun. And that means he became one with the sun, and whatever knowledge is the sun, that became Yājñavalkya's. So that is popularly known as ''Śukla Yajurveda'', or the ''Yajurveda'' which is called White ''Yajurveda'', because it is coming from the sun.

It is also called ''Vājasaneyi''. ''Vājasaneyi'' is that which comes from the sun. ''Vājasaneya'' — we have come across this one in the ''Kaṭha Upaniṣad''. The father of Naciketa, he was called ''Vājasaneya'', because he is distributing plenty of food, and food comes from the sun. That's why he became famous as a ''Vājasaneya''. So this whole Veda is also called ''Vājasaneyi''.

=== The Power of Contemplation ===
So this Yājñavalkya, he had been obtained by becoming one with the sun, and that is the same process: when we become identified with our teacher, then we become — we obtain the same knowledge as the sun. That is why contemplation is the best means of receiving whatever knowledge God has to give, guru has to give to each one of us. Contemplation is a marvelous thing.

As an example: Rāmakṛṣṇa wanted devotion to Śrī Rāma. The embodiment of Rāma ''bhakti'' is Hanumān. Therefore when Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa meditated wholeheartedly and became identified with Añjaneya, like Añjaneya he became the greatest devotee of Rāma, and he became ''Rāmamaya'', full of Rāma, and that's why he continuously beholds Rāma.

Similarly, when Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa wanted to obtain the vision of ''Brahman'' in the form of Kṛṣṇa, meditated upon Rādhā Devī, who is the very embodiment of Kṛṣṇa ''bhakti''. Through that he became Rādhā, and he obtained same quality, and he had the vision of Kṛṣṇa.

It is said Rādhā always puts the collyrium of Kṛṣṇa, like a person — as it is said when somebody puts on the collyrium of the paste made out of frogs, he will always see the snakes. But we are supposed to have ''jñāna añjana vimlanayana vikṣane moha jaya''. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is a ''himud'' in the ''kaṇḍanā bhava bandhana''.

Like that, Yājñavalkya became ''Sūrya Deva'' through contemplation, and whatever is the Sun God, ''Āditya Deva'', Yājñavalkya became the same. That's why the whole ''Śukla Yajur Veda'' is called ''Vājasanaya''. So that is how he obtained, and part of that ''Vājasanaya'' or ''Yajur Veda'' — and every Veda has got ''Brāhmaṇa'', etc. — comes at the end, this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''.

== Relationship with Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad ==
And by the way, ''Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad'' also belongs to the same. Again, some of our commentators tell us that ''Īśāvāsya'' is called ''Mantra Upaniṣad'' — that is the essence of the Vedic teaching in almost aphoristic manner. ''Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad'' has only 18 mantras, but its explanation is this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''. It is called ''Brāhmaṇa Upaniṣad'' — ''Brāhmaṇa'' means here nothing to do with caste ''Brāhmaṇa''. It is elaborate explanation.

Just imagine: 18 mantras of the ''Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad'' required this voluminous explanation, and it is the same. ''Aham Brahmāsmi'' ''mahāvākya'' also occurs here, and the most famous ''jñāna yoga'' methodology called ''neti neti'' (not this, not this) also occurs in this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''.

=== The Meaning of Neti Neti ===
Somebody asked: why there are two words? One ''neti'' would have been good. ''Neti'' means ''na iti'' — whatever we experience is not the highest truth. It is only partial truth, limited truth, truth limited by time, space, and causation. It goes by the name ''mithyā''.

So why two words? Because first of all, it is through mind we accept or reject or modify something — ''kartuṁ akartuṁ anyathā kartuṁ''. So it is the mind which can decide: I want this, I want to do this, I don't want to do this, I want to do something else. So this, whatever we understand, is within the realm of this limitation, since mind is limited like a small vessel. Even if it goes to the ocean, it can only bring to its limit. It cannot take one drop extra, which is — Rāmakṛṣṇa illustrates in the form of a small ant approached a hill of sugar, and while it can only eat one grain and it can carry another grain, but in its foolishness it thought, "I want to next time I come, I carry the whole hill."

We are like that. Through the mind we cannot carry. Then what is the way? To become one. So let the limited become merged in the unlimited. Then what remains will be... पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

== The Story of Janaka Mahārāja's Contest ==
Coming back to the story of Yājñavalkya: so he became very famous, and he was living in the kingdom of Mithilā. Now there was a king there. He was called Janaka Mahārāja. Probably he was the famous Janaka — he was known as ''Videha Janaka'' we do not know whether he is the same Janaka of Sītā's father, but we know definitely the Janaka Mahārāja, under the tutelage of Yājñavalkya, had become one of the greatest, greatest sages.

=== Janaka's Search for a Guru ===
So once this Janaka Mahārāja, he understood: I require a guru, a teacher. I know so many things, but there are many many more things to be learned, and not only that, what I learned has not given me what I wanted, which is called liberation or ''mukti''. For that I have to sacrifice everything.

So he wanted to flush out who is the greatest knower of ''Brahman'', ''Brahma jñānī'' — not mere ''paṇḍit'', but a person who has realized himself, and not only realized himself, but who is capable of conveying it. There are so many ''paṇḍits'', there are so many ''sādhus'' — not only they are scholars, but they are experienced people. ''Anubhūti'' is there, but unfortunately, by the grace of God, they are not equipped with that intelligence or special talent of conveying their teachings appropriate to the receiving pupil.

Some people — it is very interesting to understand — some people's knowledge is very limited, but they have the highest capacity to convey to their students what little they know. Very effective teachers. There are great teachers who are not capable — even though they know, they are vastly learned, but they don't have that special talent. So that talent is necessary. The grace of God in the form of authority is necessary.

=== The Announcement ===
Janaka Mahārāja wanted to find out, so this story goes: announced, whoever is the greatest knower of ''Brahman'' in my kingdom or outside my kingdom, he will be given one thousand best cows, and their horns adorned with, covered with gold, which is a lot of wealth in those days. Cows are supposed to be the greatest, what is called, money exchange, because there was no money, bartering system. So cows gave milk, cows produced cows, they can cultivate the lands, and then harvest.

And ''āśramas'', some of them are very famous because of their teachers, and sometimes there are thousands of students will be there. If you have heard about Tibetan Lamas, Swami Akhandanandji was describing some of the monasteries here — Tibetan monasteries contain more than 20,000 students. So thousands of students will be there. I think Yājñavalkya was one of them, and he was a householder. He was a married person. He was not only married, he was married twice.

== Yājñavalkya's Two Wives ==
One wife was called Kātyāyanī — an ordinary, very good lady, chaste lady, but not interested in spiritual life. That is what we get in this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''. But another, Maitreyī — extremely intelligent, but highly spiritual, ready for ''Brahma jñāna''. That also we see in the Yājñavalkya-Maitreyī dialogue that happens, by the way, in the second part of this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad'', which is called the chapter related with the ''Muni'' or ''Yājñavalkya Kāṇḍa''.

There we get this Yājñavalkya-Maitreyī beautiful ''saṁvāda'' will come, and with so many other learned people. Anyway, but he was a ''Brahma jñānī'', he was a householder, he was a ''Brahma jñānī''. What does it tell us? Like Nagamahāśaya, one can be a householder and one can be also a ''Brahma jñānī''.

We do not know whether he had any children — there was no mention at all — but his name and fame had spread, and naturally he required some resources, because the students used to go in those days to ''gurukula'' and live there with the teacher until they complete their education. Then once it is complete, then they come back home with the blessings of the teacher, and the teacher gives a ceremonial, what is called, well-wishing. And there also, like our universities, they give convocation address, how they should behave. And we have seen in the ''Śīkṣāvallī'', 11th section, satyam vada, dharmam cara, svādhyāyānmā pramadaḥ etc — beautiful universal convocation address, which was, is, and will be valid for eternity. These are the true spiritual values which ultimately everyone has to seek if a person wishes his or her own welfare.

=== Yājñavalkya at the Contest ===
So that is how this Yājñavalkya was trying to train his students. Of course, we have to understand that every student will not be eager to be a ''Brahma jñānī'', but the guru has to maintain. So then Janaka Rāja knew it very well, and he announced as I mentioned. And then Yājñavalkya came along with a few of his disciples to this Mithilā, and then the king knew about it.

As soon as he came, he was given the announcement, and Yājñavalkya — this is the interesting, very interesting portion — immediately he called one of his sharp disciples and said, "Drive all these 1000 cows to our ''āśrama''." And then naturally the student would have gone. That tremendous confidence that shows that he knows what he is, and he knows nobody else has his capacity. He is the, what is called, ''brahmavit uttama'' — the greatest of the knowers of ''Brahman''.

Immediately, other people who also have gathered there with the fond hope of getting the cows — but only caveat is that only one person will get. There is no mention of that if most of you exhibit your capacities, talents, you will be — the cows will be distributed among them. No, only one person will get the first, only prize, first prize.

=== The Challenge and Response ===
Immediately the others challenged: "Yājñavalkya, do you think that you are the greatest of the knowers of ''Brahman''?" Immediately the humorous part of him came out. He bowed down deeply to everybody and said, "No, I am only a desirer of cows. I never think I am the greatest knower of ''Brahman''." "Of course, then you have to prove." "All right." And then he defeats everybody. We are going to come to that.

But this is a very interesting situation — that God-given confidence. Say, Rāmakṛṣṇa knew: "I am authorized to tell. My mother told me. It cannot be otherwise." Swami Vivekananda said that "My master speaks through me, and I know what I am speaking, because it is my mother, Mother Sarasvatī herself speaks." And Holy Mother confirmed it, that it is the great master, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, who made Narendra the most famous.

== Yājñavalkya's Renunciation ==
So this Yājñavalkya story goes: here he had two wives, and as I said, only one wife was interested, following the footsteps of her husband. So then, our ancient Hindu division of life — so from ''Gṛhastha Āśrama'' he wanted to become a ''saṁnyāsī''.

=== Why Not Vānaprastha? ===
Why did he not become a ''vānaprasthī''? For that the answer is: there are two types of ''saṁnyāsa'', stages of ''saṁnyāsa'', well known. Especially Vidyāraṇya speaks of it so beautifully in his ''Jīvanmukta Viveka''.

One is called initial state, where a person is extraordinarily eager to become a knower of ''Brahman''. This is called ''vividiṣā'' — ''veditum icchā'', I would like to have ''Brahma jñānam'', I am ready to renounce. Such people usually take to ''Vānaprastha Āśrama'' and do go through all the necessary steps.

But there are some people who have done that deep within the ''Gṛhastha Āśrama'' itself, and that's they reach a very high stage. That is called ''Vidvat Saṁnyāsa''. ''Vidvat'' means he already had realized ''Brahman'', but such people want to maintain the ''saṁnyāsa'' system of this our Vedic division of life.

May not be in one life, but everybody has to become a ''saṁnyāsī'', either physically or mentally. It's very important for us to understand.

=== Examples from Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Disciples ===
Among the Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's disciples, there were the 16 well-known monastic disciples, but Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa also trained some people, asked them exclusively to stay in the ''Gṛhastha Āśrama'', like Nagamahāśaya. Later on, M also became a ''saṁnyāsī'' — from Chandradatta, towards the end of his life he became a ''saṁnyāsī''. He never wanted to see his family members.

So on the advice of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, he bought a very solitary place. In those days, nowadays it has become part of the busiest parts of the Calcutta — that is called the Konkur Gachi. And there Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa also visited that place. He was expressly desired to go there, and only the direct disciples of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and devotees will be surrounded him, and he didn't want his family members to come anywhere there. That is how, uttering the name of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Rāmacandradatta passed away.

So every householder disciple of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had trained them how to be in household, and it is not possible for many of them to renounce and become ''saṁnyāsīs'', but become ''mānasika saṁnyāsī'' — mental renunciation. And that applies even today. Every initiated disciple of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa — even today we consider Rāmakṛṣṇa and Holy Mother as our father and mother, and we are their children, and they are ''saṁnyāsīs'', therefore we also have to consider ourselves as ''saṁnyāsīs''.

=== Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Instructions ===
So he gave practical instructions also: after the birth of one or two children, then slowly one has to try to do ''sādhana'' to overcome his physical relationship, and both the husband and wife should live like brother and sister — ''guru bhāī'' and ''guru bhaginī''. That is what he wanted. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's main teaching we have to take note here.

== The Dialogue with Maitreyī ==
So we are talking about the life of Yājñavalkya, and he defeated everybody. And there is also the incident of how he taught, he offered — when Yājñavalkya wanted actually to renounce the householdership and enter into the stage called ''Saṁnyāsa Āśrama'', he called both his wives, and he said, "I have quite a good amount of wealth. I equally divide that wealth, because I love both of you, and you accept it and give me permission to go out."

Kātyāyanī meekly accepted her part, but Maitreyī asked a very penetrating question: "You are very wealthy, and your wealth is so vast, and you have given even for those days quite a great lot. Will this bring me immortality which you had already gained?"

=== Yājñavalkya's Answer on Wealth ===
Yājñavalkya's direct answer was: the wealth will only make you, your life, a little bit more comfortable, like other wealthy people who have got better houses, better instruments, servants, some implements to ease the hardship of their life, but there is no hope of immortality at all.

Now what we have to note is: however wealthy a person is — nowadays they are trying to become billionaires, even trillionaires — but when we look at their life, certainly they are not ideal people, because they have their own headaches and they are not having peace of mind. Definitely we know about it, and wealth has, wealth, possessions have nothing to do — peace of mind is as an exclusive property of the mind.

And for that, tremendous amount of hardship had to be gone through to make the mind healthy, idealistic, as we have seen in the ''Ānandamīmāṁsā''. That is, then such a person will get the highest happiness possible for a human being. But then you can have servants, you can lead a life of ease, but it has nothing to do — and we have to understand it in depth — even the slightest worry, slightest bad dream, slightest, what is called, presumed insult by other people, looking down, can upset those people's minds like anything.

We see Yājñavalkya being challenged by angry people sometimes, but then Yājñavalkya never lost his peacefulness, his repose. Like Bhagavān Buddha remained absolutely the same. These are some of the things we have to meditate upon when we recollect the life of Yājñavalkya.

=== The Three Steps to Realization ===
Ultimately, of course, then Maitreyī asked, "Then I do not want this wealth. Give me that wealth by which I can become like you, free from all limitations, bondage."

And then the most famous teaching which echoes throughout the aeons: ''"ātmā vā are draṣṭavyaḥ śrotavyo mantavyo nididhyāsitavyaḥ..."'' — very meaningful ''sūtra''. The goal of life is God realization, as Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says: ''ātmā vā are draṣṭavyaḥ'', ''Ātmā'' has to be realized. Realized as what? I am the ''Ātman'' — not that there is a God. I am God, I am ''Brahman''.

For that three steps are there. The most important step is ''śravaṇa'' — that is called initiation into ''mahāvākya''. So in this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka'' we get that ''mahāvākya'': ''Aham Brahmāsmi''. And by the way, the Ramakrishna Order of ''saṁnyāsīs'', we are — our Veda is ''Śukla Yajur Veda''. Our ''mahāvākya'' is ''Aham Brahmāsmi''.

So then slowly he teaches Maitreyī what he meant and clears all her doubts. So all these teachings come.

== Janaka's Enlightenment ==
So what happened? Janaka finally understood: there is nobody, I am so lucky in this world, and this is possible only by the grace of God. That is why Śaṅkarācārya tells in the ''Vivekacūḍāmaṇi'': दुर्लभं त्रयमेवैतद्देवानुग्रहहेतुकम् । मनुष्यत्वं मुमुक्षुत्वं महापुरुषसंश्रयः ॥ ३ ॥

durlabhaṃ trayamevaitaddevānugrahahetukam | manuṣyatvaṃ mumukṣutvaṃ mahāpuruṣasaṃśrayaḥ

So Maitreyī understood: I have a human body. And she also understood, not only ''manuṣya janma'', I have the deepest desire. If that desire was not there, she would have meekly accepted: "OK, I have the desire, but not now, after sometime." No, "I want it immediately." That is possible only because of the, what is called, that ''mumukṣutvaṁ''. ''Manuṣyatvaṁ, mumukṣutvaṁ'' — I want to be liberated, I want ''mokṣam''.

But of course, ''mahāpuruṣa saṁśraya'' — that is the availability of a great realized soul who can guide me, who can take my responsibility, and like the first class physician of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, he will not simply utter the truth and then leave me. He will be with me, he will guide me, he will take me, and until I reach my goal, he is going to be forever with me.

=== The First Class Physician ===
Rāmakṛṣṇa's teachings are so deep: a first class physician is one, if necessary, he will throw the fellow down, sit on his chest, and open his mouth forcefully, like cows are being fed medicine through a small hollow bamboo tube, like that, until the person becomes cured. And here, curing of the worldly disease, a first class physician will not leave — ''janma janmāntara'', he will be there, life after life he will be there.

"I have got these three. I am not going to lose a single minute."

=== Janaka's Complete Surrender ===
So Janaka Mahārāja also understood it, accepted him as his guru, and then he says, "Every time some teaching is given, I will give you 1000 cows for this invaluable teaching."

Finally, Janaka Mahārāja, by the grace of God flowing through Yājñavalkya, had realized. Then Janaka Mahārāja says that "I offer my whole kingdom along with myself," which goes without saying, "and do whatever you like."

Yājñavalkya, like Samartha Rāmdās telling to Shivaji, "Yes, I am going to be the king. You have offered me everything, but I will appoint you as my representative, and you rule it as if you are a ''dāsa''." Like Bharata had really ruled over Ayodhyā for 14 years until Śrī Rāma came back: "I am only the bearer of your ''pādukās'', and now that you have returned, it belongs to you, please accept it."

That is the exact attitude Janaka had. And once Janaka had realized this truth, then Yājñavalkya certified — the guru certified him, like the guru of Satyakāma Jābāla. He certified him that "Your face is shining like a ''Brahma jñānī''." And Satyakāma Jābāla also certified his disciple Upakosala, whose stories we have read.

=== Fearlessness ===
And then what did he say? ''Abhayaṁ vai āptosi Janaka'' — "O Janaka, you have attained fearlessness." What is fearlessness? ''Abhayam bhavati'' — fear always stems from duality, and you have realized non-duality, therefore you don't have ''bhaya''. That is a negative word. Positive word is: you will be enjoying, what is, swimming in the ocean of bliss, ''saccidānanda sāgara''.

== Conclusion ==
This is the story of Yājñavalkya and how he proceeds, and that is a wonderful story. As I mentioned, I will only give the gist of many of these rituals, etc., because I have already dealt with these ''upāsanas'', etc., earlier. But wherever it is necessary, I will repeat everything. Probably most of the things I am going to talk about will be a repetition, but every repetition will be a new way of expression. And if you have forgotten, you will remember, and if you still remember, it will be reinforcement. This is what we will do.

Again, I will give you a small introduction how this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad'' is divided, etc. Then we will also deal, probably in tomorrow's class, about the ''śānti mantra'', which is a very special, peculiar ''śānti mantra''.

== 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!'''
[[Category:Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Introduction Lecture 07 on 14 February 2026

2026-05-18T21:13:53Z

Sdevi: /* Opening Invocation */

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

== Opening Invocation ==
ॐ जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म्

पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामि मुहुरुमु

''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.

== Introduction to the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad ==
We are studying the ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''. I have given you some introduction, especially of the ''Saṁbandhavākyam'' — Śaṅkarācārya's introduction before he begins his real commentary on this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''. Śaṅkarācārya does this to each one of his Upaniṣads.

In this particular Upaniṣad, the essence of it is that rituals and as well as contemplations are very necessary to make a person fit. They are not to be discarded, but one should not stop with them, and this is a wonderful point which we are going to discuss a little bit later on.

== The Importance of the Author ==
So before starting the Upaniṣad, we will have to first of all understand who is this author. In any modern book, first of all there would be on the flap page, cover page, both inside of the cover, front as well as the back. There would be an introduction about the author, and the symbolism of it is very great.

So the author must be an authentic person. Whether the book is on poetry or music or medicine or science, the authenticity, the value of the book totally depends upon the direct experience of the author. Therefore here also, there is no exception. That is why whenever we study the Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛishṇa or the Holy Mother or Swami Vivekananda, we salute the author.

For example, before reading the Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛiṣhṇa — and most many devotees do it practically every day — we are reminded: What is the mantra?

तव कथामृतं तप्तजीवनं

कविभिरीडितं कल्मषापहम् ।

श्रवणमङ्गलं श्रीमदाततं

भुवि गृणन्ति ये भूरिदा जना:

tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ

kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham

śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad ātataṁ

bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūri-dā janāḥ

That shows Śrī Kṛṣṇa's greatness. His words are able to bring about permanent and infinite joy and peace into the heart of everyone who studies and who puts into practice the teachings of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, which are embodied of course both in the ''Bhāgavatam'' as well as in the ''Bhagavad Gītā''.

Similarly, whenever we want to read the Gospel of the Holy Mother " Jananiṁ Śāradāṁ devīṁ" and when we wish to study Swami Vivekananda's works "Om Namah Sri Yatirajaya Vivekananda Suraye | Satchit Sukha Swarupaya Swamine Tapa Harine ||

Even if it is a very fiction book, very light book, there also we have our own discrimination. There are some authors who can weave their imagination as if it is happening right in front of our eyes like a drama, like a cinema. We choose only those authors. What is the purpose? To get at the truth, and if it is entertainment, to forget time. And ''Brahma jñānam'' makes us rise beyond time, space, and causation, beyond every possible limit.

Another name for limit is ''māyā''. And then after knowledge dawns, we can come back and we can enjoy the ''māyā'', just as a person who settles down all his household problems and more or less is assured that from now onwards your life will go on so well. Such a person is able to watch a drama or a cinema with the greatest joy, or a cricket match or a football match, etc.

But if we are worried, and even if we are watching even from the front place, then our mind will not be there. So the mind should attain to that tranquility, and that attainment of tranquility, which almost means control over the mind — that is the purpose of rituals and that is the purpose of the contemplations called ''upāsanas''. They form two steps as it were: First step leading to the second step, second leading to the last step, which is to make us pure, receptive, and endowed with complete faith. Then we are ready to take a leap beyond the ''māyā'' itself.

== Remembering the Ṛṣis ==
Now we have to remember the author gratefully, because an author, especially in spiritual matters — ''ṛṣis'', the ''munis'' — we have to salute every day because they are the greatest discoverers of truth.

A ''ṛṣi'' is one who is called ''mantra draṣṭā''. ''Mantra'' means truth. Truth, of course, ultimate truth. ''Brahman'' is infinite, but some aspect of it some people realize. So when personally they realize it, and then they become blessed, and they try to convey it to us. So we have to salute, remember: I am ever so grateful. That is part of the ''ṛṣi ṛṇa''.

== Introduction to Yājñavalkya ==
Since the whole of the ''Śukla Yajur Veda'' is the work of one single great person called Yājñavalkya, we have to remember him, bow down to him again and again, because it is one of the biggest works and his life is a most exalted, purified life. Just a few incidents — most of these ''ṛṣis'', their lives are hidden. No great person ever wants to reminisce. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had very few reminiscences, Swamiji even less, but even when they reminisce, it is only for the welfare of people like us.

=== His Early Life and Guru ===
So Yājñavalkya — he was the disciple of Vaiśampāyana, as we come to know about it from the ''Taittirīya Upaniṣad''. So his guru became angry. We have narrated that story in the ''Taittirīya Upaniṣad'', and the guru asked him not to use the knowledge that he had imparted to this Yājñavalkya. Perhaps the very name Yājñavalkya — we do not know who his father was, mother was, how he grew up — but he was one of the greatest sages, there is no doubt about it.

He was the one of the not only knowers of ''Brahman'', one of the greatest knowers of ''Brahman'', and one of the greatest expounders of the highest philosophical teachings. Not only that, he was a master of how to present things in a very logical way. In the ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad'', especially in the second middle part called ''Muni Kāṇḍa'' or ''Yājñavalkya Kāṇḍa'', the instrument used is called ''upapatti''. ''Upapatti'' means that is how to present to earnest students the highest teachings of Vedānta in the most possible rational way. So that is why it is called ''Upapatti Kāṇḍa'', whether it was for Janaka Mahārāja or whether it was for the other great people who challenged his greatness.

So it is very appropriate for us to remember, to remember his lotus feet, and the more devotion we have to the lotus feet of such great people, the more receptive we become.

=== His Teaching Role ===
So we do not know his parents, we do not know how he grew up, but this much we know: he joined the hermitage of one great saint called Vaiśampāyana, and he was one of the brightest pupils. That we know. So maybe he knew it, we do not know. His guru asked him — but there is another story — that his guru was not well, so he asked him to teach to others: "O Yājñavalkya, what I taught you, now you must give it to your junior students. I am not directly able to take classes for them. You please do it."

So Yājñavalkya, he digested that — means he understood what his teacher Vaiśampāyana had taught him. And therefore the story goes that he vomited, and the other disciples, assuming the forms of partridges of the three worlds, have picked it up. But really speaking, he taught other students. He was not only a greatest student, he was also a greatest teacher.

Who is a greatest teacher? He who is capable of teaching to his pupils in the most effective manner. That means a teacher who could come down to the level of each and every student and convey the teaching so that that can really be understood, received by that particular student. Such a person is the most effective teacher, most revered teacher.

=== The Symbolic Story ===
So the symbolic meaning of that: other people are like small birds. So he digested it like a mother wolf digests the food it had eaten, and by the time it reaches home, the cubs are waiting for it, and it vomits. And then what comes out — very interesting phenomena — as soon as the mother reaches, all the cubs go and start licking its cheeks, and that creates a reaction that whatever she had eaten, she vomits. But by the time she has half digested that food, and that is exactly the type of food, like the milk of a cow to its calf and even to people like us. So that is what Yājñavalkya had done.

== Yājñavalkya's Devotion to Sūrya Deva ==
But he also had tremendous devotion to ''Sūrya Deva'', ''Āditya Deva''. ''Āditya'' means he who gives light. Light always represents knowledge. So ''Sūrya Deva'' also represents energy, and without energy, even if one has some desire to learn, one cannot really learn, because even what we call enthusiasm, that is also an explosion of energy only, and that should come from some source, and that source is ''Sūrya Deva''.

As if we ourselves have that energy — no, it is actually we are created by the sun, we are sustained by the sun, and we are again taken back into the sun. And that is how the whole universe is running. We discussed this point, and this is called the holistic view: ''sṛṣṭi'', ''sthiti'', ''laya''. This is called ''Brahma cakra'' in some of the Upaniṣads.

=== Obtaining the Śukla Yajur Veda ===
So this Yājñavalkya had further quest than what Vaiśampāyana had taught, so he worshipped wholeheartedly, contemplated upon the sun. And that means he became one with the sun, and whatever knowledge is the sun, that became Yājñavalkya's. So that is popularly known as ''Śukla Yajurveda'', or the ''Yajurveda'' which is called White ''Yajurveda'', because it is coming from the sun.

It is also called ''Vājasaneyi''. ''Vājasaneyi'' is that which comes from the sun. ''Vājasaneya'' — we have come across this one in the ''Kaṭha Upaniṣad''. The father of Naciketa, he was called ''Vājasaneya'', because he is distributing plenty of food, and food comes from the sun. That's why he became famous as a ''Vājasaneya''. So this whole Veda is also called ''Vājasaneyi''.

=== The Power of Contemplation ===
So this Yājñavalkya, he had been obtained by becoming one with the sun, and that is the same process: when we become identified with our teacher, then we become — we obtain the same knowledge as the sun. That is why contemplation is the best means of receiving whatever knowledge God has to give, guru has to give to each one of us. Contemplation is a marvelous thing.

As an example: Rāmakṛṣṇa wanted devotion to Śrī Rāma. The embodiment of Rāma ''bhakti'' is Hanumān. Therefore when Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa meditated wholeheartedly and became identified with Añjaneya, like Añjaneya he became the greatest devotee of Rāma, and he became ''Rāmamaya'', full of Rāma, and that's why he continuously beholds Rāma.

Similarly, when Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa wanted to obtain the vision of ''Brahman'' in the form of Kṛṣṇa, meditated upon Rādhā Devī, who is the very embodiment of Kṛṣṇa ''bhakti''. Through that he became Rādhā, and he obtained same quality, and he had the vision of Kṛṣṇa.

It is said Rādhā always puts the collyrium of Kṛṣṇa, like a person — as it is said when somebody puts on the collyrium of the paste made out of frogs, he will always see the snakes. But we are supposed to have ''jñāna añjana vimlanayana vikṣane moha jaya''. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is a ''himud'' in the ''kaṇḍanā bhava bandhana''.

Like that, Yājñavalkya became ''Sūrya Deva'' through contemplation, and whatever is the Sun God, ''Āditya Deva'', Yājñavalkya became the same. That's why the whole ''Śukla Yajur Veda'' is called ''Vājasanaya''. So that is how he obtained, and part of that ''Vājasanaya'' or ''Yajur Veda'' — and every Veda has got ''Brāhmaṇa'', etc. — comes at the end, this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''.

== Relationship with Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad ==
And by the way, ''Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad'' also belongs to the same. Again, some of our commentators tell us that ''Īśāvāsya'' is called ''Mantra Upaniṣad'' — that is the essence of the Vedic teaching in almost aphoristic manner. ''Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad'' has only 18 mantras, but its explanation is this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''. It is called ''Brāhmaṇa Upaniṣad'' — ''Brāhmaṇa'' means here nothing to do with caste ''Brāhmaṇa''. It is elaborate explanation.

Just imagine: 18 mantras of the ''Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad'' required this voluminous explanation, and it is the same. ''Aham Brahmāsmi'' ''mahāvākya'' also occurs here, and the most famous ''jñāna yoga'' methodology called ''neti neti'' (not this, not this) also occurs in this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''.

=== The Meaning of Neti Neti ===
Somebody asked: why there are two words? One ''neti'' would have been good. ''Neti'' means ''na iti'' — whatever we experience is not the highest truth. It is only partial truth, limited truth, truth limited by time, space, and causation. It goes by the name ''mithyā''.

So why two words? Because first of all, it is through mind we accept or reject or modify something — ''kartuṁ akartuṁ anyathā kartuṁ''. So it is the mind which can decide: I want this, I want to do this, I don't want to do this, I want to do something else. So this, whatever we understand, is within the realm of this limitation, since mind is limited like a small vessel. Even if it goes to the ocean, it can only bring to its limit. It cannot take one drop extra, which is — Rāmakṛṣṇa illustrates in the form of a small ant approached a hill of sugar, and while it can only eat one grain and it can carry another grain, but in its foolishness it thought, "I want to next time I come, I carry the whole hill."

We are like that. Through the mind we cannot carry. Then what is the way? To become one. So let the limited become merged in the unlimited. Then what remains will be... पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

== The Story of Janaka Mahārāja's Contest ==
Coming back to the story of Yājñavalkya: so he became very famous, and he was living in the kingdom of Mithilā. Now there was a king there. He was called Janaka Mahārāja. Probably he was the famous Janaka — he was known as — we do not know whether he is the same Janaka of Sītā's father, but we know definitely the Janaka Mahārāja, under the tutelage of Yājñavalkya, had become one of the greatest, greatest sages.

=== Janaka's Search for a Guru ===
So once this Janaka Mahārāja, he understood: I require a guru, a teacher. I know so many things, but there are many many more things to be learned, and not only that, what I learned has not given me what I wanted, which is called liberation or ''mukti''. For that I have to sacrifice everything.

So he wanted to flush out who is the greatest knower of ''Brahman'', ''Brahma jñānī'' — not mere ''paṇḍit'', but a person who has realized himself, and not only realized himself, but who is capable of conveying it. There are so many ''paṇḍits'', there are so many ''sādhus'' — not only they are scholars, but they are experienced people. ''Anubhūti'' is there, but unfortunately, by the grace of God, they are not equipped with that intelligence or special talent of conveying their teachings appropriate to the receiving pupil.

Some people — it is very interesting to understand — some people's knowledge is very limited, but they have the highest capacity to convey to their students what little they know. Very effective teachers. There are great teachers who are not capable — even though they know, they are vastly learned, but they don't have that special talent. So that talent is necessary. The grace of God in the form of authority is necessary.

=== The Announcement ===
Janaka Mahārāja wanted to find out, so this story goes: announced, whoever is the greatest knower of ''Brahman'' in my kingdom or outside my kingdom, he will be given one thousand best cows, and their horns adorned with, covered with gold, which is a lot of wealth in those days. Cows are supposed to be the greatest, what is called, money exchange, because there was no money, bartering system. So cows gave milk, cows produced cows, they can cultivate the lands, and then harvest.

And ''āśramas'', some of them are very famous because of their teachers, and sometimes there are thousands of students will be there. If you have heard about Tibetan Lamas, Swami Akhandanandji was describing some of the monasteries here — Tibetan monasteries contain more than 20,000 students. So thousands of students will be there. I think Yājñavalkya was one of them, and he was a householder. He was a married person. He was not only married, he was married twice.

== Yājñavalkya's Two Wives ==
One wife was called Kātyāyanī — an ordinary, very good lady, chaste lady, but not interested in spiritual life. That is what we get in this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad''. But another, Maitreyī — extremely intelligent, but highly spiritual, ready for ''Brahma jñāna''. That also we see in the Yājñavalkya-Maitreyī dialogue that happens, by the way, in the second part of this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad'', which is called the chapter related with the ''Muni'' or ''Yājñavalkya Kāṇḍa''.

There we get this Yājñavalkya-Maitreyī beautiful ''saṁvāda'' will come, and with so many other learned people. Anyway, but he was a ''Brahma jñānī'', he was a householder, he was a ''Brahma jñānī''. What does it tell us? Like Nagamahāśaya, one can be a householder and one can be also a ''Brahma jñānī''.

We do not know whether he had any children — there was no mention at all — but his name and fame had spread, and naturally he required some resources, because the students used to go in those days to ''gurukula'' and live there with the teacher until they complete their education. Then once it is complete, then they come back home with the blessings of the teacher, and the teacher gives a ceremonial, what is called, well-wishing. And there also, like our universities, they give convocation address, how they should behave. And we have seen in the ''Śīkṣāvallī'', 11th section, how this, etc. — beautiful universal convocation address, which was, is, and will be valid for eternity. These are the true spiritual values which ultimately everyone has to seek if a person wishes his or her own welfare.

=== Yājñavalkya at the Contest ===
So that is how this Yājñavalkya was trying to train his students. Of course, we have to understand that every student will not be eager to be a ''Brahma jñānī'', but the guru has to maintain. So then Janaka Rāja knew it very well, and he announced as I mentioned. And then Yājñavalkya came along with a few of his disciples to this Mithilā, and then the king knew about it.

As soon as he came, he was given the announcement, and Yājñavalkya — this is the interesting, very interesting portion — immediately he called one of his sharp disciples and said, "Drive all these 1000 cows to our ''āśrama''." And then naturally the student would have gone. That tremendous confidence that shows that he knows what he is, and he knows nobody else has his capacity. He is the, what is called, ''brahmavit uttama'' — the greatest of the knowers of ''Brahman''.

Immediately, other people who also have gathered there with the fond hope of getting the cows — but only caveat is that only one person will get. There is no mention of that if most of you exhibit your capacities, talents, you will be — the cows will be distributed among them. No, only one person will get the first, only prize, first prize.

=== The Challenge and Response ===
Immediately the others challenged: "Yājñavalkya, do you think that you are the greatest of the knowers of ''Brahman''?" Immediately the humorous part of him came out. He bowed down deeply to everybody and said, "No, I am only a desirer of cows. I never think I am the greatest knower of ''Brahman''." "Of course, then you have to prove." "All right." And then he defeats everybody. We are going to come to that.

But this is a very interesting situation — that God-given confidence. Say, Rāmakṛṣṇa knew: "I am authorized to tell. My mother told me. It cannot be otherwise." Swami Vivekananda said that "My master speaks through me, and I know what I am speaking, because it is my mother, Mother Sarasvatī herself speaks." And Holy Mother confirmed it, that it is the great master, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, who made Narendra the most famous.

== Yājñavalkya's Renunciation ==
So this Yājñavalkya story goes: here he had two wives, and as I said, only one wife was interested, following the footsteps of her husband. So then, our ancient Hindu division of life — so from ''Gṛhastha Āśrama'' he wanted to become a ''saṁnyāsī''.

=== Why Not Vānaprastha? ===
Why did he not become a ''vānaprasthī''? For that the answer is: there are two types of ''saṁnyāsa'', stages of ''saṁnyāsa'', well known. Especially Vidyāraṇya speaks of it so beautifully in his ''Jīvanmukta Viveka''.

One is called initial state, where a person is extraordinarily eager to become a knower of ''Brahman''. This is called ''vividiṣā'' — ''veditum icchā'', I would like to have ''Brahma jñānam'', I am ready to renounce. Such people usually take to ''Vānaprastha Āśrama'' and do go through all the necessary steps.

But there are some people who have done that deep within the ''Gṛhastha Āśrama'' itself, and that's they reach a very high stage. That is called ''Vidvat Saṁnyāsa''. ''Vidvat'' means he already had realized ''Brahman'', but such people want to maintain the ''saṁnyāsa'' system of this our Vedic division of life.

May not be in one life, but everybody has to become a ''saṁnyāsī'', either physically or mentally. It's very important for us to understand.

=== Examples from Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Disciples ===
Among the Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's disciples, there were the 16 well-known monastic disciples, but Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa also trained some people, asked them exclusively to stay in the ''Gṛhastha Āśrama'', like Nagamahāśaya. Later on, M also became a ''saṁnyāsī'' — from Chandradatta, towards the end of his life he became a ''saṁnyāsī''. He never wanted to see his family members.

So on the advice of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, he bought a very solitary place. In those days, nowadays it has become part of the busiest parts of the Calcutta — that is called the Konkur Gachi. And there Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa also visited that place. He was expressly desired to go there, and only the direct disciples of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and devotees will be surrounded him, and he didn't want his family members to come anywhere there. That is how, uttering the name of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Rāmacandradatta passed away.

So every householder disciple of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had trained them how to be in household, and it is not possible for many of them to renounce and become ''saṁnyāsīs'', but become ''mānasika saṁnyāsī'' — mental renunciation. And that applies even today. Every initiated disciple of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa — even today we consider Rāmakṛṣṇa and Holy Mother as our father and mother, and we are their children, and they are ''saṁnyāsīs'', therefore we also have to consider ourselves as ''saṁnyāsīs''.

=== Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Instructions ===
So he gave practical instructions also: after the birth of one or two children, then slowly one has to try to do ''sādhana'' to overcome his physical relationship, and both the husband and wife should live like brother and sister — ''guru bhāī'' and ''guru bhaginī''. That is what he wanted. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's main teaching we have to take note here.

== The Dialogue with Maitreyī ==
So we are talking about the life of Yājñavalkya, and he defeated everybody. And there is also the incident of how he taught, he offered — when Yājñavalkya wanted actually to renounce the householdership and enter into the stage called ''Saṁnyāsa Āśrama'', he called both his wives, and he said, "I have quite a good amount of wealth. I equally divide that wealth, because I love both of you, and you accept it and give me permission to go out."

Kātyāyanī meekly accepted her part, but Maitreyī asked a very penetrating question: "You are very wealthy, and your wealth is so vast, and you have given even for those days quite a great lot. Will this bring me immortality which you had already gained?"

=== Yājñavalkya's Answer on Wealth ===
Yājñavalkya's direct answer was: the wealth will only make you, your life, a little bit more comfortable, like other wealthy people who have got better houses, better instruments, servants, some implements to ease the hardship of their life, but there is no hope of immortality at all.

Now what we have to note is: however wealthy a person is — nowadays they are trying to become billionaires, even trillionaires — but when we look at their life, certainly they are not ideal people, because they have their own headaches and they are not having peace of mind. Definitely we know about it, and wealth has, wealth, possessions have nothing to do — peace of mind is as an exclusive property of the mind.

And for that, tremendous amount of hardship had to be gone through to make the mind healthy, idealistic, as we have seen in the ''Ānandamīmāṁsā''. That is, then such a person will get the highest happiness possible for a human being. But then you can have servants, you can lead a life of ease, but it has nothing to do — and we have to understand it in depth — even the slightest worry, slightest bad dream, slightest, what is called, presumed insult by other people, looking down, can upset those people's minds like anything.

We see Yājñavalkya being challenged by angry people sometimes, but then Yājñavalkya never lost his peacefulness, his repose. Like Bhagavān Buddha remained absolutely the same. These are some of the things we have to meditate upon when we recollect the life of Yājñavalkya.

=== The Three Steps to Realization ===
Ultimately, of course, then Maitreyī asked, "Then I do not want this wealth. Give me that wealth by which I can become like you, free from all limitations, bondage."

And then the most famous teaching which echoes throughout the aeons: ''śrotavyaḥ mantavyaḥ nididhyāsitavyaḥ'' — very meaningful ''sūtra''. The goal of life is God realization, as Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says: ''Ātmavāya'', ''Ātmā'' has to be realized. Realized as what? I am the ''Ātman'' — not that there is a God. I am God, I am ''Brahman''.

For that three steps are there. The most important step is ''śravaṇa'' — that is called initiation into ''mahāvākya''. So in this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka'' we get that ''mahāvākya'': ''Aham Brahmāsmi''. And by the way, the Ramakrishna Order of ''saṁnyāsīs'', we are — our Veda is ''Śukla Yajur Veda''. Our ''mahāvākya'' is ''Aham Brahmāsmi''.

So then slowly he teaches Maitreyī what he meant and clears all her doubts. So all these teachings come.

== Janaka's Enlightenment ==
So what happened? Janaka finally understood: there is nobody, I am so lucky in this world, and this is possible only by the grace of God. That is why Śaṅkarācārya tells in the ''Vivekacūḍāmaṇi'': ''mahāpuruṣa saṁśraya''.

So Maitreyī understood: I have a human body. And she also understood, not only ''manuṣya janma'', I have the deepest desire. If that desire was not there, she would have meekly accepted: "OK, I have the desire, but not now, after sometime." No, "I want it immediately." That is possible only because of the, what is called, that ''mumukṣutvaṁ''. ''Manuṣyatvaṁ, mumukṣutvaṁ'' — I want to be liberated, I want ''mokṣam''.

But of course, ''mahāpuruṣa saṁśraya'' — that is the availability of a great realized soul who can guide me, who can take my responsibility, and like the first class physician of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, he will not simply utter the truth and then leave me. He will be with me, he will guide me, he will take me, and until I reach my goal, he is going to be forever with me.

=== The First Class Physician ===
Rāmakṛṣṇa's teachings are so deep: a first class physician is one, if necessary, he will throw the fellow down, sit on his chest, and open his mouth forcefully, like cows are being fed medicine through a small hollow bamboo tube, like that, until the person becomes cured. And here, curing of the worldly disease, a first class physician will not leave — ''janma janmāntara'', he will be there, life after life he will be there.

"I have got these three. I am not going to lose a single minute."

=== Janaka's Complete Surrender ===
So Janaka Mahārāja also understood it, accepted him as his guru, and then he says, "Every time some teaching is given, I will give you 1000 cows for this invaluable teaching."

Finally, Janaka Mahārāja, by the grace of God flowing through Yājñavalkya, had realized. Then Janaka Mahārāja says that "I offer my whole kingdom along with myself," which goes without saying, "and do whatever you like."

Yājñavalkya, like Samartha Rāmdās telling to Shivaji, "Yes, I am going to be the king. You have offered me everything, but I will appoint you as my representative, and you rule it as if you are a ''dāsa''." Like Bharata had really ruled over Ayodhyā for 14 years until Śrī Rāma came back: "I am only the bearer of your ''pādukās'', and now that you have returned, it belongs to you, please accept it."

That is the exact attitude Janaka had. And once Janaka had realized this truth, then Yājñavalkya certified — the guru certified him, like the guru of Satyakāma Jābāla. He certified him that "Your face is shining like a ''Brahma jñānī''." And Satyakāma Jābāla also certified his disciple Upakosala, whose stories we have read.

=== Fearlessness ===
And then what did he say? ''Abhayaṁ vai āptosi Janaka'' — "O Janaka, you have attained fearlessness." What is fearlessness? ''Abhayam bhavati'' — fear always stems from duality, and you have realized non-duality, therefore you don't have ''bhaya''. That is a negative word. Positive word is: you will be enjoying, what is, swimming in the ocean of bliss, ''saccidānanda sāgara''.

== Conclusion ==
This is the story of Yājñavalkya and how he proceeds, and that is a wonderful story. As I mentioned, I will only give the gist of many of these rituals, etc., because I have already dealt with these ''upāsanas'', etc., earlier. But wherever it is necessary, I will repeat everything. Probably most of the things I am going to talk about will be a repetition, but every repetition will be a new way of expression. And if you have forgotten, you will remember, and if you still remember, it will be reinforcement. This is what we will do.

Again, I will give you a small introduction how this ''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad'' is divided, etc. Then we will also deal, probably in tomorrow's class, about the ''śānti mantra'', which is a very special, peculiar ''śānti mantra''.

== Closing Prayer ==
''Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum''

''Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh''

May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti.

'''Jai Ramakrishna!'''
[[Category:Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]