Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 10 on 24 July 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Taittiriya Upanishad. In our last class, we had covered the beautiful meaning of the peace chant called Shanti Patha. And as I mentioned earlier, this Taittiriya Upanishad has two peace chants. The first one is what we have chanted just now, Shanno Mitraha. And with a slight variation, this comes at the end of this first chapter in the 12th section, 12th Anuvaka, as if the student is thanking, O Lord, You had heard my prayers, granted them, I have been successful in what I wanted, that is, to realize You, and therefore my thanks to You. Slight variation is there, as if You had granted our prayers. First Anuvaka, I beg You to favor me with the removal of obstructions, etc. So every peace chant must have four purposes. What is the first purpose? Removal of all obstacles, seen or unseen. Second, fitness of instruments, which means from all the sides, my body and mind, outside world, and the grace of the Gods. Third, right conditions for the transmission and as well reception of knowledge. Fourth, prayer for the realization of Brahman, and this can happen only by the grace of God, as Ramakrishna had said. And I also said that before starting the Upanishad, I will give you a brief introduction, though I had already done so, just to remind ourselves. Every Upanishad practically belongs to one of the Vedas. As we know, there are four Vedas, Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharvana Veda or Atharva Veda. This third of the Vedas, which is called Sama Veda, mostly, it is not really an independent Veda, but most of the mantras, which are in a particular format, whereby they can be very easily chanted. They have been selected, separated, and then composed in a singable format, and that is what is called Sama Veda. So, four Upanishads go, and there is the second Veda, that is called Yajur Veda. And this Yajur Veda, first it was only one, then it became two. And that story, I will very shortly come to, how this happened, that there is a black Yajur Veda and a white Yajur Veda. Earlier, it was only one. If we remember, Kato Upanishad, as well as the Taittiri Upanishad, both belong to the Krishna Yajur Veda, the black Yajur Veda. Whereas, Isavasya Upanishad and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad belong to the Shukla Yajur Veda. And here also, they make a slight difference, and it is very useful for us to remember. So, for example, in the white Yajur Veda, the author is only Yajnavalkya, and Isavasya contains only 18 mantras. Brihadaranyaka is huge. So, therefore, it has got nearly six chapters. Each chapter is a very big chapter, and it is the biggest of all Upanishads. That is why the very name Brihad means very big. Aranyaka means mostly that was taught only for those who want to become monks, etc. And that Upanishad is called Aranyaka Upanishad. And entering into a forest, it is both dangerous, fascinating, very useful, but we have to be very careful while treading there. So, also Brihadaranyaka Upanishad requires tremendous amount of perceptivity, perseverance, hard work, and extremely careful that we should not misunderstand. Isavasya and Brihadaranyaka belong to the Shukla Yajur Veda. This present Upanishad, which we have taken up for study, Taittiriya, occurs at the end of the Taittiriya Aranyaka. Remember, every Veda is divided into four parts. Mantra or Samhita. Samhita means a collection of mantras. Second is Brahmana. Brahmana has nothing to do with Brahmin. Brahmana means a text explaining elaborately how the rituals with the help of the mantras found in the first section of every Veda are to be used with particular rituals, Upasanas, etc. And it is an elaborate explanation. And that part of the Veda which explains these things is called Brahmana. Then there will be some people who want to go deeper and also progress spiritually. For them, this Aranyaka. Aranya means forest. Forest means solitary place. Solitary place means two meanings are there. One meaning is where the least amount of disturbances are found. Shri Ramakrishna also used to say, Nirjanastha, now and then one should go into solitude. Solitude means where there is least disturbance physically. And that is the first meaning. Second meaning is solitude means I am not the body. I am not the mind. I am pure consciousness. And me and Brahman, there is no difference. So that solitariness, that is the second meaning. And we have to go physically in least disturbing places and practice hard Tapasya, austerity. Then slowly we will progress and realize that multiplicity is false and unity, only one without a second. Advaita alone is the truth. Brahman is Ekameva Adityam. That is the real meaning of this Aranya. Then when these persons sitting at the feet of a qualified guru, they acquire these qualifications through prayer, peace chants, etc. And when they are ready, he will teach them through one of the four Mahavakyas. And that is how they become slowly merged in Brahman. So this Aranyakam, that is the third part of every Veda. What is the fourth part? Upanishad. So this Taittiriya Upanishad occurs at the end of Taittiriya Aranyakam. Very logical division. And this Taittiriya Aranyakam has got ten chapters, of which the last four, that is seven, eight, nine and ten, are more like Upanishads. The earlier ones, six chapters, are more rituals, etc. And in the last four chapters, the very last, tenth chapter, is highly chantable and it goes by the name of Maha Narayana, Narayaniyam, etc. And it is also a great Upanishad. Very great Upanishad. We get all the Viraja Homa mantras, which are used at the time of one's accepting Sanyasa Ashram, etc. And there are also some Upasanas, but by its own right, it is highly philosophical. And also there are so many contemplations are there. So now, why do we separate this last to tenth chapter? Because the seventh, eighth and ninth of this Taittiriya Aranyakam, has been commented by Shankaracharya. Seventh is called Sikshavalli. Eighth is called Anandavalli, Brahmanandavalli. And the ninth is called Bhriguvalli. Why do these names have come? Because the very beginning, Siksham Vyakhyasya Maha, therefore Sikshavalli. Then we have Brahma Veda Apnoti Param. Second, that is the eighth chapter from the Taittiriya Aranyakam. Therefore it is called Brahmavalli, Anandavalli or Brahmanandavalli. Three names. Anandavalli, Brahmanandavalli, because it speaks about the highest Brahman, defines it as Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma. And it gives Ananda. So it is called Brahmanandavalli usually. And the third chapter, Bhrigu Vy Varunihi, starts with Bhrigu. So that is why it is named as Bhriguvalli. These three combined together is known as the Taittiriya Upanishad. And Shankaracharya has written most marvellous commentary which we will discover in course of time. So the first six chapters of the Taittiriya Aranyakam deals with rituals as well as contemplations. And there are certain mantras in these. And they are called Surya Namaskara Mantras which are even now chanted. And otherwise these Surya Namaskara Mantras are also called Aruna Prashnaha. These Aruna Prashnaha or Surya Namaskara Mantras occur as the first chapter of the Taittiriya Aranyakam. But we are dealing with the last, 7th, 8th and 9th, 10th as I said, is called Mahanarayana Upanishad. That is also Upanishad only. So since Shankara had not written a commentary, Mahanarayana, this Taittiriya Upanishad doesn't include that 10th chapter. And so among these, as we know, there are 10 major Upanishads. Major means, main important meaning is those Upanishads upon which Shankaracharya has written beautiful commentaries, such Upanishads alone are called major Upanishads. But otherwise, even the smallest Upanishad, there are so many, more than 200 Upanishads. And many people have published 108 Upanishads and 112 Upanishads. If you search in the internet, you will get them. But there are so many unnamed Upanishads are there, like Allah Upanishad. Some Muslim person must have written Allah Upanishad. We have no problem with that. Allah also is none other than Brahman only. So among these Upanishads, Isavasya and Taittiriya have a very special nature. What is that nature? They are used for chanting on many occasions. Of these two, Isavasya and Taittiriya, Taittiriya has become extraordinarily popular because they have been set to particular swaras. That is the simple background to this Taittiriya Upanishad. Now, why did this Upanishad get the name Taittiriya? Taittiri means, it also means, there are some kind of small birds like pigeons, they are called patridges. And those two Upanishads which are associated with these patridge birds are called Taittiriya. So there are two reasons for that. And one reason is that there was a great soul, Rishi. Remember, every Upanishad is the experience of a great Mahatma, a great saint who has experienced his oneness with Brahman. There is no Upanishad where oneness with Brahman is absent. Otherwise they are called Bhaktas, etc. Until the realization, through the Mahavakya, Tattvamasi, Aham Brahmasmi, Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma, Prajnanam Brahma, I am Atma Brahma. Where does this I am Atma come? It comes in the Mandukya Upanishad, the very second mantra. I am so I am Atma Brahma. So, there was a great Rishi. He was a great realized soul. Every Rishi is not a realized soul, but there are a few realized souls. Then why are the others who are not realized souls called Rishis? Because they discovered, according to Hindu tradition, some great truth. Even some mathematical, great mathematical teachers like Aryabhatta, etc. who discovered some mathematical formulas. They were also called Rishis. There are some other Rishis who discovered the science of health, medicine. So, anybody who discovers some extraordinary science, so if Einstein was living in those times, he would have been called a Rishi. Beethoven would have been called a Rishi. Shakespeare also would have been called a Rishi. Because we have to understand, Shakespeare not only wrote great plays, great poems, but there are profound truths conveyed through those very works. Anything that is written by a great man contains great truth. Otherwise, temporarily somebody may become famous, but they are not called great. So, this Taittiriya Rishi, a Rishi who was known as Taittiriya, and why he was called Taittiriya, we do not know. But some Acharyas guess maybe he controlled his food intake, intake of food. Maybe he is eating like a small bird, even though he may be a huge person, hefty person, but he might be eating a very small quantity of food, like a bird as we say, he eats like a bird. So, he might have got, we do not know. But his experience with Brahman has been expressed in this beautiful form and that is why this Upanishad is called Taittiriya Upanishad. There is a second reason. There was a great Rishi called Vaishampayana. He had many students, great people. Among them, one of the greatest was our famous Yajnavalkya, about whom we hear in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. And by the way, both Krishna Yajurveda and Shukla Yajurveda, both of them have got Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. One belonging to the black, another belonging to the white Yajurveda, etc. So, once, on some occasion, this Vaishampayana felt that he had committed some grave mistake and he had to atone. He was not in a position to do that. So, he asked his disciples, Would you kindly undertake a hard atonement on my behalf? I am too old. Of course, the disciples must have agreed. Among them was this super intelligent Yajnavalkya. And perhaps a little bit of pride had entered into him. He said to the teacher, to the Guru, Sir, you don't need to ask all others. I alone can do this atonement for you. And the teacher got annoyed with him. And then he said, Whatever I have taught you, give it back to me. Very queer type of commandment. Whether it is food I have eaten, it is impossible to bring it out. Of course, there are methods to do it, but it is not desirable. But how to forget the knowledge a teacher has given me? What is the way possible? So, it is said in a metaphorical way or allegorical way, he vomited all the knowledge that he received from this Vaishampayana Rishi and the other disciples. Immediately, they assumed the forms of these small birds called patridges. And then they have swallowed whatever the Yajnavalkya had vomited. That is the story. Now, physically we should not accept this kind of meaning. You know, even today, in many places, supposing a teacher is sick or for some reason not able to take a class, but class has to be continued, then he will ask one of the brightest students whom the teacher understands that he has understood what I have taught them properly. So, my child, you take the class on my behalf or the other students. That kind of confidence even we can see today. So, this is the symbolical meaning. A teacher, being too old, probably felt tired repeating the same thing. He must have asked Yajnavalkya, the brightest of his pupils, that you have heard everything. You have grasped in the right way. Now, you take the classes. That means you digested my teachings. Now, what you digested, you give it to them. There is also another meaning implied here. Sometimes, some teachers, they know, they have the knowledge, but their capacity to convey it to others may not be that brilliant. But among the students, there may be somebody who understands the teacher perfectly, but can express the same truths in a much, much better way. We need not go very far to get an example. The highest Upanishadic truths, so many people have translated them, but the way Swami Vivekananda had expressed, what did he say? Swami Vivekananda used to say, I have spoken nothing but the Upanishads and of the Upanishads only, the idea of fearlessness and of the Atma. And Swami Vivekananda's language, that felicity of the language is such that even a school child can understand the language. Meaning, of course, is a different issue. Because to understand the spiritual truths, as we grow in spiritual life, our capacity also grows to understand the real meaning of these spiritual statements of any religion, of the teachings of any mystic in the world. Because all the mystics are same. As Ramakrishna used to tell, funnily, all jackals howl exactly the same way. So this is the second version of it. Yajnavalkya was very bright, he digested, and then he was asked by the teacher, and then he became a surrogate teacher, and then he put it in such a way that the other disciples had no difficulty at all in understanding these teachings. So, symbolically, this story has come in that way. But whatever it is, that there is this story, the teacher asked him, he got annoyed. For whatever reason, we don't know. Then he cannot use the knowledge he got from his guru, from his teacher. So what did he do? He went and did hard austerity, praying to Surya Deva. And Surya Deva became very, very pleased with Yajnavalkya's tapasya, and he revealed to him what we now call the White Yajur Veda. More or less, there is not, really speaking, if you compare both of them, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad belonging to Krishna Yajur Veda or to Shukla Yajur Veda, there is not much difference. A few words here and there, but more or less, it is the same thing. Because knowledge cannot be that different. But the idea is that one should not be proud. The more one learns, the humbler one becomes. That is the idea. Second idea is if we do not have any teacher, and we are very eager, like Ekalavya learned by fashioning an image of Dronacharya, and that image became, God Himself came through that intuitively, and there are many stories like Satyakama, Jabala, etc., in the Upanishads, supporting the same idea, we get in the Mahabharata, etc. So, directly, by worshipping God, by worshipping Mother Saraswati, one can also get the same knowledge. This is the idea of every religion practically. The great saints of every religion say, God is the source of all knowledge. He is of the very embodiment of Chit. Chit means consciousness. Consciousness means knowledge. Every type of knowledge, not only spiritual knowledge, any type of knowledge, the embodiment is only God. Everything is God, or Hindus call it Saraswati. So, this is the story that we get. This is the mythological story. That's all. Now, as I mentioned earlier, Mahanarayana Upanishad, the 10th chapter of the Vaithariya Ananyakam, it is only chanted, and especially while welcoming. You know, in South India, the Shankaracharya Mathas are there, and they are all Brahmins. Non-Brahmins are not given Sanyasa there. And they are given extraordinarily great scholarship. They are trained from the Guru Himself, in His absence. Many great Pandits are available even today in South India. So, when these Sanyasins enter into any Pidwat Sabha, any meeting where some discussions have to be held, or a great ritual is going on, or they enter into some temples, they are received with the greatest honour. It is called Poornakumbha, a big pot full of water, and on that there will be some coconut, and it is some marks with red powder, etc., indicating auspiciousness, and it is decorated with flowers, leaves, etc. And the priests go and carry that one, and they chant these mantras, welcoming Na Karmana Na Prajaya Dhanena Vedanta Vignana Sunischit Artha Dharam Vipapam Parameshma Bhutam Yo Vedadau Swaraha Proktaha. O Sanyasi, the realization of Brahman is not available, either through karma, ritual, or by the production of offspring, by wealth. No. Only by complete renunciation of all worldly ties. And these people, Vedanta Vignana Sunischita Artha they know the very essence of every Veda, every Upanishad, and they have burned all their sinful tendencies, not only sinful actions, but the very root cause of these sinful actions, called Samskaras. And they have become one with with Parameshwara, with Eshwara, and Yo Vedadau Swaraha Proktaha. Every Veda practically begins with Omkara. So, these are some of the mantras which chanting in the prescribed manner, the priests or the elder Brahmanas welcome these Sanyasins and these mantras are to be found in the Maha Narayana Upanishad. This is a short introduction and we are now going to enter into really this Taittiri Upanishad. And as mentioned earlier, the very first chapter starts with So, this is what is called the second section because the first section is the Shanti Mantra. There are 12 sections in the first chapter called Siksha Dhyaya. Dhyaya means chapter. And the first and last, that is first and the twelfth are nothing but peace chants. But from the second until the eleventh, we get this beautiful training, different, how to pronounce etc. The very word Siksha, though the Vedic usage is Siksha but that itself is wrong. It is not. The correct one is Siksha. Siksha means training. So, training a Brahmachari who comes to the Guru how to pronounce properly. So, in the olden days even we know that classical literature, the study of the classical literature is a must. And then the teachers used to emphasize that you have to pronounce whether it is English language or any other language properly. But when it comes to the Vedas, learning of the Vedas, it has to be pronounced in different ways. That is going to be a subject matter of the Tarif, the second section. And it is divided into six conditions are to be fulfilled if the chanting of these Siksha Vali or Vedas have to be done properly. Six conditions have to be fulfilled. We will see that one very soon. So, this first chapter is mostly a training. First, how to pronounce. Second, taking ordinary occurrences, whether it is the combination of two letters called Sandhi or two occurrences in day-to-day life. Simple example. So, if you say Rama Agachati Ra Ma that letter Ma is a combination of a consonant called M and a vowel called A. This is called Savarna Dirgha Sandhi. Same syllable. If two syllables of the same type come together, whether they are short or long, when they come together, so both letters will become combined into a long this one. So, simple example. Rama plus Atra, short A. Ra Ma This Ma plus A and the next word is Atra, A plus A. Rama Atra. Second example. Rama, short A, but Agachati. So, Rama Agachati. This is how it has to be pronounced. This is only an example I am giving. So, Sandhi, Samasa and when two vowels come together, then they change their character also. I am not going to go into depths of that. Otherwise it becomes Sanskrit grammar. But what is important is it is a rule, it is a tradition that one has to observe six rules or fulfill six conditions. Then only the very pronunciation or chanting or utterance will give tremendous result. That is the Veda. That is why from the ancient Vedas they are called Shruti. Shruti means you cannot simply chant it from writings. Of course, writing came much later on, but it has to be heard and exactly without shortening it is lengthening as the teacher utters. One has to memorize and that is why even today how our ancestors used to chant, same thing will come out and to induce a fear of hell into these people who are learning they also tell a story. I will come to that little later on. So, the first chapter, first of all, how to pronounce that is the essence of the first essence of the first chapter called Second is how to elevate our mind even taking this ordinary combination of ovals. That is the second one and this is how to contemplate, how to elevate. Third one take two events where two people come together for some purpose and that also can be made into a subject matter of contemplation. I will give a small example. Earlier I told you about the combination of ovals. So, that also can be a subject matter for contemplation. But now suppose two persons come together. I will give you two examples. First example, the teacher and the student. So, the teacher is the first part, the student is the second part and both of them are made to form a relationship through the process called instruction and as a result of teacher through instruction instructs the student and then what is the result? Vidya, knowledge. Knowledge will be the result. This is one. So, a man and woman they get married. This is the second example. And then they come together. They unite together. And when man and woman come together, they are coming together in an act of union and the result is offspring. Contemplate upon it. Now, what is the idea? Why are we bothered about all these things? The idea is there is no isolated event in this world. Such profound philosophy is compressed into these contemplations. There is no isolated object, no isolated person, no isolated event and all these things coming together are classified into three and is called Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Daivika. And what happens in one of these spheres also influences the other two spheres. In English language, scientists tell that if a butterfly flutters its wings in New Delhi and billions of light years away, there would be a tremendous change in the formation of the stars. Of course, ordinary people like us can never contemplate here a small insect butterfly is fluttering its wings and here is some billions of light years away, some event is taking place. Where is the connection? What it means is that we see only the gross visible connections. We never see the invisible, unfathomable connections and our whole a baby, for example there is one Vidya it is called Panchagna Vidya the next I am going to introduce in the Chandogya Upanishad as I said, this Taittiriya and Chandogya because of the relationship with these contemplations, we have to go from one to the other and I will cover that Panchagna Vidya. How is a baby born? In the past life, this was a man or a woman and that man or woman does something as a result he gives up the man or woman, they give up their physical bodies and where do they go? Death is not contemplated. There is nothing called death. Death in the sense of non-existence. Death means non-manifestation. So they go to some other world and there there will be a big sacrifice done and because of that sacrifice, clouds are formed and those clouds, they rain upon the earth and the rain is soaked by the plants and the plants in the form of food is eaten by the male and he produces what we call the Purushabija, semen and he discharges into the woman and that baby, that person who in the past birth had been living in some unmanifested world through these five, the cloud, the rain, the plants, the semen and into the woman. All are called fires. All the five are called fires. One fire leading to the other fire and this is the causal chain and that is how the baby is born and this is only the briefest way I am trying to tell you but details if you want to take what type of rain was that, what type of clouds was that, what type of rain was that and then what type of food the person is eating and what is his social status, what is his physical condition and what type of woman is coming into union and then what type of body the baby is trying to get. This is not an isolated event at all. These are all interconnected events and this is beautifully brought out in one chapter called Madhukanda in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. So in this Vedas nothing is an isolated event. We are all related. Himalayas have grown there is a reason for that. A river is flowing, there is a reason for that. We may not see the reason or reasons but there is a reason. That means what? We are not isolated from each other. We are sometimes visibly and most of the time invisibly completely connected, related, unified and there is nothing called separation or multiplicity one completely separate from the other. These tremendous facts are taught in the form of a particular contemplation that is called Panchagna Vidya which I will deal in a little more detail in the Chandogya Upanishad. But here what are we taking? This is the general trend of what we call this Upasana. So what is the first point? Prayer for removal of all these, praying for God's grace etc. Second is how to pronounce properly and we know that in the last centuries the teachers were very particular about grammar and about pronunciation. A person who pronounces in the wrong way or slipshod way or in a sarcastic way, nowadays you know even a son calls his mother girl even though she is old and she also wants to be called a girl. Oh! I am not old, I look very beautiful, very attractive. These stupid ideas, worldly ideas are bringing ruin to the whole world. Anyway, the sign of a cultured person is how a person speaks language. That is the most important point. And if you want to see who is a cultured person, observe his language. He will be uttering such words, he will not even use strong words, he will use appropriate words and that too with all the good intention in a particular way. So that also has been taken into consideration. For example, you shout, how are you? No, how are you? There is a way of speaking like mother, how she speaks to the child who has returned from the school, etc. All these, what is the emphasis? etc. etc. Six conditions have to be fulfilled and then only that person is fit to be taught how to chant the Vedas. And such a person who learns this is called Samskruti, culture. And Samskruta is the medium for developing this culture, Samskruti. And such a person who has been trained and who practices it throughout his life, he is called a Samskruta Purusha, a cultured person. That is why the very meaning of the word Samskruta Bhasha, Samskruta means well refined language, refined language, beautiful language, that is what it means. And few years back, people were made to understand. Nowadays, only you learn some science, it doesn't matter what way you pronounce and all these unthinkable words, impure words are being used and how much profound effect they have upon people's minds, God alone knows. So the second one is, first one is, we chant, second one is how to pronounce properly, third one is how to take ordinary combination of vowels and transform them into uplifting contemplations. Also take two events, teacher and student, mother and father, etc. Because we are all living in a society, we have that relationship. Take these very relationships and transform them into spiritually transforming contemplative acts. That is the second part of the Bhasha. And in the 11th Anuvaka, we get something, a blueprint as if the student is going home and the teacher, he is the everything, he is the mother, he is the father and he is the teacher, he is the well-wisher and he is none other than God. Guru, Guru is Vishnu, Guru is Shiva, Guru is Parabrahma, Guru Sakshat Parabrahma, but he gives an instruction. My children, we may not meet again, but I am giving you, this is called nowadays also in a different way, it is universities awarding the degrees, they are made to dress in a particular way, high hat etc., at least in UK. I think it is the same everywhere and they are given some senior person, experienced person, supposedly wise person gives them what to do with life. So, beautiful rules and regulations, a first class, what is called blueprint, how to live life, even if we never meet, then this is what I expect you to do and if you heed my words, you will progress wherever you are and ultimately you will attain the samambonam of life, which is called Brahma Sakshatkara. So, this is the essence of the first chapter in this Taittiriya Upanishad called Sakshavalli and in the very second Anuvaka, what are those six conditions, how to pronounce, we will take it up in our next class. Om Jananim Sharadam Devayim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Vada Padmetayoh Sritva Pranamami Mohor Mohoh. May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti. Ramakrishna.