View source for Svetasvatara Upanishad Lecture 23 on 20 May 2023

By the grace of the Divine Mother, we have been able to complete three chapters of the Svetasvatara Upanishad. Now we are entering today into the fourth chapter. And this fourth chapter contains 22 mantras. And what is the gist of this fourth chapter? Because once we know the gist, this is a beautiful method or the secret of study. There is actually, actually there are some books which teach us how to study books. Books on studying books. And one of them was particularly useful and I arrived great benefit from it. What is it? First of all, you don't start reading the book. You read the preface. Most often, the very entire subject matter is given to us. Then study the foreword or introduction by the author himself. He will have to give, if he is a good author, the entire essence of what actually he is going to expose. In the entire book, whether it is of 50 pages or 1000 pages. And then you look at the chapter headings. Then you will understand the relationship, the connection between the first chapter and second chapter, second chapter and third chapter. Just read the index, two chapters. Then nowadays, many good writers, if it is a technical book, they will write the summary of each chapter. And if we can first read the summary of each chapter, then we will get, far better light will be thrown. What we are expecting, not something wild, but something known, that's very useful. At the end of it, the entire summary of the entire book will be given. And that is, it won't take long time, but once we read these things, then we know what we are going to expect. And we also can know whether it would be of any interest to us. Because very often, people after going, plodding through something, they throw away. No, this doesn't make any sense to me. That is because it is like getting up in the middle of the night in a mid forest, after a deep sleep, and not knowing where one is. And one can be easily lost, easily discouraged. So, this is my habit, I will just to summarize what is going to happen. This I have been doing throughout my talks. So, what is the essence of the 4th chapter? And as I mentioned in earlier classes, the Upanishad means, that which tells us three things. What is the truth? And what is the goal of life? What is the way to reach that goal? Tattva, Purushartha and Hita. So, every Upanishad more or less, it does that. But of all the Upanishads, this Shweta Shwetra Upanishad is very special to me. And it should be to you also. Why? Like Mandukya, it doesn't deal with only very extrusive and abstract subjects, in a very complicated wordings, very plain language. Sometimes, of course, we get the being an Upanishad, being ancient, archaic language. But most of the things are well known to us. And I think, if any Upanishad reflects the teachings of Shri Ram, Krishna, Holy Mother and Swamiji and direct disciples, it is this Shweta Shwetra Upanishad. And particularly, of course, throughout the Upanishad, the essence is the same. But particularly in this 4th chapter, in this 4th chapter, and I am very much sure that the entire 4th chapter is in a way an exposition, a beautiful, short, but crystal clear exposition of the essence of Narayana Suptam, which we completed in our last class. So, what is the essence of this 4th chapter of the Shweta Shwetra Upanishad? This 4th chapter has got 22 mantras. So, what is the essence of it? First, Ekam Sat. There is only one reality, one God called Brahman by Hindus or Vaidikas. But for the sake of, for the facility of meditating upon Him, praying to Him, He is imagined as Saguna Brahma or Ishta Devata. So, He goes by various names. Ipraha means wise people. Bahudhavadanti, they name Him in various ways. He is Rama. He is Krishna. And He is Vishnu. He is Shakti. He is Shiva. Particularly in this Upanishad, He is called Rudra. So, He is Christ. He is Buddha. He is Allah. He is everybody. And this ultimate reality called Nirgud Brahman is one and He is infinite. He is eternal and He ever remains unborn. But the same Brahman, with the help of His divine power called Maya or Prakruti, projects Himself what we call creation, maintenance and destruction. And the important point is, like a potter making a pot, creating a pot, He doesn't remain separate. He remains, He Himself becomes this entire universe, like in our dream, we become, we divide ourselves into ourselves, individuals and the entire Jagat. But in beautiful classification of the Vedanta, that Brahman, as Saguna Brahma, becomes and manifests as Adhyatma, that is Jivatma, Adhibhautika, that is the entire Jagat world and Adhidaivika. And that power which brings about a beautiful relationship between the Jivatma and the world, who is the ruler, as the Sun, as the Akasha, as the Panchabhuta, etc. So this is a marvellous triangle, that Jivatma, Jiva, Jagat and Ishwara, Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika, they cannot be separated. We are caught in this and there is a way out and the only way to get out of this Samsara, what is called the cycle of transmigration, is to take complete refuge in Him. There is no other way. That was the conclusion at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Sarva Dharmaan Parityajya Mamekam Sharanam Rajah and Swami Vivekananda in his marvellous hymn, Om Hreem Hritham, four times he makes us repeat, Asmatvameva Sharanam Mama Dheena Bandho and every day in our hymn, we also sing, Sharanagata Dheenartha Paritranaparayane Sarvasya Aarti Hare Devi Narayani Namostuti and that's what Holy Mother repeatedly says, O my children, take refuge in the Divine Mother, accepting through Her grace, nobody can get out of this Samsara Chakra. And when Shri Ram Krishna had the vision of the Shiva granting Mukti to all the Jivas at the Kashi Manikarnika Ghat, ultimately He saw that it was Mother Kali who out of Her infinite grace, cuts all the bonds and then releases the soul. Now you go and become one with your origin which is Nirvana Brahma. So there is one reality, same reality is this universe that we experience in threefold ways, Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Adhidevika. Ultimately, the only way out is to completely surrender to the Divine and by Mother's grace, one can become. That is the essence of Gayatri Mantra. So with Mahe, we want to become one with you. What should we do? Dheemahe, we pray to you, we contemplate upon you and we approach you. Then what will you do? Out of compassion, you destroy the distance, the Ajnana and take us into your lap and then we know. Brahma vid brahma eva bhavati aham brahma asmi, not only that, sarvam khalvidam brahma. So this is the essence of all this. With this, we will start the fourth chapter. So the entire Shweta Shwetara Upanishad is a complete mixture of Jnanam and Bhakti, highest knowledge combined with the highest Bhakti, Paramanam and Parabhakti. And this fourth chapter, as I mentioned, is a beautiful commentary on Narayana Suptam. And this Upanishad is surcharged with a feeling of devotion. Not in this chapter, but in the next two chapters, we are going to come as a man has so much of devotion to God and the same devotion must be shown towards the Guru. Only such a person will be able to cross this unfathomable deep ocean of Samsara. And this Upanishad brings us tremendous amount of Bhakti, prayer, self-surrender and the one and the many. The emphasis, if we understand, there are not two. There is one and there are many. One, when we do not have body-mind, many when we look at the same one through the prism of body and mind. Swami Vivekananda had emphasized this beautiful point. The macrocosm and the microcosm are made on the same principles. There is no difference at all. Jeevatma and Paramatma are absolutely the same pure consciousness. But what was the condition before creation? Brahman was inactive and unmanifest. And that Paramatma in this nirguna aspect is no qualities, no forms, no colors, devoid of all forms and colors and yet in the beginning of creation, and for a reason that is known only to Him, assumes various forms and colors, various names, various powers, which are absolutely non-different from Him. And from Bhagavad Gita we can understand, whatever glory we see manifest in anything, the valor of a lion, the courage of a lion, and the brilliance of a sun, and the vastness of the ocean, and the unfathomable majesty of the mountains, everything is but a small infinitesimal fraction of my glory. So in the end, this whole universe, which is but His manifestation, again goes back. Srishti, Stithi, and Vinasa. So that Paramatma initiates this cycle of creation, maintenance, and dissolution. For what purpose? There is no purpose because He cannot have any purpose, because there is nothing that is wanting in Him. Purpose always presumes. There is a lack, so there is a desire, and there must be a fulfillment. And all selfishness is to make everything one's own self. But the divine Paramatma doesn't have anything lacking because He is infinite. He is the subject, He is the object, and therefore He cannot have any reason. The only thing we can presume from our point of view, that it is His Leela, His divine sport. There is a beautiful Bengali song. O Lord, You are playing as this universe. You are creating, You are dissolving, You are making, You are breaking. Like a small child who builds on the banks of the ocean, sandcastles, kicks them, again makes different types. What for? There is no meaning there, excepting it is a divine sport. When He creates, the child laughs. And when He kicks it, He laughs. What change has come? By kicking, the sand has not become painful, has not become anything. By making a house or a fort, it also has not become anything. But why does He create? We don't know. For a purpose known only for Himself. And He is one without a second. Apart from Him, there is nothing. So the only thing we can do, we can never understand Him. May that Lord of self-luminosity bestow auspiciousness upon all of us. The purpose of creation is a hidden secret. But we, deluding ourselves that we are not the infinite, we are the finite, can never understand the reasons with our limited minds and brains. Therefore, the only thing is, we will have to take surrender completely. That is called Sadhana. All Sadhanas that lead only to complete surrender. I tried. Now I know. After trying only I know. All trying is inadequate. Only His grace will work. That is what Bhagavan Krishna also confirms. This entire creation has come. That everything was unmanifest before the creation. But it is our purpose that we will have to think about it. So we will start this first mantra. यह एकः अवर्णः भहुधाः शक्तियोगात् वर्णान अनेकान् निहितार्थो दधाति विचैतिच अन्ते विष्वं आदवुच देवः सनः बुध्या शुभया संयुनत्तु In this mantra, the fourth line is like Gayatri. धियो यो नहा प्रचोधयात् सह तट् परमात्मा नहा All of us. शुभया बुध्या With the purest understanding. What is the purest understanding? That I am divine. I am none other than Paramatma. संयुनत्तु मेहि अन्दवज्व This is the prayer and this is the asamsa, all these 22 mantras actually. So He, the one and undifferentiated, who by the manifold application of His powers, produces in the beginning different objects for a hidden purpose and in the end withdraws the universe unto Himself. He is indeed the Self-luminous Supreme Self. May He endow us with clear intellect. Mast Marvellous Mantram These mantras can be subject matters for our contemplation, meditation. And actually Swami Aved Anandaji has transformed these into more manageable, understandable words. So let us try to understand the meaning of these words. Actually, this chapter doesn't require too much of explanation because I have already dealt with quite some elaborate explanation. But all of you, if you are paying attention, then you should be able to understand it properly. There is one before creation, यह, that Paramatma, एकह, He is only one. But even that word one is not allowed to be used by Advaita. Advaita means not one. Advaita means not two. Because if you say one, immediately the parallel numbers will come. Two and more than two. No, He is एकह, forever understanding. And He is आवर्णः. वर्ण means colour. Here, colour means manifestation. Here, colour means form. He was formless. Supposing you take a handful of clay in your hands or a bit of a piece of wood or a piece of gold or a piece of metal. It doesn't matter. What form do you say? Don't say. For the sake of understanding, we say it is a lump of clay. It is a square piece of gold or metal or silver or wood. But that is not what is meant. It is formless. What does it mean? It means, here is something, a little deeper point. I hope you will be able to understand it. I am sure you will understand it. So once something takes a form, for example, there is a ring. Ring is a gold with some form, special name, purpose to insert it above a finger. It is not a necklace. It is not a bangle. It is not a earring. It is exactly that which is supposed to go around the finger. Now, it has a very specific form. So you cannot make it, use it for any other form. But if you want to make it, convert it into other form, you will have to melt it down. That is called a lump. Lump means formless. But formless doesn't mean it doesn't have the capacity to have no forms. Infinite number of forms can be made out of a lump of a clay, of clay, of gold, of silver, of metal, of wood, of anything. The capacity for a lump to manifest into any number of forms, according to the intelligence of the person, and very interesting how intelligence affects the form. You just take a lump of metal. So for a crude person, an unintelligent person, it is just a piece of metal. A little more intelligent person, then he can make it a nail or he can make it a wheel. An even more intelligent person can make it a wheel. And another intelligent person can make it a nut, a bolt. But another intelligent person, even more intelligent than all these people, can make it a pin, a needle. But even more intelligent people can make it an electronic balance. Thus, one simple lump of metal can be used. Same thing you can apply to anything, whether it is gold. How some of our ancestors, both here and in the West, could make such intricate ornaments out of it. It is mind-boggling. And frankly, I can never think that any human being can do that. So given some object, depending upon the intelligence, it can be made into many things. I'll give you a useful hint. Here is a person, male or female. That person can be made, we can forge a relationship as a father, as a mother, as a brother or sister, as a wife, as a friend, or as an enemy, as beautiful, as ugly, as what is called, if it is a tiger, if the relationship is nice food, any number of relationships can be forged. But there is one relationship, this is the Divine Mother, and that was what Sri Ramakrishna had forged. So the whole universe is a fit object. You can consider it as an object for our personal enjoyment, or we can also consider it as the Bhagawan Himself, in the form of what South Indian Vaishnavism calls Archavatara. It doesn't matter. That is being described here, that Paramatma called Brahman is our Naha, means we don't see any forms, therefore we don't see any names, therefore we don't see any prayojana there, and there is no need also. But what does He do? Bahudhaa Shakti Yoga, He had infinite powers, or Shakti Yoga, in conjunction with a power, it will come later on, that is called Prakruti, that is called Maya, then He becomes Sona Brahma, so Varnaan Anekaan, He creates the entire universe, here Varna means what? Infinite number of forms, infinite number of colors, infinite number of sizes, infinite number of gunas, this whole universe can be accessed in the form that we want to access. Anekaan, Aneka means many, many means infinite. That formless one had taken forms. How many? Infinite. How many names? Infinite. Sahasra Seesha Purusha, Sahasra Akshad, Sahasra Paath, Sahabhumim Vishwato, Vritva, Atyatishta, Dashamgulam, Anekaan, but the question that comes is, especially when we are unhappy, when we are suffering, then the question that comes to us is, the good Lord should never have created the world, He created me, look how much I am going through, suffering through, but we don't understand, there is no I or You or We, it is only the Divine Lord, as we think, we only create in our dream, the entire dream world, and some are very healthy minds, some are unhealthy minds, healthy minds will create healthy dreams, sweet people will create sweet dreams, I don't mean sweets, I mean very enjoyable, happy dreams, Naga Mahasaya used to dream of only Gods and Goddesses, but a child who reads a nightmarish book, he will create nightmarish dreams, and who suffers, he only suffers, so this Divine Lord, He creates with tremendous powers, different to that one power, manifests as infinite number of powers, as the sun, as the moon, etc., which we are going to see shortly, as the fire, as the stars, as the weather, as the water, as the earth, etc., etc. Bahuda Shakti Yogat, this word Bahuda, means various with various, with the help of the various powers, or Shakti Yogat, in conjunction with the Prakruti or Maya, Bahuda Anekan Varnan, Tathati means creates, and why does He create? Is He passing some time? He is beyond time, so the question of His passing time doesn't arise, He doesn't have any Apurna Kama, unfulfilled desire, so you cannot say there is a purpose, then why did He create? God alone knows, so we have to say, Oh Lord, it is your Leela, anyway please be kind enough, so you may give suffering to others, but please exclude me from that, I have quite... When do we say that? We don't want to get out of the Samsara, we want only to get out of the sufferings, but if Samsara becomes very pleasant, nobody would ever want to realise himself as God, so there is a Neetha Arthaha, Godha Arthaha, there is a hidden meaning, and who knows about it? He only knows, so what does He do? Ante Vichayate, in the end what does He do? Just as at the beginning He created, in the end He is the one who withdraws everything into Himself, so He became this Srishti, He maintains Himself, and then again He goes back into Himself, this is beautifully hinted in the Bhrigu, when Bhrigu asks his father, Yato vayimani bhutani jayante, ena bhutani jivante, yath prayanti abhishamitante thi, tad vijitnasasva tad brahmete. So Vishwam, this whole Ante means at the end of Pralaya, or at the end of individual Pralaya, which is called sleep, or at the end of Mahapralaya, Prakruti Pralaya, that means at the end, when this body can no longer serve us, there is also the entire universe, and all the created things, so He withdraws Himself. But what does He do? How does He do that? Adau chadevaha dadhati, in the beginning He created, and in the end Ante Vichayate, He takes it back. That is the meaning of it. Naha, that Paramatma, that Brahman, and we cannot describe Him properly, Naha, all of us who are creatures, who had enough of the Samsara, we want to go back. Shubhaya buddhya, with a spiritual outlook, right spiritual understanding of the scriptural teachings, and Guru's teaching, Sanyunatthu, then we will come to know what is Tattva, then we will come to know what is Prushartha, and we will be about it, and we will also come to know what are the pathways. Our Guru will tell us which path is suitable, because there are infinite paths there, and whatever is more suitable for us, He will tell us, and we reach Him, that means we come to know. Teaching means not a geographical travel, travel in distance, which takes time, it means a cognitive, an understanding change. What is it? I am different from God, is the first stage, called Dvaita Vedanta, and I am part of the God, called Visishta Dvaita Vedanta. I am God, is called Advaita Vedanta. That gradual progress, from non-devotion to Dvaita, and to Visishta Dvaita, and finally to Advaita, that is the purpose, and why God had created, God alone knows. In Telugu, there is a beautiful saying, many times I quoted, a man was sitting on the banks of a small, dirty pond, suddenly on an impulse, he jumped into it, and he got mud all over his feet, then in the middle of the pond, there is some clear water, so he takes a bucket full of water, goes to the bank, sits down on a rock, and thoroughly washes his feet, and then goes and sits down, under the tree where he was sitting, before jumping up, and says, Ah, how happy I am. Who asked you, who the hell have asked you, to jump and get muddy, because you know, you could see with your eyes, but the Samsara Sagara is like that. From now on, the same Divine Lord, how did He manifest? That is as the Adhishtana Devatas, as the presiding deities, in the form of Agni, the fire, the sun, the air, the Chandrama, the starry brightness, Tat Brahma, the waters, that means, in the form of Panchaputas and Prajapati. This is a small description, of how He Himself became the Adhi Devatas. So, the second mantra goes like this, Tad eva Agnihi, Tad Adityaha, Tad Vayuho, Tadu Chandramaha, Tad Eva Shukram, Tad Brahma, Tad Apaha, Tad Prajapatihi, Tad Brahma eva Agnihi. He manifested now, that first He manifested, as Saguna Brahma, called also Ishwara, called also Divine Mother by Sri Ramakrishna. Remember, when I want to think of Brahman without activity, I call Him Nirguna Brahman, but the same Brahman, when I am thinking with activity, activity means only three, Srishti, Stithi, Vinasha, Creation, Maintenance and Dissolution, then I call the same Brahman as Shakti. But remember, both these are thoughts in the mind. The Brahman that we think about without activity, and the Brahman we think as Saguna Brahma with activity, both are exalted thoughts in the mind, that is why even the highest thought is called Brahma Akara Prithi. So that Divine Lord, He manifested first in any order, each Upanishad describes it in different terms, but it means to say, He manifested Himself as Jeevatma among the living creatures, or Prana, those who have got Prana, and as a Sat, in the form of those which do not manifest Chit and Ananda, that is what we call non-living things, the mountains, the stones, the earth, etc. But remember, for the earth, a lump of clay is nothing but Bhumata, Panchadevata, without Her, impossible even to live, without water, impossible to live, without fire, impossible to live, without Pranavayu, impossible to live, without Akasha, impossible to live. So Panchadevatas, some of them are mentioned here, we have to understand, it means everything that we have studied in Vedanta. So that Supreme Self is manifesting as Agni, it is Aditya, it is Vayu, it is Chandrama, and that same Brahman, that Self with the luminous stars here, Shukra means that brilliance that we get without clearly being able to distinguish, that is called the stars. And at night if you see, when there is no light pollution, there is a white light from the north to the south, especially in India, and our ancestors have told us, this is what is called the pathway guiding the pilgrims from Kashi to Rameshwaram and from Rameshwaram to Kashi. Of course, they have associated a sacredness, a spiritual symbolism to this light, but for any modern astronomer, it is but this scattered light that is manifest to every human eye in a most brilliant way. So what are these things? That Brahman has become Agni, that means when you see fire, salute it, you are Brahman, I am seeing Brahman. When we see the Adit Tat Adityaha, that Brahman is manifesting in the form of the sun, that is why early in the morning, Aditya Narayana and also Tat Savithu Varenyam Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi Dheeyo Yonah Prachodayat, because the most manifest Brahman aspect is the sun, and then the moon, and then the stars, and then the Pancha Devatas, and in that order. Why? Because without the sun, there is no life. Without life, there is no manifestation of consciousness. Without the manifestation of consciousness that I am a human being, why am I born, and what is the purpose, what is the goal of my life, what am I to do in order to reach my goal? Everybody's goal is God. How do we know whether a person says whether I believe in God or not? Nobody will say. I don't want to be alive. I don't want to be unhappy. I want to be happy. I want to be alive. Sat, ananda, chit, knowledge, awareness that I am, I am alive, and I am happy. Where sat is there, chit and ananda will be there. Where chit is there, sat and ananda will be there. Where ananda is there, sat and chit will be there. Therefore, where there is these three, they can never be separated. So, whenever we see the stars, yes, to salute. And if you want even better meaning, then you recollect Guru Nanak's beautiful poem that the whole sky is nothing but a beautiful plate and every second, millisecond, aratrikam is going on, and the sun and the moon and the stars, they are the lights in that Jalanta Deepure. Then the beautiful southern bridge, all the forests, flowers, trees with fruits and flowers, everything is an offering. Every river is an offering of what we give. There are five offerings. So, the fire is also an offering. All the Pancha Devatas are offering. The entire universe is an offering. It is nothing but worshipping the Divine Lord. That was what Shri Ramakrishna's realization after doing a few months of puja at the Kali Mandir at Dakshineshwar. And then his physical puja had come to an end because the purpose of the puja is to see that the whole world is a manifestation of God. God is worshipping God. God alone can worship God. Nobody else can worship God. And that is going on all the time. And to be aware of it is called spiritual realization. And that is what he is telling that when we see the air, when we see the moon, when we see the stars, that is Brahma. And that Brahma further is manifesting as Apahar Jala Devata. And that Brahma is manifesting as Prajapati. Prajapati means the Lord from whom this offspring is coming out. In every species, the main cause for the offspring is called Prajapati. That is why he is also called Surya. In the Prashna Upanishad, this is the main topic. If you remember, we have to connect whatever Upanishads we have studied so that it makes a beautiful remembrance and also a meaning, related meaning without any contradiction. Prajapati has become the Aditya, the sun and the moon, and from them day and night, from them all the seasons, the fifteen days, what is called fortnights, the months, the six months, the seasons, the entire year, the Yugas, everything has come from them. And the whole universe, living, non-living has come. So Prajapati or Hiranyagarbha or Ishwara or Sutratma, synonymous words, that Supreme Self is Agni, it is Aditya, it is Vayu, it is Chandrama, the moon, that is the luminous stars, it is Hiranyagarbha, it is water, it is Virat. In other words, whatever you see, salute it. Even when you see a mice, a mouse, salute it. I don't mean your computer mouse, that is also very necessary. If you lose your computer mouse, you will understand what I am talking about. So here, in many other Upanishads also, everything is being described as the manifestation. Not only that. Now, the next mantra is going to say, you are the man, you are the woman, you are the masculine, you are the feminine, you are the neuter. And that is, to further our contemplation of the Brahman, Brahman manifests further. Always say, these are some manifestations, the next are some more manifestations. So that is being said here, Brahman alone is manifesting as every phenomenal entity. Brahman, first of all, as all human beings. Earlier in the second mantra, what did I say? I said, Brahman is predominantly described as, manifestation as Adi-Daiva, presiding deity. But here, as the Adhyatmika, we are all, every Jeevatma is an Adhyatmika. Every living creature is a Jeevatma, including a microbe, a bacteria, and even a mosquito, a fly, everything. There is nothing excluded. And Swami Vivekananda's favourite quotation, many times he quoted from this third mantra, and addressing that Brahman, O Paramatma, O Brahman, I will first deal with the fourth line, and then again come back. O Brahman, Vishwato mukhah jatah bhavasi That in infinite number of forms, names, with different qualities, you are only manifesting as this entire Jagat that each one of us, each Jeevatma experiences. So the Jagat is nothing but your manifestation. But there are what we call non-awarenesses there, non-living are there. What is it? You can't ask a table, Who are you? We can know it is a table, but we can know it is existing. But because of our cognition, it exists, but itself is incapable. Like a sleeping man, you ask, Who are you? It is not possible for that person to tell who that person is. But when the same person wakes up, he will tell. Similarly, what we call the inorganic, lifeless, in the course of time, in the course of evolution, he becomes organic, endowed with life, immediately he goes on evolving. His brain, capacity to understand his body, the whole purpose of evolution is to make us realize that we are coming from God and our only destination can be none other than God. So, What are you doing? Without any reason, rhyme or reason, you are wandering in a foreign dress, in a foreign country, without having any visa, without even having a passport. Why are you doing all this? So, Lord, you are manifesting as the Adhyatmika, Jeevatma. How? So, whenever you see any feminine form, female mosquito or female dog, anything female, feminine, is Tvam. And anything male, that is also you. And by extension, we have to understand anything that is neuter, that is also the only. Tvam kumaraha. You are an adolescent being, kumara called kumara, who is a kumara, according to definition, a person who has not yet entered into that stage where he is incapable of propagating himself. Or a girl who is not able to propagate herself, they are called kumaraha or kumari. So, Tvam kumaraha. You see any adolescent, that is you. Not only human adolescent, be careful, not only human. So, a young mosquito, a young dog, or a young lion, anything, anything that is living. And similarly, the female counterpart of anything that is living, which is growing up, which has not yet become fit for mating and capable of being produced. That will come later on. And then it means, you are the youth, whether male or female, you are the middle-aged person, male or female, feminine or masculine. Tvam jirnaha dandena vamshasi. When we see an old man, Tvam jirnaha dandena, with the help of a stick, vamshasi, you are tottering along. Any moment he can fall. Remember the vision of Bhagawan Buddha. This was the first person he saw. An old man suddenly came across. He was hardly able to walk. He took some time, all the while looking at Buddha. That is my edition. So saying, you fellow, you think you may be a prince. You think that you are able to live forever. You will never become old. You will not be dead. And then Buddha was startled. That moment, Vairagya had come. Because Viveka awakened in him. Then it is said, that very night, he left the home, renounced the home. For what purpose? For showing the pathway to all of us. So when we see an old person, simply salute, O Lord, You are going in the form of old man, old woman, old animal. I have seen, I have read about some of these stories. Especially in the West, people love when a dog becomes old, when a horse becomes old. Even some people, when a cow becomes old, they will look after it. In India, there are people who want to maintain the old cows, which are not able to look after themselves. So they are not doing it. You are a cow, I will look after you. You are Bhagawan. But in this form, you are not able to look after yourself. So, Vamjirnaha. I see crystal clearly. Dandena Vamchasi. Vamchasi means tortoise. Moves along, shaking, tottering, etc. Vam, Jato, Bhavasi, Vishwa, Domaka. Every form, living or non-living, young or old, feminine or masculine, is nothing but you. Salute! The whole world is nothing but the manifestation of Bhagawan. Thou art woman. Thou art man. Thou art youth. Thou art the maiden. Thou as an old man, totterist along on a staff. It is Thou alone, who when born, assumes infinite number of forms. And in Atharva Veda also, Swami Tegesandre says, Lord, You are within men. You are within women. You are within the young. You are within the old. You live within all of us. And You exist everywhere. That means, the whole Vishwa is nothing but a Krida Ranga. That is why one of the titles of God is Sri Ranganatha. Veela. And that is what Krishna is doing. Not a young man playing with a young woman. But Krishna is seeing Krishna everywhere. And Gopis were also seeing Bhagawan only. You are not mere ignorant son of an ignorant cow-head woman. But, You are the Antaryami of all Bhoothas. You are the indweller manifesting within everybody that the Gopis have realized. Bhagawan Krishna is actually playing with Himself. And then this is further said, now this time, giving non-humans as example. So when we see insects. A beautiful, rare, blue-colored, shining Patangaha means butterfly. What a bee, a butterfly, Patangaha. So, when we see, we'll see, Oh Lord, You have taken this form. Haritaha Lohitakshaha. Not only that, You are also a green parrot. Lohitakshaha, with red eyes. Haritaha, green color. Whenever you see a parrot, that's why parrot becomes very favorite. And unfortunately, by meditating on parrots, we also become parrots. Hare Rama, Hare Krishna. And also, Tasmatma Vemasharanam Amadhenu Vandho. And then, what happened to my back balance? Go on thinking like that. Tadid Garbhaha. Garbhaha means womb. What womb? Tadid. Where there is full of this lightenings. That means, a cloud bearing full of water, like a nine months pregnant woman. When we see, it is the manifestation. In the form of that water, the Lord is maintaining all of us. Ritavaha. You are maintaining in the form of Ritus, all the seasons. Indians have six seasons. Though, South India has got only three seasons. Hot water, hottest. Ritavaha. Samudraha. And, all the Samudras are the meaningless. They are created because without water it is impossible for us to live. Anadhimat. Even though you are manifesting, every manifestation starts in time. Every manifestation changes as time goes. Every manifestation goes back into its unmanifest state. But, you, even though you are seemingly manifesting, Tam Anadhimat. You are infinite and eternal. Nobody can find out where you did it. Vibhutvena vartasaye. And, you are maintaining, you are creating, you are maintaining, and you are withdrawing, and you are lording. You promulgated all the laws of beautiful life and if anybody transgresses them, you will punish them. So, you are only Vibhutvena as the divine lord, all-pervading lord. Vibhutva means both all-pervading and also as the ruler. Vartasaye. You are maintaining this whole samsara. Yato jatani bhuvanani vishvaha. All these vishvabhuvanani, all the universes, not one, infinite number of universes and yathaha from whom, from you, jatani born. This marvelous mantra has some more meanings. I will come to that. Especially Ramakrishna, after six months of what is called Nirvikalpa Samadhi, he one day saw a butterfly, somebody stuck in its anus and it was suffering, a small stick and he fell down unconscious. He got up and he started laughing, Oh Rama, you became the butterfly, you are the butterfly, you became the boy, you stuck this stick into yourself and you got stuck and then you are suffering, everything is nothing but your own manifestation and with that he entered into again Nirvikalpa Samadhi.  
[[Category:Svetasvatara Upanishad]]