Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 17 on 20 July 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Chandogya Upanishad. In our last class, we have discussed first of all the Shanti Mantra and then we have started as a sample what are the Upasanas. As mentioned earlier, the first five chapters, chapters 1 to 5 are full of Upasanas. But what marvelous Upasanas are there? What is the essence of these Upasanas? As we discussed any number of times and are going to recollect ourselves of that fact that our Vedas are gradually taking each soul step by step towards the fulfilment of life which is the manifestation of Divinity. In other words, I am Brahman. For that, the first step is what we call motiveless actions. So this is called Karma Yoga. But before we enter into Karma Yoga, the Vedas know very well that we are slaves to so many desires. But those desires can be fulfilled legally and illegally, morally and immorally. So an uncultured person takes recourse to illegal methods which is called Nishedha. But he also pays the price because there is nothing called free gift. Everything comes with a price. When a person, through long, many lives of suffering, comes to that state, can I fulfil my desires legitimately? And the Vedas have already answered, yes. You follow my prescription and your desires will be fulfilled. Not only that, your mind will be purified and gradually faith dawns upon you. So the main utility of the following Vedas is the strengthening of the faith called Shraddha. We start with the weak Shraddha, develop it, make it strong until it becomes stronger. And after long, that means many, many lives of practice, we enter the Vedas. The first part of the Vedas introduces a new element called Upasana. Upasana is not only Nishkama Karma, but refining the mind and gradually taking us closer to God. So Upasana stands between Karma and Gnanam. So Vanaprasthashrama is specially designed for this Upasana. And then when gradually, we graduate slowly through Upasana, we approach the reality, our body, our mind, our Punyam, everything becomes fit for undertaking the final leap as it were, giving up identity with body-mind called detachment from Samsara and identifying oneself with our true nature, that is called the leaping process. And that has to take place, so Upasanas play a very, very important role. They are not pure Karmas, they are not also final knowledge, but that which is a bridge as it were, between the Karmas and then the knowledge. Ultimate purpose, goal of every Upasana is to make the Upasaka, the contemplator, become one with his real true nature or remind oneself, you have never lost your true nature, but you have forgotten. That is the important point. Can we progress from Karma to Gnanam? No. Upasana is the bridge everyone has to cross, there is no choice. So that is why, even though it is Chandogya Upanishad, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Isavasya Upanishad, practically every Upanishad, their first preparations are there. So first preparations, then plunge into a particular type of spiritual practice called Sadhana, gradually progress, that Sadhana is nothing but pure Upasana, because real Gnanam is neither Karma nor Upasana. Upasana functions only when there is a sense of duality. I am there, God is there, and there is a bridge between us, and I have to slowly walk the bridge and reach the goal. This is the idea we have to keep in mind. If anybody without thinking, why is the Upanishad dealing so much? It has to deal because it is building a bridge slowly, extending the bridge, and the purpose of the bridge is to go to the other shore safely without being drowned in the ocean. And just to remind ourselves that there are five types of Upasanas we discussed, and we also discussed Sri Ramakrishna used all the five. What are the five? The very lowest step is called Prathima Upasana, like worshipping Durga image, etc. Sri Ramakrishna started his spiritual life with the worship of the Vigraha image of the Divine Mother, herein called Kali. Then Pratika Upasana. So what is Pratika? A representation, a cross for Christians, and Yantras, Tantras, we get in the Tantric scriptures. That is, a crude external form is discarded to the idea behind. The Namo Upasana belongs to the Pratika Upasana only. That is why Roopa Dhyana, Nama Dhyana, Guna Dhyana, and Swaroopa Dhyana. So Pratima is a crude external, similar like human beings, etc. Pratika is just a symbol. Like a small child is given some apples, and these are the two apples, I am adding one more, so 2 plus 1 becomes 3. At that stage, it is the most important way of teaching. But when the person progresses, his capacity to traverse from the concrete to the abstract, as it grows, then the person is progressing. Still he requires a Yantra, something drawn, or a symbol, a cross, etc. And herein, we know what these things are there. Pratika Upasana, and there also a water pot filled with water, and Mother Sitala is worshipped like that. So the Buddhist religion uses many of these mandalas, psychic diagrams, etc. When he progresses a little bit further, then he takes help of a particular something, which is inferior, but upon which superior qualities are superimposed, of course in imagination. For example, a cross. The whole idea of Christ's teaching is superimposed upon this cross. In Indian mythology, plenty of these examples are there. Salagrama, or Shiva Linga, etc. So take an inferior object and superimpose superior qualities upon that. That is called Sampad Upasana. There is no way to translate into understandable English language. That is the third. So Pratima, one, Pratika, second, Sampad is third. Then fourth is Adhyasa Upasana. Here also a symbol is taken and upon it is superimposed a superior idea. But the difference is the symbol is a very superior symbol like the sun, like the moon, etc. So the mind itself is Brahman, the sun is Brahman, etc. Then finally comes Aham Graha Upasana. That is the person, the spiritual aspirant has advanced so far that he has practically discarded or they fall away from him. Straight away he identifies himself. Here he himself becomes this symbol. Call it Pratima or Pratika or Sampad or Adhyasa, whatever we want to call. So Aham Graha. I myself will transform myself into the object of my chosen deity. So Sairam Krishna had straightaway meditated upon Hanuman. Because Hanuman as a devotee. Radha as the Mukhya Gopi, they call it. That is the highest devotion embodied is called Radha. Radha is not one having a devotion. Devotion as it were is called Radha when that devotion is 100%. So the devotion to Rama is called Hanuman in its 100% aspect. Not that Hanuman. The idea will be discarded. So this is the Aham Graha Upasana. And now the person is ready. This Aham which is capable of identifying with great personalities representing knowledge or Nishkama Karma or Bhakti etc. Then this person is ready when the teacher comes and says Tat Tvam Asi. The what that. And the person can grasp the idea and become one. And then he says Aham Brahma Asmi. I am Brahma. So we have to remind ourselves. This is like climbing a staircase or using a ladder to go up and up. So we cannot dispense with these things. We cannot jump. It will only be harmful. And that is what Sairam Krishna indicated so beautifully. On the very first day when M met Sairam Krishna on one Sunday afternoon in February 1883 I think. I do not remember. Anyway. So now with this background we are taking the very first chapter, first section of this Chandogya Upanishad. Here it is called meditation upon Omkara with certain qualities. So that is what we are seeing in our last class. We have seen how Omkara is superior. And that is shown in eight steps. What is it? That we are living on this earth. So but what is the cause? We have all come from the earth. Earth means food. Annam. And Prithvi. Earth means food. Food means earth. And it is a goddess called Prithvi Devata. So Prithvi slowly taking through these eight steps to where? To that Omkara. Understanding what Omkara is. So Prithvi. We are born. We live. And we go back to Prithvi. Prithvi is the processed effect. And what is the subtle cause? Every effect must have its cause. And that is in a beautiful language, the essence of the whole universe is Prithvi. But what is the essence of this earth? It is called Apaha. That is why where there is water, then cultivation, food production is possible. That is why water is the essence of all living beings. Or the cause of all living beings. Everything. First it is food. But food comes from water. That is why watering is very necessary. Water is the essence. Rasa. Tamaha. But what is the essence of this? Osha Dayaha. So the plants etc. Without them there would be no water. So they are the cause. They are the essence of this. That means water itself is manifesting as what you call fruit juice, vegetable juice, juice out of leafy vegetables, whatever it is. So these are the trees. Osha Dayaha. Very interesting word because the Sanskrit word Osha Dayaha means medicine. That means we are all suffering from disease called Ajnana. Identifying ourselves with body and mind. And both body and mind are diseases. And every disease requires a medicine. So the medicine for the physical body, maintenance for the health, the plants are needed. But all these are useless. The very essence of the trees is Purusha because Purusha means consciousness. Here Purusha represents both consciousness as well as our personality. So Purusha is the essence of all herbs. What does it mean? If you analyze, your body, your mind is nothing but the essence of all these food. This food has come from plants. Plants grow because of water. And the water manifests in the form of earth. From earth only all these plants grow. Purusha. For the sake of Purusha. But here is a person. He doesn't talk. He doesn't think. Then is he a human being? So what is the essence? The personality of the person. Walk is the fifth step. That means a person can be gauged, can be understood, can be interacted with depending upon walk. What is walk? Walk means his ideas. If you carefully analyze yourself, if we analyze ourselves, each one of us, we have an identity. Body is there of course. Mind is there of course. World is there of course. But we think I am a man. That means I am not a woman. I am a young man. That means I am not a child, not an old person, etc. I am an Indian. I don't belong to other countries. I am not a non-Indian. I am a Hindu. I don't belong to other religions. And in Hinduism, I am worshipper of Shiva. I am a Shaivite. And those who are Shaivites, they are superior to other type, other religious followers. Like this, I am a scientist. I am a doctor. I am a housewife. I am so on. I am a musician. I am a singer. Whatever. This is the idea that dominates our personality and makes us like a ghost making us. And that creates separation. Each one of these qualities and they separate us from everybody else. There are thousand musicians, thousand doctors, thousand poets, etc. But I am superior to many of them. I am inferior to some of them. So accordingly, our actions, reactions, they come. Supposing, here is a musician. Quite a good musician. And there is somebody whom he admires. If that person whom he admires scolds him, you have gone wrong here. He is not hurt. He feels, oh, this person is pointing out and he is to be revered more. But if a colleague or an inferior person were to criticize him, immediately his ego is hurt. So that ego, I am a middle class musician. That rules all his behavior. So, walk here means the person's thoughts. What is speech? Speech is nothing but expression of one's thoughts. And one's thoughts determine one's personality. That is why there is a beautiful saying, Tell me who are your friends. Tell me what books you are reading. I will tell you who you are. So speech always is the outcome of thought. And this thought, the difference in thoughts, is the difference between not only an animal and a human being, but between any given two human beings. So, here is a man, cultured, uncultured, expert, not an expert, guru, not a guru, teacher, student. Every difference comes because of this, what we call in simple words, personality. That means knowledge. What are we talking? Thought means here knowledge. And what is the essence of all knowledge? Who is a person who is capable of knowing everything? That supreme knowledge which is manifesting in the form of the utensil. Simple example, you take a vast body of water and you pour it into a tumbler. The water takes the form of the tumbler. If it is yellow colored, then the water appears to be yellow. If it is flat, then the water takes that flat utensil's form. So knowledge, when it, every mind is compared to a particular type of utensil. When that knowledge is poured into, let us say, a musician's utensil called mind, then it will take the form of music. Somebody else knows how to cook beautifully. So that cook's mind, administrator's mind, scientist's mind, so any type of mind. All the knowledge only. And the essence of all knowledge, what is it? Here, Upanishad is telling us, it is called Prichaha, Rig Veda. Rig Veda, that means Veda. Do not again run after, Vedas are divided into four, so each is separate. No, here it means Veda, Rig Veda. Rig Veda is the biggest Veda, of course, compared to others. So the Rig Veda is the essence of speech. Speech means here, the thought. Thought means knowledge. Rig Veda is the essence of the thought. And we are all expressions of particular types of knowledge. Keep that point in mind. And this speech has to come out in the form of various languages, various expressions. That's why thousands of languages are there. And then it can be prose, it can be poetry, it can be spoken, or it can be sung. That is why we are all charmed when some idea is put in the form of a bhajan and then sung. Then it impresses us very much. So that Rig Vedic knowledge put in a singable way is called Sama. So the essence of all knowledge is Rig Veda. The essence of the Rig Veda is Sama Veda. The word here used, essence, is called Rasa. Rasa means essence, but Rasa is also used in the meaning of Ananda, joy. The higher the Rasa, the higher the joy. So here the seventh step. So this is called Sama. So all the knowledge is in the Veda and especially Rig Veda. And when this Rig Vedic knowledge is put to music and sung very beautifully, it goes beautifully well. So that is the Sama Veda. So this is the seventh step. So what is unique is that when the Rig Vedic verse is sung beautifully as the Sama Veda, etc., then that is known as Ud Gita. So that is what it means to say Ud Gita. So this is the Upasana of Ud Gita. What is the Ud Gita? Ultimately it is Omkara. This is the explanation we are deriving right from the first section of the first chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad, which I will give you in its original Sanskrit form with the translation, of course. I am giving you. This is what we are going to encounter very soon. So Ud Gita is the essence of Sama Veda. This is the eighth step. Prasanam Prasaha is the essence of all the essences. It is called Saratamaha. It is the highest essence. So Ud Gita, ultimately we have to put equivalent to the Upasana of Om. Om, this Akshara, this imperishable sound Om, is worshipped in the form of Ud Gita. Then it will fulfil every desire that a person has got. Every desire means we have got infinite desires. So we want to be happy. What is the essence of a desire? Ananda, happiness. And we want infinite happiness for infinite amount of time. Therefore, this Omkara Upasana, the Upasana, there is no better word, but contemplation is a very weak word, but we will have to use it to make those who are not familiar with Sanskrit. So the Upasana of Omkara gives us this marvellous thing. And I just want to summarise what I have spoken so far. How can this Upasana, contemplation of Om, really fulfil all our desires? This is the expression in this very first mantra, of the first section, of the first chapter, of the Chandogya Upanishad, which belongs to the Sama Veda. So when the same Omkara is not sung in other Vedas, it is only chanted. But in Sama Veda, it is sung on many occasions, like performing sacrifices like Yagna, Yaga, etc. And many other things are also done, which the first chapter unfolds as we move forward. So what does it mean? It starts like this. Prathamo Dhyaya, first chapter, first section. Om Iti Etat Aksharam Udgeetam Upasita One should contemplate on Omkara in the form of Udgeetam. What is the meaning of in the form of Udgeetam? One should sing loudly the glories of Omkara. One should do the bhajan of Omkara in a loud voice, so that not only one knows, but others also hear. Om Iti Hyud Gayati And those who sing this Om Iti Tasya Upavyakhyana, a small commentary, the Upanishad itself is going to give. Why? So the points we have to note down, Om is the gateway to Brahman. So recite this Om, sing this Om, as if you are worshipping Brahman. That is, treat this Om as the symbol of Brahman and concentrate on the idea of their oneness. And how you recite this Om is going to be explained now. Tasya Upavyakhyana This is not a Bhashyam. I am not going into Shankaracharya's Bhashyam. Even though I am giving the essence of the Shankaracharya's Bhashyam in plain English language. But the Upanishad itself is telling, I am going to elaborate, expand, how this Om has to be understood. And this Om, in every scripture, ancient Rishis' time, Vedic time, Upanishadic time, Tantric time, Puranic time, and in the present age also, for every Hindu, without Om, life will not start, life will not sustain, life will not end. Everything starts with Om, everything continues in Om, and everything also ends in Om. And just to recollect our minds, because we have gone through, and I am expecting, and most of you, I think, have gone through this Mandukya Upanishad. We have taken it nearly for 2 or 3 years. I do not remember. So this Om has got the combination of 3 syllables. A, O, M, and Artha Matra, M, like that. And it continues. But the important part is that I am living my life as the waker, as the dreamer, and as the deep sleeper. And I am experiencing all these 3 states. So that idea has to be implanted in our minds. So what does it mean? One of the fundamental principles of Vedanta is whatever you are experiencing is not you. Empty number of times, I have repeated this, and we will do that. Suppose you are seeing a tree. You are experiencing a tree. You don't say, I am the tree. You are experiencing a car. You don't say, I am the car. I am seeing the car. I am hearing the music. I am smelling fragrance. I am tasting a beautiful dish. I am touching something very pleasant. And whatever we experience, whatever you experience is not you. And whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, good or evil, it belongs to the experienced object and not to you. These are the two fundamental principles. But followed by these two, the third principle is whatever you are experiencing is a changeable something. Now you are experiencing a car, and car has changed into a tree. A tree has changed into a human being. Human being has changed into a mosquito, etc. But who is the constant factor? You are seeing the car, the tree, the man, the mosquito. You are unchanging. To cognize change, there must be an unchanging witness, cognizer. And by the very act, we are doing it all the time, experiencing the waking dream, dreamless. But each time when I am in the waking state, I am identifying myself as the waker. In dream, I am the dreamer. And in the deep sleep, I am the sleeper. Not focusing upon if I am experiencing something, then I am not the waker, I am not the dreamer, I am not the sleeper. I am the witness of all these three things. That is how slowly the awakening will come. So Omkara, meditation on Omkara, contemplation on Omkara is what? That I the experiencer, I the witness is completely separate from the waking, dream and sleep state. And that indicates the gamut of every experience in this world from birth to death. Then I am different from them. Therefore, who am I? I am Brahman. This is the connection between the contemplation of Om and Brahman. Om is the symbol. So Om is as good as Brahman. That is why it is said Om is Brahman. Om is the Ek Aksharam. What is Aksharam? Aksharam means Brahman. Aksharam means that which is capable of being decayed, changed. That which perishes. Aksharam means that which never perishes. So Om means the witness. Who is witness always means I am witnessing something. That what I am witnessing is changing. But the witnesser, me, I am never changing. And that unchanging witness, another name for it is Brahman. This is the result of Omkara. So Om is Brahman. To begin with, it is taken as a symbol of Brahman. But as we progress, we understand, first it is Saguna Brahma and next it is Nilguna Brahma. So the Upanishad is telling us to contemplate on Omkara as if we are worshipping Brahman only. This recitation is called, what recitation? Whenever we are chanting or singing Om, that is named as Udgeetha. Udgeetha is recitation of Om and it is loud recitation. So you recite Om aloud. But you do it with the feeling that you are worshipping Brahman. What is worshipping Brahman? That is, I am slowly trying to identify myself with Brahman. Worship means gradually trying to identify, come nearer and nearer. That is the real meaning of Upasana. Upa means near. Asana means somebody is there. Asana means a seat. So somebody is sitting on a chair and you are slowly approaching that person nearer and nearer and nearer and nearer until you become one. Physically, of course, that is not possible. But contemplatively, this is what happens. I merge in the object of my contemplation. That is the final reach of Upasana. So this contemplation or worship, whatever you call, of the Omkara in the form of Udgeetha, that eventually purifies the mind and brings us or destroys the distance between me and Brahman and ultimately makes me know that I am Brahman. This is the essence. With this essence, the other things are taken out. So earlier, I have given you the essence of those eight steps. Purushasya Vah Prasaha Vachah Rig Prasaha Vichah Samah Rasaha Samnah Udgeetho Prasaha Eight steps. The earth is the essence of all things, living or non-living. Water is the essence of the earth. Plants are the essence of water. Human beings are the essence of plants. Speech is the essence of human beings. The Rig Veda is the essence of speech. And the Sama Veda is the essence of the Rig Veda. And the Udgeetha is the essence of the Sama Veda. So on this earth, there are both living and non-living things. And this is what we are always aware of. But what is it that sustains them? Obviously, the earth. Mountains. Rivers. Of course, from the Vedantic point of view, river is a Devata. Mountain is a Devata. All the five Devatas are there. But from the modern point of view, they are called non-living. Non-living means non-conscious. Whether living and conscious, or non-living or non-conscious, it is the earth. What about Mars? Mars is also earth. So they all come out of the earth. And they are sustained by the earth. And finally go back, dissolve into the earth. So what sustains the earth? Water. The earth is a mixture of water and earth. And there can be no earth without water. That is why it is said, first it was only water, and the water condensed, and it became pot. That is how 70% of the earth is covered only with oceans, etc. So what is the outcome of this earth? Plants are said to be the essence of water, for they grow from water. Similarly, human beings are the essence of plants, because the human body is the outcome of the food eaten by human beings. And essence of a human being. How do we judge a person? Speech. Remember, speech means not what a person speaks. Every politician, if he is speaking the truth, is more than an Avatar. He promises to you, vote for me, and I will make paradise of this earth. And then next election also, he will tell the same thing. Why? Because, even if there is a chance for him to make a paradise, he will make a hell of it, just to get the votes from you. Similarly, human beings come, speech is the essence of human beings, and the best speech means that which rises, the knowledge that we obtain from these scriptures, and here in this scripture is Rig Veda, and the essence of the Rig Veda is Sama Veda. That means that which we are always thinking very fondly, happily. Sama means like singing. What do you sing? Whatever catches your mind, you feel happy, that happiness is indicated here. Sama Veda is the essence. And what is the essence of Sama Veda? Utkita. And what is Utkita? That is called Aum. So Aum is the final essence of everything in this world. Contemplate that Aum, and you will get everything, because you get the entire Prithvi, entire water, etc., etc. That is being explained further in the third mantra. Saheshah Rasanam Rasatamaha Paramaha Pararthyaha Ashtamo Yath Utkitaha So this Utkita is the best of all essence. It is the best of all that exists. It is the eighth, and it has the highest status. So what does this eighth mean? In the order of earth, water, plants, human beings, speech, Rig Veda, Sama Veda. And the eighth is Utkita. Utkita means Aum. So the best of all essence is the Utkita, which is Aum. It is the highest and best, because it is none other than Brahma. So if we have to put it in another way to understand this, everything that exists can be expressed in three ways. First is, it is the existence itself, living or non-living. Then the living beings, means conscious beings. Conscious beings, they know I exist. Even a mosquito knows I exist. I cannot become non-existent. Therefore I do not wish to become non-existent. This man is trying to kill me, and I want to escape, if it is possible. But the secret is, even if that man succeeds in killing my physical body, I will take another body, like a human being, takes up a dress, another dress. And this dress, I had a very peculiar experience. I was floating in an imaginary Vairagyam after my Sanyasa, and I was wearing a very holy cloth. I was wearing a holy cloth. Holy means, some holes were there in the shirt. And I was taking Prasadam in Udbodhan, living in Balram Babu's house. And one of my senior Swamis saw me one day. Come, come, come brother. I thought he will give me some sweets. When I went near him, he put his finger in one of the holy places and tore up the whole shirt. I was feeling, I was attached to that, I was feeling sad, bad, mad, and then he threw it away. And immediately he presented me one first class cloth. I will get it for you, a shirt. I think he gave one ochre dress of my size. Probably he noticed it earlier, got it done, and he has given me. Of course, you think I was very happy. I was not very happy because I was attached to that old, smelly, holy shirt. So, our physical body is, that also will not be destroyed. Destruction means going back to its elements. Like you break a table, a chair, so wood is a part, nails are a part, the glue is a part. Like that, everything is a combination. Nowadays, a historical place like a house will be dismantled and then marked. They want to put it in a safer place. So, they cut it in such a way they can reassemble exactly in the same way. So, this nothing existence can never become non-existence. But it changes its Nama Rupa. That's all. So, this is what is in the fourth it is continued. So, what is this Rig Veda you are talking about? What is this Sama Veda you are talking about? What is the Utkitas you are talking about? This is the question. So, it has been stated earlier. Speech is the essence of the Rig Veda. The question now is which one are the Rig? Which ones are the Sama? And which ones are the Utkita? Sama means which. Which is more important? So, you have to pinpoint. Many things are there. Rig Veda is there. Sama Veda is there. And the same thing that we have seen earlier. They are not separate. There is a unity between them. Now, the Upanishad wants to bring out so the Rig Veda is not separate from Sama Veda. It is not separate from other Vedas. They are all related. That is being expressed in the fifth mantra of the first section of the first chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. A beautiful harmony. This is what Swami Vivekananda said. This universe that we experience is unity and diversity. There are billions and billions of separate things are there. But at the same time, there is a unity. There is an underlying unity. And all this unity is brought out as the definition of Brahman. Sat, Chit and Ananda. Anything that exists Sat means existence. So, you say there is something. That is part of that absolute existence. But in this case, it is a tree. It has that little bit of existence has assumed the form of a tree, has got the name tree and has got some qualities. For example, there are sweet fruits, bitter fruits, etc. etc. The answer is being given. Everything is coupled. This is called unity. Unity and diversity is the essence of this fifth mantra. So, what is it telling? That speech is the same as Rig. So, when you are thinking, what are you thinking? Knowledge. And what is Rig? Knowledge. But even for you to think, what is called you need to think, to hear, to think deeply and for that Prana, a dead person, a sleeping person cannot do that. Only a living person, what is called conscious person, he can only do. That consciousness is being mentioned here foremost. Prana is the same as Sama. That means you want to sing, you require Prana. Prana means also air. You require tremendous power of what is called lung in order to sing. And what is that you are going to sing? It is nothing but Om. So, Om is nothing but Utkita, Brahman itself. So, they are pairs. Speech and life, Rig and Sama, Sama and Utkita, they are interrelated. That is the idea. So, the word couple or pair is being used to suggest an unbroken relationship of what? Of cause and effect. Cause and effect are in fact one and the same. Speech is the cause and Prana is making it effect. So, according to this Upanishad, the evolution of the gross world is in this order. First earth then water. Earth and water are related as effect and cause. Water and plants are related as effect and cause. Plants and human beings effect and cause. Human beings and speech, effect and cause. And speech and Rig, effect and cause. Rig and Sama, effect and cause. Sama and Utkita, effect and cause. What is the final cause? Brahman. That is why it is called Utkitaha Rasatamaha. The very essence of all essences. And the cause of all causes. And what is this? Utkita, Omkara. What is this Omkara? It is nothing but the Paramatman. The Self of all Selves. But this is the process of creation. So, go back. From Utkita, you will have to go back to Omkara as Utkita. Utkita as Sama Veda. Sama Veda as grossified Rig Veda. Rig Veda as speech. And speech as the human being. And the human being as food. And the food as water. And the water as breath. Think of it. Contemplate upon it. So, you start with, this is my body. What is this body made up of? Earth. And then this earth is made up of water. Water is made up of plants. Plants is nothing but food. So, I am the essence of all the food I eat in the gross body. But are we only gross bodies? No. This body is also sustained by mind. And now we go into the subtle level called mind. And what is the mind? Knowledge. And this knowledge is nothing but Rig Veda. And the Rig Veda, essence of Rig Veda is nothing but that particular type of knowledge which, a little bit of which, I am able to manifest in my life. You are able to manifest in your life. A scientist is able to manifest in his life. Etc. Etc. Ultimately everything is coming from Brahman. So, one way of Srishti is Ayurveda. The same idea is presented here in a slightly different terminology. But what is it? That, O man, you are not an isolated human being because if you go back to your essence, you are the earth. And the earth has come from water. So, water has come from fire. Fire has come from air. Air has come from space. Space has come from Atman. So, who are you? I am the Atman. Tat tvam asi. So, this Omkara is a Rasatama. It is the eighth position. That is, it is the ultimate in the evolution of things. It is the Paramatman, the Self of all selves. What a marvelous analysis! After hearing this, you sit down and try to digest what we have spoken so far. And what I have spoken is nothing but the knowledge I am getting from this Sama Veda. And this Chandogya Upanishad belongs to the Sama Veda. Sama Veda comes from Rig Veda. Rig Veda is knowledge that is manifesting every human being. Just contemplate. You will understand. We will talk in our next class. Om Jananem Sharadam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagat Kurum Pada Padme Tayo Saritva Pranamami Mohur Mohuhu May Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna!