Mandukya Karika Lecture 024 on 10 November 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamami Muhur Muhur Om Bhadram Kanne Vishwudu Yamadevaha Bhadram Pashye Maksha Virya Jatra Sthirai Rangai Stushtu Vagam Sastanobhi Yashema Devahi Tanyadayu Svasthina Indro Vridharshavaha Svasthina Poosha Vishwavedaha Svasthina Starksho Arishta Nimihi Svasthino Brhaspati Riddhadhatu Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hare Om Om O Gods, may we hear auspicious words with our ears, may we see auspicious things with our eyes, worshipping the Gods with steady limbs. May we enjoy a life that is beneficial to all. May Indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on us. May all the nourishing potion be propitious to us. May Garuda, the destroyer of evil, be well disposed towards us. May Brhaspati ensure our welfare. Om Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all. In our last class, we have been talking about the third mantra, which describes the first pada, prathama pada of Jiva's experience. Why did I say Jiva's experience? Because it is only Jiva. From Brahman's point of view, there is no experience, there is no duality, there is no padas, there is no states. So only from the Jiva's point of view. So certain points I am going to repeat again. Always we have to keep them in mind. 1. Whatever experience is not me. 2. Whatever experience is an object. 3. No object can be experienced without qualities. For it is the quality that distinguishes one object from every other object. 4. A quality cannot be separated from the object. 5. Therefore, any quality that I experience belongs to the object, not to me. This is a very important point because when we remove all the qualities from any object, there would be no separation from anything else. It becomes ananta. It is the quality which separates, divides as it were, one object from the other object. So we can never experience. For example, if I remove all the qualities from myself and similarly from a tree, an object I am witnessing before, then there would be no tree, there would be no me because it is the qualities. I am living, it is non-living, and I am a human being. It is a plant, I know better than the plant, etc., etc. It is these qualities that separate one object from the other object. And therefore, whenever I experience, for example, we never experience, as I said, any substance. We only experience. Here is a rose. The rose is a flower. It is a flower as distinguished from non-flower. It is red as distinguished from all colors. It is fragrant as distinguished from all smells. It is a lot of honey and that is distinguishing from other things which do not give, etc., etc. All these qualities belong to that particular object at this moment which I call a flower, a rose flower. So this rose flower qualities, they belong to the rose, not to me. If it is fragrant, I am not fragrant. If it is red, I am not red. If it is sweet, I am not sweet. But we always mistake as if we become emotional about and become either likes and dislikes, attachment, non-attachment. All these things grow. So the first thing is the quality belongs to the object, not to me. Even while I am experiencing it, I should be able to discriminate the quality belongs to that particular object, not to me. That is important. Because whatever is experienced is mithya because it is dependent upon me. It is continuously changing, Shadvikara, and it has a birth and it has a death and so many other limitations are there. What are the other limitations? Simple example, at this moment, the payasam will be most welcome. But keep it for one day, two days. The same thing will become now repugnant, repulsive. So it is changing. Why is the Upanishad so graphically describing these states so that the ultimate to point us that really I, that means everybody, does not belong to any of these three states. It is only turiyam, pure consciousness, otherwise called brahman, which is as if is percolating through the coverings and then it goes by a particular name. If turiyam, or this is a synonymous word with brahman, is percolating through the covering of, let us say, sthula sharira or annamaya kosha, then it is called jagrata avastha, waking state. If the same brahman, turiyam, is percolating through the subtle mind, sukshma sharira, or pranamaya, manomaya, vijnanamaya koshas, synonymous words, then it is called svapna avastha. And if it is percolating through the sleep state, through the karana sharira, causal body, then it is called prajna, it is called sushupti avastha. And in these three avasthas, there are two aspects are there which are absolutely same. One is from the individual called yasti, another is called samasti. So in the waking state, as an individual, I am called vishwa, as universal, I am called virat, or vishwanara also is another name. Similarly, in the dream state, I am called individually taizasa, universally, cosmically, I am called Hiranyagarbha, sutratma, etc. And when I am in the causal state, individually I am called prajna, and universally I am called ishwara. Exactly the same descriptions apply in each of the states, only difference is that there is a huge difference that the individual is always part of the universal. Individual body is part of the universal body called virat. Individual subtle mind is always part of the universal subtle mind called Hiranyagarbha. This is called universal will. And individual causal body, which is called prajna, is part of the entire cosmic universal causal state. That is why that causal state is called maya, that is called ishwara. So we have to keep this point whenever we are hearing about the descriptions of this from both the points of view. Both virat and vishwa, Hiranyagarbha and taijasa, ishwara and prajna, experience the same things. But is it the same? No, it is not the same. Virat is universal. It identifies, that is why it is much nearer to truth. Similarly, taijasa is even nearer to its real nature. Ishwara, of course, is extremely near to what is called brahman. This is how we have to understand. Why is this understanding needed? Because for upasana sake. What is upasana? As vishwa, I must merge in virat. As taijasa, I must merge in what is called Hiranyagarbha, universal. This is called sharanagati. And only in these two states sadhana is possible. Sadhana is not possible in the karana state. But that is the karana, cause. Individual cause for our individual variation. Universal cause for the srishti, of manifestation of this entire universe. Let us keep this in mind. In our last class, we have started description of the states. Avastha. Three avasthas. Jagrat, waking. Swapna, dream. And sushupti, causal state. Now, we said each state, we have to take into consideration four factors. What are they? What is the material, out of which instrument to experience these three states are made? Then second, what are the components? Third, what is the nature? And fourth, what is the function or goal of each body? And briefly to recollect, what is the material of this body? It is pancha bhautika, made out of the five gross elements, akasha, vayu, agni, apaha and prithvi. And the whole world is made up of everything that we can experience through the five sense organs of this physical body is exactly made out of five gross elements. Then what are the components? It is containing of reflected consciousness, five pranas and ten indriyas and seven faces as virat. So, this description we are going to come. So, what is the function and nature of this particular body-mind complex? Remember, without mind, sthula sharira is like dead. But it is not sukshma sharira. The main function, even though mind is there, mind as if becomes very gross because of its association with this gross body. It is a gross body is a house. It is called ayatanam. For what? For performing karmas and for experiencing the results of the karmas. And what is its nature? It is of very temporary. It has a, what is called, manufacturing date, shelf life and a date, expiry date. So, what is the purpose? So that we can evolve slowly through our activities from rajas to, tamas to rajas, rajas to sattva and go beyond sattva and know who we really are. That is the only goal of all these three states. So, with this help of body and mind, the jivatma starts his evolutionary progress to his origin, which is called God. What is the nature of the sharira? First of all, it is changing from the very conception. That is what is called shadvikara. Then, the special characteristic of this sthola deha is sthola prapancha sthola deha is it is experienceable, visible by everybody. I can see the whole world. You can see the whole world. Every living creature can see the whole world. That is its special nature. Whereas, the moment you come to swapna astha, it is purely private. That's all. And then, this is subjected to jati, ayu, bhoga, according to past life's karma. But, as I mentioned just now, what is the purpose or goal? It is an instrument given to us by God for the purpose of evolving. Evolution means going back from where we started our journey, going back to our home. Mano chalo, nija niketane. So, with this background, we will go to the mantra portion. Third mantra, remember. So, the first pada, that is to say, remember, four padas are there. Four states are there. What is that? Jagrat sthana, swapna sthana, sushupti sthana, and turiya, which only is known as the vishwa, virat, taijasa and hiranyagarbha, and pragna and ishwara. It is not apart from the turiya. Without turiya, without consciousness, these things do not even know that they are there. They do not exist. But, being identified so deeply, I am nothing but this body and mind. I am nothing but this mind. I am nothing but this cause of both body and mind. So, these three states are being described so that when we understand their limitations and how to go beyond these limitations, that is how we make effort to slowly know what we are, just as light is brought. Then slowly the snake disappears and the rope reveals itself without any further help. Like that, when we deny these three states, I am not the vishwa or virat, I am not the taijasa or hiranyagarbha, I am not the pragna or ishwara, it is for this purpose to clearly, to distinguish, I am not this, I am not this, I am not this. And what is the process? That you merge vishwa in virat, then merge this vishwa virat in taijasa and hiranyagarbha, and merge this taijasa and hiranyagarbha in pragna and ishwara, and once we reach that ishwara state, something mysterious happens, as if it will throw us out like a catapult, and that is for the purpose of spiritual practice, this is being described. Now let us go into this. Third mantra in the Mandukya Upanishad. Jagariti sthanaha, bahishpragnaha, saptangaha, ekona vimshati mukaha, stholabhuk, vaisvanaraha, prathamaha padaha. Description about what? Prathamaha padaha, first quarter, first pada, pada means quarter. What am I called? What are we called? Vaisvanaraha. We are called vaisvanaraha, that is universal human beings, so that state where we are called vaisvanaraha, and where we experience everything, such a gross state, and that is called jagarita sthanaha, waking state, jagrata sthanaha, jagrata avastha, sthana means avastha. Sanskrit, jagarita sthanaha means jagrata avastha. With nature, bahishpragnaha, it is aware of only what is external, not completely aware of the internal. Some awareness is there. Then saptangaha, consists of seven limbs. Anga means limb, sapta means seven. And then ekona vimshati mukaha, there are 19 doorways are there. Mukaha means just like the mouth, is a doorway. What for? We can talk. We can also put food inside so that it will go inside, and the walk can come out, just like a person can go outside, come inside, go outside, through a doorway. This is the doorway through 19 doors. Earlier in the Bhagavad Gita, we said it is Same description here, in much more detail is given. So this is ekona vimshati mukaha. What is? Eka means one. Una means less. Vimshati means twenty. One minus twenty. That is called ekona vimshati mukaha. It is called mukha because it is like a doorway, which allows us to go outside and experience the entire external world. And then what do I do going outside? Sthula bhukha. I am going to experience, enjoy, create samskaras, and bring them inside. Sthula means gross. Bhukha means enjoyer. Enjoyer of the external things. Shankaracharya is giving a graphic definitions and descriptions of the states. That's why this is very briefly, I analyzed the Sanskrit mantra. So the first quarter is Vaishvanara, whose sphere of activity is the waking state, in which state this Vaishvanara is conscious of external objects and who has seven limbs and nineteen mouths and whose experience consists of gross material objects. Not subtle internal objects, but gross material objects. This much we have discussed in our last class. Now we will go with Shankarabhashya. So here Shankaracharya says, Katham chatushpatham iti aha. Earlier the mantra said, I am going to describe to you these four quarters. So third mantra, the sthu jagrat sthana, fourth mantra, the swapna sthana or swapna avastha, fifth and sixth, the sushupti avastha, nidra avastha, and seventh mantra, fourth pada, not really pada, turiya brahman, through both positive and negative. First negative, then through positive, beautiful qualities. This seventh mantra is the most marvelous mantra in the entire Vedic literature of the entire world. We would come to that later on. So Shankaracharya is explaining, Katham how chatushpatham, you promised earlier that our whole jivatva is divided into, should be divided into, should be categorized, classified into four states. Katham, how are you going to explain it to us? Iti. So if such a query is raised, aha, the Upanishad is telling. What is that? Jagarita sthana iti. I am going, the Upanishad, as it were is telling, my student, now I am going to describe jagrat avastha, jagarita sthana iti. So jagaritam sthanam asya iti jagarithanaha. So this jivatmas, so remember, Turiya, when it is associated with any of these three states is called jivatma. So jivatma, in this particular external experiencer state called jagrat avastha is called vishwa, pirat, vaisvanara by these three, what is called synonymous words. Please keep that in mind and don't get confused. Any of the word we can use, it means the same thing. So his sphere of activity, means the jivatmas sphere of activity is the waking state. The first state is called the waking state. So what happens here, how does the jivatma find himself? Whose knowledge, consciousness is where? Pragna means consciousness. External. If he could not see inside, he could only see outside. Everything, as you look outside your window of your house, you will see the entire village or city or whatever it is as far as your sense organs can do that. So as if he is seeing, forgetting, that he is separate from that. So what does bahi mean? Bahi means external, pragna means consciousness, consciousness of only external gross. Remember these two words. First of all it is external, then it is gross. Every living creature in the waking state, this is what he experiences. So what does bahishpragna really mean? Shankaracharya is coming to our rescue and so beautifully. Whose knowledge, whose intelligence, whose consciousness is in the objects. What objects? Everything, excepting one's own self. I don't know what I am. You don't know what you are. Excepting, knowing who we are. We are completely aware of these external objects, completely forgetting that I am Turiya, I am Brahman. So bahishpragna is who is aware of objects other than himself. Other than himself means what? Excepting who he is, he knows everything. What does he know? He says, here is a tree, here is a house, here is a man, here is a woman, here is a bird, here is an animal, etc. And then what does he say? Here is a body, here is a mind. Even we are not so much aware of the mind, we are only terribly aware of the body. And as we become older, our consciousness, awareness of the body becomes deeper and deeper and deeper. Oh my God! Already so many years have gone. Already grey hair is coming. And as we go on looking, grey hair has become white hair, first one, then two, you try to remove it, and then it becomes doubled, tripled, and like that it goes on multiplying until the whole head is nothing but purely that. So this jivatma in this jagrat avastha becomes bahish prajna. That means he doesn't know who he is. Excepting that, he has full knowledge of everything gross and external. Only external things in this jagrat avastha. Remember, when we come to dream state, the mind immediately turns inward. We will come to that. And then, so why do I do that? So I want to know myself. I look myself into the external mirror. What do I find? I find only this external body. How I look, how old I am, how tall I am, how fat I am, how beautiful or ugly I am, what are my features? Remember the story in the Chandogya Upanishad of the Prajapati and the Indra and Virochana. The first teaching he gave is about this annamaya kosha, sthola sharira. You bring a big plate full of water and look into that and whatever you see, that is you. And they looked both of them and they saw their body and then Virochana was satisfied. He went, I am an atma jnani, realized soul, this body is atman, so you look after the body. This is called pure materialistic view. So in this jagrat avastha, we are no better than Virochanas. Bahishpragnaha bahi vishaya eva prajna. Then why this I am forced to say external things? There must be a reason for that because yasya avidya krita avabhasate tyadha. Because of ignorance. Ignorance means here identity with body and mind and in this body and mind whatever is experienced, whatever is reflecting through this body and mind, that is what I identify myself with, that is called external object. Avabhasate tyadha. The meaning is that consciousness appears, remember, as it were, not really, is always it never becomes identified, appears just like you seem to be like your reflection. It is only seeming. Reflection and yourself are totally different. So why related to outward objects? Why on account of avidya? So why is this mentioned here? Before we can understand I am separate, I must understand the nature of the things with which I am identifying. We constantly go through this waking state where we identify completely. Identify means what? This is the only reality that is called identification. This is the truth. Therefore, nobody can escape what he thinks is the truth. That is a great thing when we know that this is not a rope, this is a snake. Snake alone is real. In fact, only after light is brought we know that it is not a snake. Until that time the idea of rope never flashes in that person's mind and he sweats, he shakes, trembles and his heart beats fast and he is frightened. He is imagining I am going to be dead. He wants to move. Sometimes he runs away. Sometimes fear fixes him to the same place. He is unable to move. Have you ever noticed? If you had a nightmare, you want to run away but whatever caused nightmare to you, whether it is a chasing bull or chasing ghost, you want to run away but you are completely paralyzed because of the fear. That is the effect it is coming. The scripture tells, Do not fear. There is a way I am going to teach you and very soon you are going to get out. Why this description? So that once we come to know, this is the nature of the waking state, then it will be easier for us to identify ourselves to become separate from it and that is the reason. Knowledge is power and knowledge frees one from bondage. Know the truth and truth will make you free. So varieties of sadhanas are prescribed in our scriptures. These are called Upasanas. Our Upanishads are full of these Upasanas. Of course we don't get that Upasana in this Mandukya Karika directly but indirectly yes. So some of these Upanishads, we get many of them in Taittiriya Upanishad. So what is its specialty here? This Mandukya Karika wants to tell that in this waking state, there are two beings, not really two. One is from the individual point of view, you are an individual. From the cosmic point of view, you are a universal man. Is it true? Yes. Always two understandings are there simultaneously but what identity we emphasize and what is it that we ignore? For example, I know I am a man. I know I am so many years old so I am a man. I am a monk. I am in this place. This is my age, etc. etc. This is from the individual point of view but there is also simultaneously universal view. What is that? First of all, I am a human being. The moment I emphasize I am a human being, I am not a man. I am not a woman. I am not a baby. I am not an old man. I am not nearing my death. Simply, I am part of the human body. If one drop in an ocean disappears, do you think the ocean is going to take even notice? Not only that, this ocean and then drop of water is a wonderful example. Do you know how many tons and tons and tons billions of tons of drops of water are being lifted up by the sun, distilled and then made into what is called rain-bearing clouds and the wind carries it on its wings far off places and where it is cool usually mountain tops are cool it condenses and then it drops there so the ocean knows every single drop that I am losing is going to come back to me because I am the home of all the waters. That is why even Lakshmi Devi is born of this Kshira Samudra Raja Tanaya. So, if we can meditate that I am the universal what is the first thing that happens? I identify myself with everything, both living and non-living. That is the first thing. What is the second thing? That I lose all fear of complete, what we call fear because as individual I have destruction, death but as universal I am completely changeless from a metaphorical viewpoint of course completely universal there is no birth, there is no growth, there is no death but internally just like a flowing river, everything is flowing every second but the river remains exactly the same. So, that is how the universal second point, the fear will not be there. Third, in this universe, so much of happiness so many people are happy so many people are unhappy but I know that as a universal there is no unhappiness unhappiness will change into happiness. This is a very peculiar phenomena. Many times this question, doubt comes in us so let me deal with it very briefly. Supposing you teach somebody, you identify yourself with everybody then that person will ask what do I gain by it? Well, if you can get so much happiness through one individual body and mind, you can get billions and billions of happinesses through if you identify and enjoy billions of happinesses of billions of people naturally the question comes are you saying that everybody is always happy there is also unhappiness therefore, if I stand to experience so much quantum of happiness, I also stand to experience so much quantum of unhappiness. No there is something most marvelous about it I gave this example if the ocean, it knows billions and billions of tons of water is being lifted up, but it knows it is going to come back to me but look at it from the viewpoint of the drop, it knows it is very soon I am going to be dried up and this is going to be my death from the universal point of view, there is no death and that is why every individual wants to become universal how? By the propagation of species if there are billions and billions and trillions of what is called mosquitoes then there is no fear of death because the mosquito knows I am living in all this. What is an individual body? That fear goes away. So this is a marvelous thing. So what is the first thing? That I identify with everybody. What is the second thing? I lose fear of death What is the third thing? I only get pure happiness if I can identify myself with the entire lot. Fourth what happens is the moment I identify myself with the universal, something peculiar happens I never have raga or dvesha that is to say raga dvesha is possible only in the sphere of individual to individual but in the sphere of universal raga dvesha has no point just like a person he never says I love my left hand but I hate my right hand. I love my left eye, I hate my right eye. Nobody will say every single part of the body every single atom it is identified with the entire body if you can understand this you will be able to understand what I am talking very nicely so this is what I want to tell you. These four points please keep but to attain to that universal we have to meditate. In fact every devotee when he goes on meditating on either Sri Ramakrishna or Holy Mother or Rama, Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, Allah, whatever we are identifying ourselves trying to identify with the universal that is why God is Ananda Swaroopa because he has no raga dvesha because he is not an individual he is a universal so everywhere is Upasana Upasana means what? That kind of meditation which prescribes so that the individual can really become an individual indivisible and that is called Upasana so this microcosm microcosm Upasana from the standpoint of the common factor is going to be presented in this third chapter through Saptangaha etc especially that word Saptangaha now let us deal with it Tatha Saptanganesya description of the mantra third mantra in the Mandukya Upanishad Saptangaha Jagratsthanaha Vishvaha, Virat Saptangaha, he has got seven limbs what are the seven limbs? so you see if you study Vishnu Sahasranama there is a Dhyana Mantra there universal Vishnu means he who is all pervading he who is everywhere and without whom this world cannot be he who is everywhere is naturally everything, not that this vessel is full of water, so supposing you put a small vessel, immerse it in a lake, in a pond so there is water inside there is water outside but there is one unbreakable barrier called that form factor of that vessel no, no, no, it is not like that, inside Vishnu outside Vishnu in between there is nothing it is to tell that inside and outside because we are completely terribly aware of this inside and outside and that is why the scripture is forced to give that description so in the Vishnu Sahasranama there is this meditation on Vishnu and this is called universal meditation there is also individual meditation where he is there in the Ksherasagara etc but here we are talking about universal meditation Vishnumesham Namami when he is supposed to meditate on Vishnu on this universal aspect then only Sahasranama of Vishnu is meaningful, Sahasranama means thousand names, thousand names means it is not the individual see supposing there is a person called Rama you can call him by various names he is called Rama he is Dasaratha Putra he is Sitapati he is Ayodhyapati and he is Hanumatha Yajamani etc etc but they all refer only to the individual no no no Vishnu is all pervading so every name Sahasra means what? thousand thousand means what? not thousand every name that we hear is Vishnu's name every face we see it is Sahasra Mukha Vishnu's face Sahasra Aksha every eye is Vishnu's eye every ear is Vishnu's ear every hand is Vishnu's hand every leg is Vishnu's leg that means you and I do not exist only Vishnu exists that is why it is called Sahasranama Shiva Sahasranama Devi Sahasranama Kali Sahasranama Lalita Sahasranama it means that one reality goes by the name of Vishnu, Shiva, Devi etc etc because there cannot be two universal truths eternity, infinity can only be one so the meaning of this particular mantra that we get in the Vishnu Sahasranama as dhyana mantra is I bow before that god Vishnu who is the lord of the three worlds who has earth as his feet who has air as his soul who has sky as his belly who has moon and sun as eyes who has the four directions as ears who has the land of gods as head who has fire as his mouth who has sea as his stomach and in whose belly play and enjoy gods, men, birds animals, serpents kandavas, asuras in other words, everything so god is everything if we can really meditate what we feel is I do not exist, you do not exist living, non-living do not exist only god exists now look at dhyana mantra, three dhyana mantras of Ramakrishna radhaya kamalamadhyaya rajitam meaning in the lotus of the heart nirvikalpam, absolutely changeless, changeless means beyond time, beyond space sat asat akila bheda athitam beyond categories like existing and then sathya, mithya, etc ekasvarupam, one without a second, prakruti vikruti shoniam, divide up as either moolakarana or changeful karana nityam anandamurthy for that reason he is an embodiment of bliss, sacchidanandamurthy vimala paramahamsam ramakrishnam bhajamaha, I meditate upon Ramakrishna who is a vimala paramahamsa look, nirupamam incomparable because infinity has no other thing to compare, to compare two things are needed atisokshma, very difficult to understand it, atisokshmam doesn't mean that God is very very very subtle, it means he is beyond our conception that's all, nishprapancham is one without a second niriham, he doesn't have any wants, that is why he is called sarvakamadruk he is beyond all desires, gaganasadrisham if at all we have to imagine he is like the space, can you divide space can you divide empty space means emptiness empty space can you divide try it, isham he is the ruler sarvan he is the lord of everything bhutadhivasam and he resides inside outside ever being trigunarahitam is beyond all the sattva rajasthama satchit brahmarupam he is of the nature of satt and chit and brahmarupam varenyam, supremely adorable vimala paramahamsam ramakrishnam bhajamaha so that is the meditation now because this idea our description of the jagrat sthana we should transcend our individuality and identify our true nature our true waking state waking state itself we have two forms very constricted form and full form full form and part form we are always identified with part form if somebody identifies with full form he becomes compassionate he becomes sympathetic to everybody he has only love he doesn't hate anybody and he cannot be attached or detached likes and dislikes are possible only when a personality is very very small and individual swamiji had delivered the most marvelous lectures on these matters and he has this particular mandukya upanishad in view when he is talking about this microcosm and macrocosm so here is I have lifted some quotations very appropriate for understanding this particular third mantra swamiji quotes the microcosm and the macrocosm are built on the same plan that means there is absolutely no difference between these two just as the individual soul is encased in the one living body so is the universal soul encased in the living prakruti called nature shiva is embracing shiva that is kali shiva is embracing shiva shiva is embracing shiva this is not a fantasy this covering of the one soul by the other nature is analogous to the relation between an idea and the world vaga artha vivasampruktau vaga artha pratipatthaye jagataha pitarau vande parvati parameshwarau vaga and artha name and the named can never be separated even in the intellectual so this is this analogous to the relation between an idea and the world expressive they are one and the same it is only by a mental abstraction that one can somehow distinguish them thought is impossible without words and therefore in the beginning was the word etc this is a quotation from the bible this dual aspect of the universal soul is eternal so what we perceive or feel is this combination of the eternally formed and the eternally formless form and formlessness both are inseparable if you think of form you have to think of formless if you think of the formless you have to think of the form you can never separate them even intellectually even if you think both of them as use two separate words this is vithasarupa and this is ruparahita etc so this saptanga this is Vaishvanara's Vaishvanara's meditation like Vishnu's meditation Vishnu I quoted and this we get in the Chandogya Upanishad 5th Adhyaya 17th chapter second mantra of that Vaishvanara self the effulgent region is his head the sun or his eyes the air is vital breath the ether, akasha, the middle part of his body and the water his kidney and the earth his feet this we wrote in the Vaishvanara the same as we get in the Vishva Darshana in the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita but this is beautifully described in the Chandogya Upanishad and that is what is referred here because many times in the Upanishads from one Upanishad refers to other Upanishads keeping in mind what is there and only if we are aware of both the Upanishads we can relate them and understand the meaning otherwise suddenly the Upanishad is describing about the waking state and where from the 7 limbs like Ravana's 10 limbs, heads suddenly popped up we may be wondering so it is for two purposes two points one point is every Upanishad describes something very special, other Upanishads when they want to clarify some point borrow it from the other Upanishads and they do it in their own peculiar mystical language, second point is always spiritual progresses from the small to the big, from the individual to the universal, from selfishness to unselfishness so here are the brief description of the 7 limbs called Saptanga, what are they? Head of Virat in the heaven, imagine like Vamana Avatar, that is what after gaining from Bali this Vara, give me 3 feet, he grew and occupied all the 3, his head is become the heaven and his middle part has become Bhuvaha and his feet are on the earth, there is no place so that is what, head of the Virat, the heaven, the eye of the Virat, just as human body has a head, has a middle part and a lower part and the feet etc the model of a human being is taken because being human beings we can only understand human models but in Taittiriya we get the model of a bird actually, ok so what is the second? Eye of the Virat is the sun and the moon and the fire etc and the breath of Virat, all the Vayu that we see, Panchaputas and that is the breath and what is the mouth? Agnitattvam, Agni what is the body? Akasha, space what is the bladder? All the waters, what is the feet? It is the earth, Panchaputas Surya, these are the things thus in the waking state I am the individual as well as the world, in dream I create a dream world from my own vasanas, the entire dream world is none other than my own self so we will come to that point now, I will stop here for now, this is a brief description, still some things are to be discussed, what are they? This is Ekona Vimshati Mukhaha, 19 mouths are there, mouth means 19 doorways through which this Vishwa and Virat individually and universally go out as it were and enjoy this world as an object through these 19 doorways, 19 Mukhas, Ekona Vimshati Mukhaha, that we will discuss in our next class Om Jananem Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur May Shri Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti