Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 06 on 26 June 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Taittiriya Upanishad. So, before entering into the text proper, we were discussing certain preliminaries. As I mentioned, I was interspersing, interchanging with the Chandogya Upanishad also because both we have started only recently. Any Upanishad requires certain preliminaries. In our last class, I have been discussing what is called Shraddha. That is the most important topic in the whole world. The whole sadhana is only to obtain Shraddha. Why is it so? Because in our day-to-day life, whatever we do depends upon what we think is real. We will never do, even if we wish, anything that we know is not real. Rarely do we sit and analyze why we do certain things. Only what we consider to be real, our actions, our reactions, both depend upon. I am just giving you the importance of this point.

Suppose somebody is pretending. Very often, you know, parents pretend as if they are very, very angry with the baby and go on making faces and like that. But the more the parents do that, the more the baby starts laughing because it understands these people want to play. It is not real. But if it is real, then the opposite reaction will come. Everything that we do depends upon what we think to be real. Whether what we think to be real is really real or it is absolutely false, just the opposite of reality, that's a totally different issue. But everybody only does whatever we think to be real.

So, to consider something as real, then only a real reaction will come. From what we think to be wrong, an unreal reaction will come. Every drama is nothing but pretence, as if. And that is why we are able to enjoy it. If anybody goes to a cinema, movie, and then thinks it is real, then people will not survive long. Some people may even have heart attacks, especially nowadays. But we enjoy hugely because it is make-believe. Everybody, the director knows it is make-believe. We also know it is make-believe. And in make-believe, we can make anything happen. The impossible can happen. And that is exactly the definition of Maya.

So, in this make-believe, there is birth, there is growth, there is death, there is tragedy, there is happiness, there is unhappiness, there are heavens, there are hells. These are all make-believes. And why are we enjoying all those things? Really speaking, we are going to enjoy all those things. The whole purpose of every scripture is to educate us. What we think is real is nothing but mithya. But after some development in spiritual life, spiritual progress, then we understand. And then the scriptures use a new word for that. This is called Leela. Usually, this word Leela, only after reaching the roof, one knows everything is made up of the roof and not separate from the roof. As Sri Ramakrishna would say, he is habituated to speak like that. This is after realization of Brahman.

Then when the person comes back into this old body-mind complex, he is called Jivan Mukta. And what he does or what happens in his life is called Leela. That is why in South India, there is a temple called Sri Ranganatha Temple. Ranga means a stage for drama. And then everything is Leela. That is why he is not lying down. He is not standing up. He is half reclined. That is a beautiful concept, Leela. This is what Sri Ramakrishna wants to say, that the whole universe is nothing but Leela. Instead of using very horrible words like Maya and mithya, Sri Ramakrishna prefers the word Leela. This is her Leela, her will.

Then Sri Ramakrishna says, "This is the Divine Mother's will." We should not equate it with what we call, we understand our will. It has to be equated with Leela. Because if it is real, it is a horrible thing. But it appears to be real. It is never real.

Now, what is all this topic? It is in relationship in the context of Shraddha. What is Shraddha? The very definition of Shraddha is, without having direct knowledge, then we start to have deep faith. Even as I said, that word faith is a very weak word. So, this is nothing but pure faith. What is this faith? It is called Shraddha. What is this Shraddha? As if we know that God is real. Life is continuous. There is no death. There are other universes to perform our Leelas. And we know that there are other experiences. Afterlife also is there. But we do not have that knowledge. These sense organs cannot give that knowledge. That is why Shraddha is needed. And Sri Ramakrishna has a lot to say about it. And Swami Vivekananda has clarified what Sri Ramakrishna really meant. I will come to that right now.

So what is Shraddha? Shraddha is indirect knowledge. So when we have some knowledge, direct knowledge, we act, we react, we think, we wish, or we want to run away. Because we think we know it is real. We know it is real. So Shraddha means we know God exists. We know there is life after. We know our Karmaphala is going to fructify. We know. But we don't get that knowledge like we see a tree, etc. But through the scriptures. A baby doesn't know anything. Sri Ramakrishna gives an example. A mother says to the baby, there is a bogeyman in that other room. Don't ever enter. He will take you away. And the baby has absolute faith. She never doubts the mother's words. But what is the bogey person there? Sometimes you may say, cannot say Sri Ramakrishna, you give better examples. What does bogeyman do? He will harm the baby. What does this room contain? There is some equipment which can be highly dangerous to the life of the baby. The purpose is to protect the baby. So there is faith. And Sri Ramakrishna gives many, many examples for that. But important, what is Shraddha? Indirect knowledge as if we know. But we have no direct knowledge. It comes to us through the scripture, through the Guru, through our well-wishers. Even in this world also. When Einstein says something, this is what we call authority. When an authoritarian says, and we believe because we have faith in him that he knows what he is talking about.

So to have that, when the Upanishads say that everything that we experience is not real, rather, what does this is also a very interesting word, you must bear with me because so much of misconception has accumulated in our brains. Especially unable to understand the real purport of the scriptures, we go on misunderstanding something for something else. Maya, Mithya. Even from the Advaita point of view, what does Advaita want to say about Maya? It is not that there is really something. This world is Mithya. This world is Maya. It doesn't mean that there is an illusoriness. What Advaita really means is that everything that we are experiencing is none other than God. God in everything. As we know, Swami Vivekananda had given beautiful talks on Jnana Yoga and they are all based on different statements of the Upanishads.

In case you do not know, you have to understand this one. Every chapter, especially the chapters on Maya—I think there are three marvellous explanations on this Maya. So here, there is one chapter called "Everything is God." This is taken from the Isavasya Upanishad, the very first mantra of the Isavasya Upanishad: "Everything is enveloped by God." Isavasya idam sarvam. But it doesn't mean—we should never misunderstand—some object is covered with a piece of cloth. Like that, what is the problem with this illustration? So there is an object and a cloth is covering it. We only see the cloth. We mistake it for the cloth. But we do not really see. There are not two objects. A real object which is completely covered up by the cloth. That is not the meaning. That means everything is God. God is everything. Nothing else exists excepting God. This is the real meaning of Maya. Maya means outward appearance. There is not an illusory world. The illusion exists in our minds. That's why many times I try to emphasize this point. When we hear that classical example, mistaking a rope for a snake, the rope has never become a snake. Throughout past, present, future, there is only that rope. But because of certain fears, certain ideas, past experiences in our lives, we immediately mistake it. Mistake. Mistake means what? This is the real meaning of it. So instead of seeing it as it is, as a rope, we only see it as a snake. Each one of us, we only see it as a snake. An owl, very fond of hunting snakes, if an owl sees it, it is not going to swoop down and think, "Oh, how lucky I am! I got a snake." It will not even blink at that object. Why? It sees a useless piece of rope there, which is no good at all. But at the same time, we who are frightened of snakes, we imagine—our imagination is Ajnana. Our imagination is delusion. Our imagination is Maya. This is the most important point we have to understand here.

So when the Upanishad says that everything is Brahman, that is the first statement. The second statement is: if everything is Brahman, and you are part of everything, you are Brahman. That is the second statement. The third statement is: Brahman is only one. There is nothing else. There is nothing else. That is the third statement. "Oh, that means what I am thinking, that there are many, many things there. Everything is Brahman. Now that has to be completely removed." This is a very interesting methodology, Prakriya, called Adhyaropa Apavada Prakriya. What does it mean? Adhyaropa means, just like a rope is covered up with a wrong idea, so Brahman, who is not born, here is covered up with the idea of born. Brahman, who is of pure knowledge, pure consciousness, is covered up by accepting a little bit of knowledge. Brahman, who is Ananda Swarupa, we only get occasional glimpses of what is called Sukha. This is called Maya, Mithya, etc. The problem is not external or internal. It is our brain or our mind, rather, misunderstanding the truth.

But gradually, through all this Shravana, Manana, Nidhidhyasana, then Karmakanda, then Pramana, Shadpramana, and then slowly to Shadlinga, the Guru is slowly, what is he doing? He is not giving Brahman knowledge to the disciple. He is removing the incapacity of the mind, usually called Chitta Shuddhi, right capacity to understand rightly. That is the whole Sadhana. It is not to get Brahman, but to remove the idea that this world is there. Instead of Brahman, we are seeing the world. Remove that world. This is what Lord Bhagwan Buddha is again and again emphasizing: "The Self does not exist." And we who read his Upanishads, we mistake what is the meaning of Self he is referring to and what is the meaning of Self we are trying to misunderstand his words. He is not talking about Atman. He is talking about what we call this Mithya.

So when the Upanishad tells us, it definitely tells us that you are Brahman. Shraddha is required. And about this Shraddha, many beautiful concepts exist. In the last class, I cited, I actually chanted some of these Shraddha Suktam and Medha Suktam. Both are necessary. Medha Suktam purifies our intellect, and Shraddha Suktam throws out all the dirt, making space for Shraddha to enter into it. As I mentioned earlier, when we take the help of a great saintly soul, an illiterate but wise, all-knowing person like Swami Advaitananda, he says you should always pray to the Nama before doing Japa. First of all, make prostrations not only to the Namini but to the Nama itself because Nama and Namini are completely one and the same.

So when the Upanishad says you are Brahman, tremendous Shraddha is required to be open-minded, and then that Shraddha slowly seeps in through all these qualities. An Adhikari is ready. By this time, he has faith. What my Guru says is absolute truth. We have to understand—I am giving these examples—it is not really deviating. In the Katha Upanishad, we see that Nachiketa's father was claiming that he wants to go to heaven, about which he read in the Karmakanda. He was doing what the Karmakanda prescribes, but he was also doing what the Karmakanda proscribes. I hope you understand the difference between prescription and proscription. Prescription means you must, and proscription means you should not go anywhere near. So give up everything that is completely removed here. He is giving away things that are totally useless. That is a very sinful act. That is how we have to understand these things.

So here, when the Guru says the scriptural word Tattvam Asi, we have to question not the Guru, not the scripture, but ourselves. That is where Shraddha comes in and says, "What Guru says, scripture says. Then what is wrong with me? Why am I not getting that?" And through various examples, it gives us.

So in this context, I will first give quotations from Sri Ramakrishna. Let us remember, Shraddha is but indirect knowledge. Sri Ramakrishna says when a mother tells her child, "Do not enter that room. There is a bogeyman," the child never doubts it. Sri Ramakrishna repeatedly emphasizes the importance of faith. As I said, this English word "faith" is not very strong. By saying, "God cannot be realized without childlike faith," he is connected with the words of Jesus Christ in the Bible: "Unless a man dies and is reborn, he will not enter the kingdom of heaven." So when a person is reborn, how is he reborn? As a child. That is called faith. "If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can tell a mountain to move, and it will move," says Sri Ramakrishna, illustrating the tremendous power of faith. Many stories exist to illustrate this.

Sri Ramakrishna tells a story: By the way, just to remind you, Sri Ramakrishna was Rama, Sri Ramakrishna was Krishna, Sri Ramakrishna was Jesus Christ, Sri Ramakrishna was Buddha—all past incarnations. How do we know? Because all of them were seen to have entered into his body when he meditated upon them. Sri Ramakrishna tells of a householder who was a great devotee of God but not a great spiritual person. Once he had to go out, leaving his 5 or 6-year-old son at home. He instructed his son on what to do: "See that God eats," and then he left. What the father meant was to place food in front of God, close his eyes, and sleep for 15-20 minutes. After that, thank God for sanctifying the food and check to see if any of it had been eaten; if less food was there than he had offered, he would know who had taken it. The boy, however, truly believed that God would come down and eat. He offered the food, praying for God to come as He used to when his father worshipped. When God did not appear, the boy started weeping, fearing his father would be angry for not properly offering the food. Seeing his innocent faith, God appeared, smiled, and ate the entire plate of food. The boy was very happy; after all, who would not be happy to see God? He then showed the empty plate to his family, who asked where the prasadam was. The boy explained that God had eaten everything. Sri Ramakrishna does not continue the story beyond this point. This illustrates real faith, and Sri Ramakrishna used to repeat this story many times.

Hearing this, a devotee asked, "Sir, is there then no help for such worldly persons?" Sri Ramakrishna replied, "Certainly there is. From time to time, they should live in the company of holy men, and sometimes go into solitude to meditate on God. Furthermore, they should practice discrimination and pray to God, 'O Lord, give me faith and devotion.'" Sri Ramakrishna continues, "I have not continuously taken the quotations; I mixed up the sayings of Sri Ramakrishna and brought them together for our convenience." Sri Ramakrishna says, "Once a person has faith, he has achieved everything; there is nothing greater." This is one of the Upanishadic statements, and all our sadhana is to obtain that faith.

Swami Brahmananda had compared this faith.

Do you know what he has compared it to? Faith, true faith is like the dawn just before the sunrise. As soon as we see faith, the dawn, the whole eastern horizon turns pinkish. We know the sunrise is not far off. God realization is not far off then. Sri Ramakrishna continues, "As I said, this is not from one page but from different pages. You must have heard about the tremendous power of faith. It is said in the Puranas that Rama, who was God Himself, the embodiment of absolute Brahman, had to build a bridge to cross the sea to Ceylon. But Hanuman, trusting in Rama's name, cleared the sea in one jump and reached the other side; he had no need for a bridge at all. In Kannada, there is a beautiful song quoted quite a number of times by a great saint called Purandar Dasa. He says, 'I don't want wealth, I don't want your powers, I don't need any of them. If I have your name, that will do everything, I will get everything.'"

Now, a very important part: faith and self-surrender for God realization. Sri Ramakrishna used to say that two things are necessary for the realization of God: faith and self-surrender, and they go together. "If I know God exists, then I cannot help but surrender myself to Him. Actually, our whole life from morning till evening is nothing but pure practice of self-surrender. Early in the morning, I get up and surrender myself to a hot cup of tea. Thereafter, I surrender myself to some music, and after brushing my teeth, I read the newspaper or check headlines on the computer. Like that, the whole day I have faith in the world and everything, but not in God. When Sri Ramakrishna uses the word 'faith,' we have to understand he meant 'Shraddha.' Faith and self-surrender—they go together. You see God and you don't surrender yourself, or you think, 'First let me think, I am seeing God, what am I supposed to do?' No, if you see a truck coming towards you, you think, 'Now what am I supposed to do?' Instantaneously, you want to get out. But if you see something that can give you tremendous happiness, you won't think twice; you will just run towards it."

Sri Ramakrishna used to say, "Faith brings self-surrender." He says, "If a man has faith in God, then even if he has committed the most heinous sins such as killing a cow, a Brahmin, and a woman, he will certainly be saved through his faith. Let him only say to Him, 'O Lord, I will not repeat such an action,' and he need not be afraid of anything." Actually, this saying of Sri Ramakrishna is a summarization of Bhagavan Krishna's words in the Gita. "There are so many things there, but I will just remind you because I expect you to remember this after reading the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna."

"The faith of Vibhishana in Sri Rama."

Once, a man was shipwrecked and landed on Sri Lanka. The Rakshasas, the people of Sri Lanka, wanted to swallow him up. After some time, their mouths started watering. However, Vibhishana came to know, as the lion's share has to be offered to the head of the place. He immediately prostrated himself before the man. The next day, he said, "Even I cannot protect you. You better cross over to India."

"How to cross?" There was no boat. So, he wrote something. Now, I hope you remember that he was crossing so nicely. Then, suddenly, midway, he got a doubt. "What is it that he gave me?" One small slip. "Let me see what it is." Unfortunately, he opened it. Only one single word was written: "Rama." "Oh, only this doubt had come." Immediately, he sunk. What a contrast between this story and this sadhu's real incident!

Now, Swami Vivekananda tells marvellous things. "Whatever came from the mouth of Swami Vivekananda is Veda. Whatever came from the mouth of Sri Ramakrishna is Veda. Whatever came from the mouth of Holy Mother is Veda. Whatever comes from the mouths of any realized soul is nothing but pure. That is called Veda." Swami Vivekananda says, "Losing faith in oneself means losing faith in God." This marvellous equation of Shraddha, faith in oneself, and faith in God are absolutely the same because that is the truth. It requires elaboration, which I am not going to have this, but it is a marvellous statement we have to meditate upon, just as we meditate upon the teachings of any Upanishad.

"Faith, faith, faith in faith, faith in God—this is the secret of greatness." He says, "If you have faith in all the 330 million of your mythological gods and in all the gods which foreigners have now and then introduced into your midst like Jesus, like Allah, etc., and still you have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you. Have faith in yourself." You people look, it is a very important quotation. "You people were once the Vedic Rishis. Only you have come in different forms now. That's all. You people were once the Vedic Rishis. Don't doubt, having been Vedic Rishis, I have never attained salvation."

"What means we are the lineage children of the Vedic Rishis? The history of the world," then he says, "These are all nuggets of gold—or diamond, I should say. The history of the world is the history of a few men who had but faith in them, and that faith calls out the divinity within." Then he says, "An instance of Shraddha can be found in the life of Nachiketa. To preach the doctrine of Shraddha or genuine faith is the mission of my life. There are so many, but these are very essential nuggets."

So, how does one develop Shraddha? We have already discussed it with great sincerity. You pray or recite Medha Suktam and Shraddha Suktam. This Shraddha Suktam is found in the Rig Veda, 10th Mandala, Sukta number 151. Now, very briefly, there are many thoughts about this Shraddha. What are the implications of Shraddha? Suppose a person has developed quite a good amount of Shraddha. I would not say 100%, because 100% Shraddha is direct realization of Brahman. So, a good deal of Shraddha, when a person has that, means surrender to Shraddha. That means Shraddha is guiding him. This is how we have to understand from the Katha Upanishad, Shraddha Avivesha, Shraddha Possessed Nachiketa. There are, at least, I can see seven implications. A man endowed with Shraddha as a new concept of truth, reality, that is called Brahman. As soon as he has this concept, because of Shraddha, he wants to attain what is this new concept? Previously, this world is real. Now, it becomes just the opposite: Brahman is the reality and this world is nothing but Brahman. That is the first thing that happens.

That is why when Nachiketa was possessed by this Shraddha, he was prepared to go to Yamadharma Raja. It's a very symbolic story, but what it means, very briefly, is that when a person knows what this world can offer—by this world, I mean not only our earthly world but up to Brahma Loka—it's all states of delusory enjoyment. When a person knows Brahman is of infinite joy, then he will not hesitate to give up everything within a second. Anyone in such a state will do so automatically, without thinking. He wants to attain that. That's why the symbolism of Nachiketa going to Yamadharma Raja is: "I want to die to this world. I want to be reborn in the kingdom of heaven, which is complete identity with Brahman." That is the first implication.

Secondly, Shraddha will not allow a devotee's or aspirant's mind to deviate until he reaches the goal. Sri Ramakrishna gives the example: "A child is playing, then forgets completely. After some time, he is tired, hungry, and kicks the whole lot. That is the symbol. What does it mean? It means, 'I've had enough of this world. I want to go back to where I belong. My real parents are there.' Shraddha will not allow the aspirant's mind to deviate because anything unreal is the most dangerous thing in this world. As soon as you realize you've bought a fake gold watch, you immediately want to get back the one pound you've lost. It's not easy to find that fellow who cheated you, but the mind will not allow us to deviate if it really believes that I am cheated. That's the second implication.

Thirdly, Shraddha endows every aspirant with the strength to overcome any obstacle on the way to reach the goal. The ideal of human life is self-realization because something strange happens for a person of Shraddha. He says, "What is called Bhagawan, God alone." The automatic next step is, "I only want God. I don't want anything else." This is the fourth step in the self-surrender teaching of Sri Ramakrishna.

Fourthly, Shraddha will make a person sacrifice everything. Nothing can stop him. "I am clinging to this one. Of course, I believe God is there, but this attachment to my mother, to my family, to money, to bank balance—these are simply stupidities. When a person understands all these are nothing but a magic show, then he will naturally discard them. Sacrifice is when we give up something very precious and real. To give up something fake requires no sacrifice. That is the fourth implication.

Fifthly, infinite enthusiasm. A person endowed with Shraddha never feels depression or discouragement. Restlessness does not come in the way of his goal and his work. Until he reaches it, he will not take rest because he knows that tremendous enthusiasm. Just look at the lives of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda, direct disciples, and any saint. The first thing you notice is unflagging enthusiasm. It never knows, "Oh, it was alright for half an hour. Let me be depressed." You will never find such a thing.

Sixthly, Shraddha will never allow any person's memory to be overshadowed, even for a second. If we have Shraddha, then memory is made equivalent to Shraddha. If I have Shraddha, memory will be automatic because truth will never allow us to forget about it.

Lastly, Shraddha will make a person always joyful. Even a million obstacles do not deter his joy and his work. These are only a few of the implications of Shraddha. In other words, a person will never stop...

That is why Swamiji's mantra, "Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached," has seven implications. However, don't think there are only seven. Every blessed quality that we require comes as soon as Shraddha (faith) comes; they cannot stay apart from Shraddha. Sri Ramakrishna also emphasizes faith in the Guru's words. You should depend on his instructions and do your duties in the world while holding fast to his words, like a person whirling round and round while holding fast to a pillar. Sri Ramakrishna finally says, "What can one not achieve through simple faith?"

Therefore, I say, even if my Guru frequents a grog shop, to me he is still the embodiment of eternal bliss. I have heard many devotees express, "We thought our Guru was like that, but slowly we see faults." That is not the Guru's fault; the fault is in your mind. All the cobwebs are in your mind only. That is why I have emphasized many times: as soon as we choose a Guru, you should say, "My Guru is none other than God." You should never give up that faith.

Then what about if he is not good? Whether he is good or not is his business, not yours. If you think he is your God, your God will always be with you. Even a false Guru can never be false towards a real disciple, as Ekalavya's story amply illustrates. Even though the Guru discarded and rejected him, he says, "My Guru, you are my Guru. I have chosen you, and that is it."

Sri Ramakrishna continues: a man must have some kind of faith before he undertakes a work. This echoes what I tried to describe earlier. If a person doesn't have faith in what he is doing, it flags, and he may stop. But if a man has faith, there is a great end. It is not like chasing a rainbow; it is chasing God, chasing the reality. A Mithya (illusion) totally depends upon the Satyam (truth). Even an illusory snake will only lead us to the real rope. This is an analogy we need to understand deeply through meditation.

Every day, we are doing this. You look at a photograph. Nobody had seen Rama except in visions. Nobody had seen Krishna. Did anybody see Sri Ramakrishna really? They only saw his body and mind. So we depict a photo, a picture, keep it there, and then we prostrate. Is it a snake or is it a rope? This snake will ultimately help us to catch hold of the real rope. How does it happen? I am not saying my commentary is correct, but I want to derive a little bit of fun with you.

You keep on seeing the snake. First, it creates fear. Afterward, you see that it is not doing anything wrong. Slowly, your fear abates, and after some time, you approach nearer and nearer, and then you touch it. Then you realize, "Oh, I thought this was a snake, but what I am touching is nothing but a pure piece of rope." An illusory something can always take us to the real. In beautiful technical words, this is called Upasana.

Upasana, or meditation or contemplation, is nothing but taking something limited and, through that, attaining the unlimited. Sri Ramakrishna says that a man must have some kind of faith before he undertakes any work because a man cannot continue his work without having faith that it is going to lead to a great result. He gives many stories as examples. For instance, a man once came to know that a jar of gold was hidden underneath the ground. He didn't know whether it was true or not, but he had faith because he heard it from a reliable person, and such reliable persons are called Gurus. A Guru is a reliable person—that is the definition. Slowly, the man digs, it takes a long time, and he almost despairs. Then, the iron rod with which he is digging strikes something hard. He peers and sees the lid of a box, and his heart leaps with joy. Slowly, he goes down, removes all the dirt and dust, and breaks it open. He beholds the treasure, and the moment the instrument touches it, it gives a peculiar sound that makes his heart leap with joy. Sri Ramakrishna says that is how a man progresses, slowly but surely.

It is very important to have this Shraddha (faith), and there is a way to obtain it. Sri Ramakrishna says one should have such burning faith in God that one can say, "I repeated the name of God; can sin still cling to me? How can I be a sinner anymore? How can I be in bondage anymore?" This is a great thing. I have spent practically the whole 50 minutes on Shraddha because it is the ultimate goal of Jigri. Shraddha is meant to remove impurities, called Chitta Shuddhi. All Shraddha is meant only for Chitta Shuddhi, not to obtain God, because He is already obtained. He is everywhere; He is in me, in you, in everybody.

With this, the preliminaries are over. From the next class onwards, we will enter into the Taittiriya Upanishad, and then we will deal with the Shanti Patha. Every Upanishad has its own beautiful Shanti Pathas. I will stop here for today.