Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 28 on 25 August 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Chandogya Upanishad which belongs to the Samaveda. This is the sixth chapter in the Chandogya Upanishad and it is divided into several sections. We have completed the first section and the first section has a story how the teacher and the disciple in relationship, formal and former relationship, they were father and son. We have discussed elaborately. Now the son had become a disciple. That means he became fit to receive. As I mentioned many times, unless the recipient is ready, the teacher will not give anything, not only teaching but in any respect. A mother will not give to the child what he is not ready to receive. And of course many times we are ready to receive but not able to enjoy it or keep it. And a daughter, a mother, they know it. But we have to presume and how much time had passed we do not know. The student became ready and humbly he who came back puffed up with pride became very humble. Not only humble, there are many humble people in this world but there are very few people who are very serious about higher life. In this world there are many many many good people are there. So if we are ever under the mistaken notion that the whole world is full of wicked people, that would be one of the greatest mistakes we will be committing. In fact, if there are too many wicked people then we will not be able to survive at all. There are too many good people are there but they are simply not interested in paravidya or what we call in a higher type of life or to put it in practical terms, they are not prepared to pay the necessary fee in order to get full meaning and enjoy their lives. So whatever we can acquire depends upon the law. What we give out, that only we can receive. If we can empty a vessel 10%, that vessel can receive only 10%. If it can be 50% vacant, then it can receive 50%. Only when it is 100% empty, can it receive 100%. This is an invariable, inevitable law in life with regard to anything, not only food, knowledge or talent or anything. And what is the effort we make for when a person does exercise, then he is digesting his food, emptying what he had already filled his stomach with. And this emptying process is called action. So whatever actions we do in this world is only so that we can empty ourselves and then we can fill ourselves with something more worthy. And God is ever ready to give us. The question is, are we ready to receive it? That is why Shri Ramakrishna's oft-repeated teaching, the wind of God's grace is ever blowing, but unfurl your sails. Be ready to receive what God wants to give us. And He doesn't want to give us anything less than infinity itself. So the first chapter tells us all the requirements that is called Sadhana Chaitustaya Sampatti. The next point we have to note down, it is in the form of a dialogue. Every knowledge is only in the form of a dialogue. Our first teacher will be the mother, second teacher will be the father, third teacher will be the teacher, fourth teacher will be anybody else. Remember the story in the Bhagavatam of Avadhuta, who learned from 24 gurus. And if he had wondered more, it is not confined to 24, he would have learned many more lessons. Shri Ramakrishna puts it beautifully in his Pithi statements. So long as I am alive, I go on learning. Because even in incarnation, he has infinite capacity to learn. Our whole life is nothing but learning process. And another name for that learning process is called evolution. The more we empty, the more we receive, and the more we receive, the more we progress, the more we progress, then the more we are filled up. This is the inevitable law. Now the teaching is given, but remember in the first section itself, three examples are given. So one of the questions we have to remind ourselves, which we did discuss earlier, and we will also do the same, because repetition is inevitable part of the process of learning. What was that? When we are saying that there is a spiritual life, we are making a distinction between worldly life and spiritual life. There is a point we have to learn here. What is that point? That we are under the mistaken notion that worldly people want less, spiritual people want everything. That is incorrect. Worldly people, even a mosquito, even a most illiterate person, even the most Thomasic person, they do not want anything less. They want only Purnam. Purnam means infinite. Why? Because that is our nature. Then why do we call them worldly people? They are seeking infinity in the finite. Therefore, they are called worldly people. What does a spiritual person do? He tries to seek the same thing, because he also, like a worldly person, he was a worldly person, but he learned in the course of time that through limitedness, one cannot attain the unlimited. That unlimited is a beautiful name given in this Chandogya Upanishad. It is called Bhoomavidya, Paravidya, Bhoomavidya, Brahmavidya, Atmajnanam. These are all synonymous words. So, everybody wants, but what does a spiritual person do? Two points we have to remember. First, a spiritual person is awakened to the fact that this world is limited and any limited something cannot give unlimited. This is the first point. The second point that we have to learn is that already we are worldly, so we have to empty ourselves. That emptying process is called Vairagya. That is why the first thing is the discriminating process called Viveka. The second is what should be given up, we should try to give up and what should be taken up, we should try to take it up. In a way of speaking, it is a negative process, but inevitably that is what everybody has to do and unfortunately it acquired a name. It is called renunciation and that gives a lot of worry to people. Oh, do I have to renounce? Of course, if you cannot digest more quantity, then you have to learn how to enlarge your stomach. Not only stomach, digestive process also. For that, you have to eat what can be digested and do exercise and follow all the rules of health. That is a very dangerous knowledge to certain professions like medical profession because if you are healthy, they will become poor inevitably. So, this is the second point we have to remember. Spiritual life is a negative process. Why do we call it? That is what the scriptures tell us. You are what you are seeking. You are already that. Not that you are going to get something in the course of time. So, the next point we have to understand is that what we are not, we can never become. We can only become what we are. This is what Swami Vivekananda means. Each soul is potentially divine. If we are not divine, then we can never become divine. Then what is the meaning of divinity? That we have to give up the wrong notions about our identity. That is called sadhana or spiritual endeavor. With this background, we will enter into it. Remember just that what is the spiritual life where we can overcome death, we can overcome ignorance and we can overcome suffering. Sat, chit, ananda. And if we are not that, we can never become that. That is why very often this is taught in beautiful bhajans. Remember, recollect when Shri Ramakrishna met Narendra Nath for the first time in a devotee's house. Spontaneously, Narendra Nath had sung two songs, very beautiful songs. First, let us go back to our own home. What is spiritual life? Going back to our own home. What was the second song? That is, shall all my life go in waste? That is, the less we do spiritual practice, the more my life is spent in vain. But in everybody's life, there comes a point of time when inevitably we have to wake up and at the right time too. And that statement also has wonderful philosophy behind it, but I would not go into it right now. So now, Shweta Ketu had become an apt student and his father, now no longer a father, Aruni, Uddalaka Aruni, had become the teacher. He started to teach. What is he going to teach? It is simple. That two points, again we have to remember that multiplicity is the cause of fear. And this is beautifully stated in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Fear always comes from the second. Second doesn't mean it can be time, it could be space, it could be a person, it could be an object. A simple example I am giving so that we can understand this Upanishad properly. So, at midnight, a person is going somewhere. For whatever reason, most of the time, it is only not out of necessity, but out of a mistaken notion, etc. And people are not there, maybe very few people, but it spells danger. Anybody can come and that is what is happening most of the time. Then, any space, suppose there is a lonely space and when we are traveling through a forest, through a mountain, we are alone and it gives sort of worry will be there, no doubt about it, unless a person is deeply drunk. Next, supposing we have an object and we are using it, we are enjoying it and through it, we are able to enjoy our life. There is always fear, it may be destroyed, it may be stolen, something can happen. It could be a person. So, can you trust that person? Probably, always not. Next example, even a mosquito can be a very dangerous thing. Supposing, daytime, you are walking by the side of a huge mountain, especially Swiss mountains, etc. And anytime, there can be a huge, what is called snowballing effect. Landslide can be there and it does not come with a big notice. Within seconds, it comes and crushes. Every day, practically, we receive the news. Every day, these things are happening. Every day, lightenings are happening and every day, many accidents are happening. So, life is very uncertain. That is there. Still, more examples can be given, but we get the point. If there is a second thing, it could be a person living or non-living or it could be a time, space, anything. It could be a cause of joy or a cause of fear also or we want something and we are not able to get it. That is also, we want it, but we cannot get it. That is also a source of fear. So, when a person is alone, then he will be the happiest person. Naturally, the question comes, what are you talking about? When a person is alive, then does he not require food? Does he not require water? So many things. Every second, something new is required. No, the scripture is not talking about that. Ekam eva advitiyam. We are going to get it right now in this very first mantra of the second section. What does it mean? No body, no mind, nothing is there. Pure consciousness is there and its nature is sat-chit-ananda. That is the only state when we can be absolutely without fear. That means the highest happiness, highest bliss can be obtained. That is the teaching of every scripture practically. Put it in philosophical terms or theological terms. If it is Bible, Koran, Puranas, call it Kailasa or what is called Vaikuntha or Kingdom of Heaven or Paradise or Nirvana. These are the names given. But all the names mean only one thing that there is no second and I am of the nature of immortality, all knowledge and pure bliss. Therefore, that is one of the important points we have to learn. What is the next point? Is it really there? Yes, faith is necessary because from birth after birth, from birth to death, we are seeing everything, we are familiar only with what is changing. Are you anytime familiar with something which never changes? Yes, we are familiar but we do not take notice. What is that something that never changes? I. When I am awake, I am there. When I am dreaming, I am there. When I am asleep, I am there. And life is but waking, dream, sleep and continuously changing. Who is witnessing the change? I am witnessing the change. So that invariable law, unless there is unchanging witness, the notice of changing something cannot be taken at all. So that proves. Ultimately, when do we get best peace, best happiness? Only when we are in deep sleep. And why do we get it? Because temporarily we are one without a second. Extend it and that is what we studied in the Mandukya Upanishad, spiritual practice through any of the prescribed paths. How many paths? Infinite number of paths. So the Uddalaka or Aruni starts his teaching. What does he want to say in the second section? He wants to say that there is no multiplicity, there is only one single object. And what is the nature of that object or what is the nature of the world? Yesterday we discussed this point. So we give two special words, especially in Sanskrit, for this creation. One is called Prapancha, another is called Jagat. And what is the etymological meaning, root meaning? Prapancha means that which is constituent, constituted of five elements. What is the second? Jagat means that which is continuously in a flux, not for one trillionth of a second, nothing stops, everything is changing. But there is a continuous witness, unchanging witness. What is spiritual life? Shift the identity from the changing to the unchanging. We are already identified with the body-mind. Now we should identify with that which is a witness, constant, continuous witness of that which is changing, which alone is called puri and that is spiritual practice. And through our practice, what is practice? Slowly withdraw from the changing to the unchanging. Do it through Upasana, do it through Nishkama Karma, do it through prayer and pilgrimage and bhajan and complete self-surrender or do it through the path of knowledge, it doesn't matter. All their efforts, all the efforts through any of these paths is only to get out of this identity with the ever-changing and identifying always with the never-changing. Simple example, I am giving how we can take on Shilbhakti. A devotee is one who believes in personal God and is in the presence of the personal God and is contemplating, is worshipping, he is hymning and he is offering things, is going on pilgrimage. You can add any number of things but all for what purpose? To please God. That means he wants to be in the company of God and what is his idea of God? He who is, even the word he will not come because it is a popular word, I am using that word. He who is beyond time, beyond space, beyond causation, which means beyond all multiplicity, I am contemplating upon that unchanging infinite reality and that is our idea, really speaking, though albeit unconsciously. We have to make it conscious. So if God alone exists and He is Ananta, He is infinite, He is Nitya, He is for all times eternal, eternal and infinity, two important words. What does it mean? Nothing else exists. If God is everything, everything does not exist. This is the simple truth. So spiritual life is towards more what is called eternal life, towards more wisdom, they say, or pure consciousness and towards more and more unbroken bliss. If we understand then we will not have any problem saying that I want spiritual life. Here also we have to note a point that is it necessary to believe what we call God, Rama, Krishna, Allah, Buddha, Jesus? No, not necessary. You give any blessed name you want. You can use the word and here the word is used, it is called Asat, non-existence. Use the word non-existence. What is the nature of this non-existence? It is one, it is without second and it is the only thing and that is what the teacher wants to bring out. Call it Sat, call it Asat. It does not really matter. So in this second section there is a little bit of argument because there are quarrelling schools of philosophy are there. It is not very important but we will anyway discuss it very briefly. Here goes the first mantra. Asat eva idam agre asid ekameva dviteyam tasmad asatah sat jayata. The first sentence tells the teacher is telling Saumya, that is the guru is addressing the student. Saumya means pleasing one and who is a pleasing one for a Brahmavid? So if there is a physics teacher and there is a student of chemistry, he will not tell that you are very pleasing one to me. Only if there is a physics student, very intelligent, whatever the teacher is stating or giving out, he is able to grasp immediately. So that is the teacher will be or should be highly pleased with that. So what is here the guru is addressing because that the student is extraordinarily perceptive, intelligent, able to grasp immediately, not only grasp as earlier we discussed when we were discussing about the prayer, Medha or Gayatri mantra that there are what is called five powers should be there. The power of understanding, the power of retaining and the power of recollecting and the power of using it with a good motive and above all having a unselfish motive whenever we use our power of memory with whatever work we want to accomplish and all these when they are complete God is fully present there. So in this Shweta Ketu all these powers are very present otherwise even an ordinary person like you and me we go on telling two three times to people then they go yes yes yes I understood and next time they come I understood everything. I understood the whole Ramayana excepting about two people only I didn't understand who is Rama and who is Sita everything else I have understood perfectly well. So this boy must have acquired that one that means what we have to salute Shweta Ketu because in the end that is what is said that he also became enlightened an enlightened teacher obtains an apt disciple and he teaches in the proper way there is no way like we saw in the Katha Upanishad Yamadharma Raja certifying even before he started the teaching I consider you Nachiketa as having realized Brahman having reached the home that is what he says having reached the goal even before starting the teaching how could he say because with these qualifications anything is possible and very soon it is possible Swamishar Dharamdaraji commenting upon the life of Sri Ramakrishna in the great master he says categorically that Sri Ramakrishna whatever particular type of sadhana he had undertaken he became successful most of the time in one day and sometimes at best three days and how could he do it because he had 100% of his mind with him there is no what is called split personality broken personality at 50% of the mind is pulling this way and 50% is pulling the other way no so that kind of state Shweta Ketu must have reached and so what does it mean we who claim that we want to be spiritual slowly but surely we must acquire that 100% Shraddha 100% concentration then it is possible there is no doubt about it at all so with this background we will the first line of this mantra says oh pleasing one that means my dear student you will be able to you are capable of grasping what i am trying to tell agree means before the creation before there was even any hint of creation there is only item agri acid only one was there what was that sat eva sat means existence pure existence beyond time space causation another name for it is brahman atman whatever name you want to call impersonal aspect sat eva eva means only only existence was there and what is its nature ekam eva advityam it is ekam only one eva only advityam without a second and our commentators come to our rescue here and they say what is the description in these three words ekam eva advityam advitya vedanta posits all multiplicity can be subdivided into three classes three differences it is called veda what are those i hope you remember of course i will just remind you in case you have forgotten everything in this world is consisting of vijatiya bheda two different species that means each is different from each other if there are a trillion species everything is different from everything else then means same species two human beings two eyes even in fact they say even between two individual hairs there is a terrible difference is there and if you take a big magnifying glass you can easily find out there was a fellow he was about 30 years old and he looked into one morning he looked into the mirror and he found one single gray hair standing out he pulled it out and wanted to throw it out he threw it into the waste paper basket and it started laughing uproariously this fellow asked why are you laughing he said you idiot i have got 2000 friends there from tomorrow at least 100 of them will be popping out what are you going to do then so acceptance what does it mean it means with wherever there are two objects there will be these three differences so take two human beings completely different from top to bottom then they give the example of a any tree it will do you take a banyan tree there is a root there is a trunk there is big branches there are leaves there are blossoms there are fruits and everything is different from everything else this is called difference within one object difference between two species two objects of the same species difference between different species so by telling ekam there is he is denying ekam means there is no there is no second even is not there is also not there so what does it mean some indescribable something is there why because if there is only one thing first of all first point we have to understand description is not necessary if you are alone i am so and so you don't tell to anybody but the moment you meet somebody and the person doesn't know you even it could be a mosquito also then you say what do you say i am a human being you are a damned mosquito you are coming to attack me how dare see i am stronger than you i am going to put on the mosquito curtain do your best and as i mentioned you know you can also you're in the bathroom no mosquito curtain one single mosquito is trying to be friendly with you and you are dancing like krishna danced with gopis and the mosquito had you dance so much okay i'm just making fun take it easy so through these three words are completely removed and the student was intelligent enough to understand so akam means what that only one one means what infinite and it is eternal and it is indivisible and it is indivisible means what you know changeless so it is changeless it is one beyond time space causation hey soumya my dear student there is only one why did he issue this statement because this he wants to connect to this world this creation because if it there was only one thing pure existence at the beginning what is our experience billions of existence trillions and trillions and trillions of existences somehow we do not connect the two threads here is a tree the tree is the insect is the animal is man is man is separate insect is separate tree is separate everything is separate and that separation is called multiplicity and from multiplicity comes out fear oh therefore he says sat eva only existence is there what is the point if we can understand forget the ignore the differences what is the commonality between me and everything else that exists it is also there also existing i am also existing as existence i and you do not come into existence we have to clearly understand this point i am existing you are existing so we are not say existence becomes a what is called a quality like this is a golden vessel that is a silver vessel that is a clay vessel so like that my existence i am a separate i i come first tree for example comes first tree exist so they exist into tree exist into table existent man exist into mosquito how many trillions and trillions of existences and what is the commonality there is no commonality because we are emphasizing the differences not the commonality but the moment we come to know existence who are you i am existence who are you i am existence who are you i am existence everything is pure existence in case you have not caught the point what i am driving at there on krishna gives an example once i had a vision the whole universe as it were is made out of wax so what is the land wax what is the building wax what is the tree wax what are the birds on the tree wax what are the human beings wax what are the cows wax everything is wax what difference does it make well the difference is if everything is wax then there is no difference between them that is the most marvelous point as existence we are one but as multiplicity we have separate existences so this this is a very important point intellectual point we have to understand and aruni uddalaka is teaching this trying to drill and the child must have understood and then there are some people like buddhists and naikas what do they say tadha eka ahuhu so yes when you say there is only one so we accept but we don't say that it is sat what do we say just the opposite asat asat means non-existence asat eva idam agre asit before the creation before the world was created there is only non-existence and what is its nature what did you say oh aruni about the sat is what did you say ekam eva advithi and we are also saying that is asat also is what is called ekam eva advithi that is also one without a second what is the difference between these two what do they want to say they want to say that one that is vedanta wants to say the world has come from existence but existence that is what is called impersonal unmanifest what these people want to say that it has come from pure non-existence there was nothing remember literally they take it there was something there was nothing there was nothing out of that nothing something has come out of course rationality dictates to us that something cannot come out of nothing because if something has come out of nothing then that something will be nothing only if a tree has come from a seed that seed must contain the potentiality of that tree so this endless arguments have come by some of the schools of philosophy here i am trying to just mention a little bit because the upanishad mentions it otherwise i would have ignored just to remind you remember when we are talking about mandukya upanishad how the world is created the first point we have to remember what godapada wants to say if at all you have bothered to look second time to that mandukya karika there was no creation at all that is called ajati vada then why was creation mentioned because they are not mentioning it because there is a creation they are not mentioning it because they believed in creation they are mentioning it because our experience in this world is where whatever object we see it has come out of something if you see a pot it the original cause is clay if you see a calf it has come from a cow if you see a puppy it has come from a female dog etc etc it applies to trace everything so there is a cause and the cause appearing as effect is called creation so this is accepted provisionally and that is a particular way of teaching so that we will come to that that is called adhyaropa means what you superimpose something deliberately to come to the level of the student and then the same when the student grows up a little develops the capacity to understand it is completely negated that is called apavada so what is what what is the intention of uddalaka here he says there are some people that means there were people even in his time during his time who think that it was there was nothing and out of nothing something has come i mentioned also the old bible it is there god created this world out of nothing what is their argument very briefly it is like this it must be nothing how suppose you sow a seed in soil and after some time you see a tree what do we say the tree has come the plant has come the seedling has come out of the seed this is what we say but these people having an extraordinarily perverted mind they want to take another argument no do you know what happens when the seed comes into contact with the soil the seed gets destroyed out of this destroyed seed only the seedling will come and when the seed gets destroyed that is called the state of nothingness i hope i am making some sense out of it so we do not say vedantins do not accept and in fact no believer accepts it that before creation god was there or brahman was there and what is the creation brahman created according to the dualist brahman is manifesting so brahman created is called brahman manifesting is only called so the advaitavadins it is only an appearance it is a seeming appearance it is not really real but what is it that before creation everything was there in an unmanifested form and that unmanifested form becomes a manifest that is vedantic explanation but then as i mentioned earlier there are three schools of philosophy dualism qualified non-dualism and non-dualism so non-dualists categorize everything into only two non-dualists and then qualified dualists all dualists it is all duality god is different i am different etc so this what do the advaitins say they want to say there is no creation at all there's then what is there what is only manifestation there is no creation there is no reality to that creation how a musician is a is an example a musician he produces many rabbits out of his small hat and endless amount of cloths like krishna produced endless amount of saris to rescue draupadi and remember their most modern fashionable desirable tailor what is called desirable saris only so these are the two vadas what is our point is you if you are a devotee accept personal god if you are trying to tread thinking that i am a fit person to tread except brahma it doesn't matter but the essence of it is something alone can come out of something nothing can come out of nothing something cannot come out of nothing but the argument is brought out maybe to emphasize that there is something and you are coming from there and it is your inevitable unstoppable destiny to reach that original cause called brahman that is called god realization or brahma vidya knowledge of brahman or atman etc then only your life will become pure bliss otherwise with the advaita multiplicity from the second comes fear fear means unhappiness this is what we need to remember so what is the meaning i broke down this first mantra into two sentences first sentence hey swetha keto my dear boy that there was only one thing at the beginning it is pure existence existence means without breaking into names forms and qualities and indistinguishable and it is one without a second as against to that the next sentence in this first mantra of the second section says bringing some people who used to argue no no nothing is there why because we do not see the tree in the seed what do you see in fact when you open the seed it is practically nothing so we see nothing therefore nothing is there out of that nothing something has come because the karana will always be so subtle that it is many times it is impossible for example even scientists cannot say we are witnessing the they can only guess the atoms that the whole universe is made up of the atoms but we cannot see the atoms cannot see doesn't mean non-existence they are not perceptible because we do not have proper instruments so the this this is the teaching bhagavad gita summarizes so every manifested being at first it was unmanifest and it came from the unmanifest it remains manifest for some time and again it goes back into the unmanifest this is the eternal rhythm that is going on throughout the world therefore before this world was manifest there was pure existence one without a second and on this subject some maintain that before this world was manifest there was only non-existence one without a second out of that non-existence existence they can't say why that this world is not experienceable why do they say that why do they accept a karana karana means asat why do the nayayikas logicians and the some of the schools of buddhists why do they say that it was nothing because when you see an object in front of you and it is called an effect every object is an effect but every effect must come out of the some cause that is the first point what is the second point so every effect must have exactly the same material as the cause we have explained yesterday that there is no second object called it is nothing but clay small pot or big pot then is only a convenient name a name is nothing but an expression of thought so the whole world is nothing but an expression of thought so that is why many advaita philosophers call it the whole world is an idea in our minds that is called even in the way what you call waking state when you say i see you no you are not seeing me you are seeing or experiencing your thought which your sense organs had taken a picture of me and presented it to the mind and then the mind has the capacity to collate to harmonize all the five types of informations it received from the all the five sense organs and then it collates it presents it to the buddhi buddhi says yes that is a tree and you are correct i see that tree but what you call that tree is only a thought and you go and say i touch that tree that is also a thought and then you say i plucked with my hands the mango that is also a thought and then you put it in your mouth i am eating it that is also a thought and then you say it is very flavorful sweet plenty of flesh mango that is also a thought i want it again that is also a thought and if your experience is different you say i don't want it again in the in this life at least and that is also a thought everything is nothing but a thought which is called an idea in the mind this is a most beautiful philosophy and then if you can really understand it then you you can take both positive and negative experiences in a samabuddhi they call it samatvam yoga vichati you will be enjoying but you will not be suffering much so this is a most wonderful thing and just i want to conclude on this subject citing that your dream that is why in every upanishad especially mandukya upanishad the experience of dream dream state is taken as a marvelous example so what happens in the dream state you see exactly we experience the same world we are also seeing the mango tree we pluck the mango and we eat and we enjoy it and then we say we want it and or you pluck some bitter fruit and you say it is very unhappy experience i do not wish it again when the dream breaks after the dream breaks you think you have come back to the waking state and then you say oh that was a dream what do you mean by a dream that i was imagining things like that my ideas were becoming concrete in that particular state as if it is a reality and then that is that is what this mantra wants to convey to us everything is a thought in the mind but every thought must have some owner in whose because of some reason the idea is going to come and that is a beautiful explanation which we will see in our next class may Shri Ramakrishna holy mother and Swami Vekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna