Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 19 on 25 September 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Taittiriya Upanishad which belongs to the Krishna Yajur Veda and the first chapter is called Sikshadhyaya. It has 12 sections called here in Anuvakas. We have completed 3 Anuvakas and we started the 4th Anuvaka. This 4th Anuvaka has 3 mantras and these 3 mantras are prayers. Prayers first of all to the Divine Lord Eshwara in the form of Omkara for endowing me so that I can become a God realized soul. I can become a knower of Brahman. First of all there is a prayer or praise of prayer that you are the best among the Vedas. That means you are the embodiment of Vedas. You are the essence of the Vedas and if one remembers you it is more than good enough than remembering any other part of the Veda and such a great Divine Lord endow me with the right understanding and if a man is endowed with right understanding his life will be completely fulfilled and then the prayer is O Lord may I be fit enough to become immortal. For that purpose let my body be fit then let my tongue become very sweet that means let my speech become pure and that which conduces to to you. May I hear whatever conduces to my good so that I can attain you and you are the Sheeth of Brahman but even though that is true even though we are also or you have endowed me with intellect but this intellect is now turned towards the world so right the capacity to understand is there but my understanding as of now is only of this world but with your grace let it now turn to the spiritual side and whatever I understand by hearing by reading by cogitating please protect so that I can never forget the goal of life is to realize who I really am. This was the essence which Swami Vivekananda presented in three sentences at the beginning of his Raja Yoga talks. Each soul is potentially divine the goal is to manifest this divinity how by controlling nature external and internal and then how do we manifest that divinity either through work or worship or psychic control or philosophy or through the four yogas by one or more or all of these put together and be free and that is the real meaning of religion the rest are secondary details so this is the or Swami Vivekananda has squeezed the sense of this particular prayer this is the first mantra then we also have discussed the second mantra avahanti vitanvana kurvana chiram atmanah vasamsi mamagavasya annapane ca sarvada tato me shriyam avaha lomasham pasubhi sahasvaha the prayer is what you bring me wealth and let Lakshmi Devi the goddess of wealth indirectly there is no mention here let her come to me because she is none other than your own grace not only let wealth come let it increase hundredfold thousandfold for what purpose so that i can perform pancha maha yagnas get rid of my debts and progress in spiritual life and finally know who i am and enter into you eternally so for that purpose so you bring wealth increase it and you alone are capable of protecting it so that is the not only vitanvana but kurvana achiram atmanaha so you protect that wealth because no man can protect anything in a fraction of a second one can lose one's life one can lose of course everything that one has but because this was the prayer of the old timers that is vedic times so at that time wealth is what we call the animals agricultural society so bring plenty of cloths and warm clothing also warm clothing is made out of warm skinned animals therefore and this is a not only a japa the first mantra is for japa the second mantra is for offering lit up a fire and then through uttering these mantras offer as we nowadays offer in homa into that blazing fire so vasamsi is cloths sufficient cloths not only for me for my family for all my disciples disciples disciples etc and animals so that we can get milk curds etc so that we can continue the yajnas and yagas and let me never lack anything in the form of either food or drink sarvada all the time so that we need not think about anything else so then you bring all the disciples also this and swaha so that my desire agni deva will carry it to you and you grant him what i desire and he will bring it back to me like a postman fire is considered as a postman this is the essence of the second mantra then it is once i progress in spiritual life i first of all i have to understand the spirit of the scriptures and then think deeply about them shravana manana and transform my life through nididhyasana and once i progress once i realize our identity then it is my duty by your will to spread this brahma vidya that is called shruti sampradaya the tradition of spreading from god to the first disciple and then it is coming unbroken since time eternity nobody knows so not only i must realize i should not live only for myself let it be spread so i can get rid of all the runas but especially the debt to rishis the debt to rishi is expressed in the form of spreading of knowledge so sri ram krishna also prayed as i mentioned in my last class oh mother please bring children i was was he he cannot spend his time without somebody listening to his babblings or what it was not a selfish desire he could completely merge himself in samadhi in fact swami vekananda when sri ram krishna suggested him you are going to teach he refused to accept that proposition sri ram krishna smiled and said your very bones will teach because you are born to teach and for that purpose we require of course the appropriate students fit students and all the fit students have been divided into four types so first prayer is many many countless so long as i am alive students come to me but not too dull unintelligent uncontrolled immoral students four qualifications four conditions oh lord please bring and every time one has to offer an oblation into the fire may many many here brahmachari means students of veda brahma is another word for veda so those who are intensely interested in studying the veda is called brahmachari brahmachari that is one who is completely immersed merged in understanding the veda devoted to veda is called a brahmachari but apart from that he who transforms his life appropriate to the teachings of the scriptures he is also called brahmachari then what type of student so they must be desiring not all of them desiring to study only one particular subject let them study whether they want to they might not want to become spiritual but they might want to lead an ideal householder's life and for that they have to earn their livelihood and to earn their livelihood if they are brahmins they have to teach something it could be dhanur vidya ayur vidya or vyakarana vidya or jyotish vidya any type of vidyas and if they are kshatriyas they have to learn dhanur vidya if they want to become physicians they have to learn ayur vidya if they want to become astrologers then that also is a science so it is not under my control it is not that i want only one particular type of student from various directions with various desires of mastering their own pet or loving subject let them all come to me that means what if i am to be capable of teaching various subjects i myself must be a master of various subjects this is the meaning of vividha kamanavantaha and from different places we mam ayantu then pra ma ayantu ma means mom in sanskrit ma has two meanings one is nishedha no do not another is me mom so pra means prajnavantaha let them be intelligent students so not only their desires of different subjects mastering different subjects not only they should have that adequate intelligence to master what i am going to teach them but they also must have tremendous amount of body control that is dhamma means external control not only that mind control is even more important so may brahmacharians come to me variously with various desires to master various subjects may all of them be intelligent may all of them be endowed with self-control may all these brahmacharians also be endowed with mind mind control and may they enjoy peace and at the end of everyone imayantu brahmacharina svaha brahmaayantu brahmacharina svaha dhammayantu brahmacharina svaha shamayantu brahmacharina svaha this is a very intelligent type of prayer remember the person who is praying he himself has not started learning but he is telling that if by your grace i am endowed with all the requisite qualities i myself will be able in course of time to realize you but to master all these subjects but as soon as i finish my studies i am not going to be certified by my guru as a realized soul this happened only in the case of one that we know that is nachiketa when he went to imadharma raja then he was testing him and he passed all the tests excellently then imadharma raja exclaims you have reached home that means you have already realized the teaching has not even started but he is telling any person with these qualifications failed is bound to realize whatever he wants to realize he wants what we call success in the world he will be successful if these qualifications are are there swami vekaranda used to go to bed every night and then he described later on that i use it to dream that i am capable of obtaining whatever i want whether it is worldly or spiritual i can be great king is very courage his very walk is like a king chakravarti even strangers observing him walking is who is this king who is this emperor he is walking like an emperor very rarely we can get such type of people so in this if i am qualified i let me progress but how do i progress whatever i have learned i will try to convey it to others to the best of my ability to other students this is called karma yoga so it is not that the student goes home and first practices spiritual disciplines some might take to the life of sanyasa but most of them will be householders that is why prayer for wealth cloths animals and warm cloths everything that is necessary to lead a distraction free life so here it is so everybody progresses gradually that is what bhagavad gita in sri krishna teaches the greatest best worship of god is the discharging of one's own duties a brahmana brahmin's duties kshatriya kshatriya's duties a vaisya vaishya's duties a shudra shudra's duties etc and through that i will also progress anybody can progress by proper discharge even fighting is also conducive to spiritual progress if it is done in the right spirit that is the nishkama karma yoga therefore here he says my only goal for ultimate goal is that may i become one with you how do we know that's what we are going to discuss in the third mantra so brahma artha all that i want to learn for veda jnana artham so i will live this kind of life so that i may become a worthy spiritual aspirant now we enter into the third mantra but before entering this is the essence of the third this is again a prayer with what is called offering oblations and as i mentioned this is called avahanti because it starts with avahanti pitanvana so the igna or the homa starts with that fire ritual starts like that that's why it is called avahanti homa and this purpose of this is first obtainment of wealth second obtainment of purity of the heart third obtainment of medha etc intelligence etc so that i can understand and become a worthy teacher later on but finally it is brahma jnana artham for the sake of progressing in spiritual life and realizing my oneness because every student that studies vedas vedas include the upanishads their teaching their essence of all upanishads is that they should become but the spiritual aspirants and clearly the vedas enumerate that from a c though or to that and by realizing he himself will say what my teacher taught me is a true aham brahmasmi and if the person is still alive jivan mukta he is called jivan mukta and he will be able to say not only i am brahman there is nothing else excepting brahman sarvam khalo idam brahma so now coming to this third mantra whatever we discussed that is obtained or contained in this third mantra of the fourth anvaka what is it as i said everybody is going not going to become a monk take to the life of a sanyasi no most of them will be grihasthas so may i be a worthy grihastha and may i be very famous and rich grihastha and may i realize you merge in you and become one with you may i be fortunate thereafterwards in obtaining innumerable worthy students in order to propagate this brahma vidya and carry on the guru sishya sampradaya thus reading myself of the debt i owe to the rishis from whom all this knowledge is coming so you see here also four steps are there first may i be a worthy householder and not merely a poor householder may i be very famous teacher why because only when people hear i want to learn and to whom shall i go so then naturally when whenever we want to obtain some object we make enquiries where can i get the best object be it food be it bed be it cloth be it anything machine gadget etc so may i be famous not for the sake of becoming famous but famous as a great worthy teacher and also rich why does this person wants to be rich so that in those days you must remember the system of gurukula where the students have to be maintained they the guru patni the wife of the guru cooks and everybody has to eat what she cooks her husband also eats the same thing she of course will eat the same thing and all the students will be treated equivalent to their own children if they have children so they will all be eating exactly the same thing no specialization no special dishes for anybody so this is the second prayer not only may i be worthy grahastha means as indicated in the vedas who is a worthy householder the person it is remember vedas divided life into four progressive movements that means our state of consciousness moves from a lower state to a higher state first state is called brahmachari ashrama and then promote oneself into grahastha ashrama no unworthy brahmachari is ever asked to get married or enter into the second stage only worthy brahmacharins worthy students must marry otherwise they better live by remaining single and then trying to purify themselves so the second part is may i be very famous so that students will come may i be rich so that our ashrama grahastha ashrama gurukula must be maintained that is second third part but all this is meant only as a karma yoga so the third part is may i aspire to realize you may i practice spiritual disciplines and may i merge in you and become completely one with you this is the third step and whether i am spiritually progressing or whether i am a realizer of god brahmavid then so long as i am striving to progress then or after realization may i be fortunate enough in obtaining innumerable as many for students in order to propagate brahmavidya and carry on the guru shishya or shruti sampradaya the tradition of propagating this brahmavidya to everybody and if you look at sriram krishna order so first sriram krishna realized then he prayed for worthy devotees or disciples to come whether they are would be monks or would be householders or already householders because a worthy teacher never rejects anybody only condition is they must be sincere and they must be devout have faith in god and they must be have a deep desire for mumukshrutva and this is the essence of the third mantra in this fourth anuvaka now with this understanding it should not be difficult for us to understand This is the third mantra in this fourth anuvaka. What does it mean? A student is asking yasho jane asani swaha jane means among the people yashaha asani swaha may i become very famous i already gave you the essence of it may i be very famous as what not notorious not notoriety but good name and fame is a good person trustworthy person and he is intelligent if i go to advise to him then he will definitely give me good advice which will do good to me what is good advice that advice which does good that is called good advice so jane among the people yashaha asani means may i become may i become what famous famous as what that he's a great teacher he's a spiritual teacher he's a pure teacher he doesn't have any selfish motive may people come to know through my character i am really a spiritual person swaha that is after saying this oh agni devata please convey my prayers to unkararupa parameswara so that he can fulfill my desires then this same sentence is given also is second meaning what is the difference first meaning is among people may i become very famous well known second meaning is there are so many famous people already in the society well known for their wonderful life qualities among them may i become most famous among the famous people may i obtain that fame that among all the famous people here is a most famous person so if there is nothing wrong in praying for money there is nothing wrong praying for name and fame power and position provided it can be used for good purpose the best example for that is swami vekaranda during his wanderings use it to sometimes stay with whoever invites him a poor people or a roadside rest house or under a tree sometimes but he was like a son wherever he enters everybody instinctively recognizes here is somebody far greater than any one of us can even imagine that was the splendor of swami vekaranda not every other parent disciple of sairam krishna was not like that but whether he even when he went to america people recognize that there is something very strange in this person automatically their heads bow the only parallel we have seen that when bhagwan buddha he left his five co-students because he thought that would not help me realize god he went and then he did even more severe austerities and he broke the severest austerity and said that is not conducive the golden mean that means the golden path neither completely slack nor over what is called extreme austerity now one must tread the golden middle path and his five co-students they got disgusted they looked down upon him and they left and after some time buddha became an enlightened soul and he recognized to whom shall i preach this because i have i have found out the easiest way or best way to realize who i am remember he was a brahma jnani he did not use the word but he substituted the word brahma brahman with the word nirvana that is extinction of maya which he called anatma then he thought of this because according to his experience these five were the fittest disciples but because of some misunderstanding they could not progress in spiritual life they were stuck in the middle as it were so he made took steps to approach him here in varanasi the place and then as he was approaching the five students were sitting there they saw him recognized him and still had their old opinion about him and then they said to themselves that let us not get up let us not pay honor let us not talk to him they sat down stiff and this event happened not far from varanasi it's called sarnath and then slowly buddha as he approached they understood nobody can ignore a midday blessing sun and say there is no sun and instinctively they stood up with the greatest reverence with bowed heads invited him made him sit on the highest seat and ready to receive because instinctively they realized they recognized here is a person far superior to us he can teach us and that is the first time dharma chakra pravartana establishment of the wheel of dharma has taken place this first sermon was here only now what i wanted to say that this name and fame what we want from god there is nothing wrong everything is good provided the motivation is good and what is that motivation in this case that may i progress in spiritual life and may i be well known and may plenty of students innumerable students as we mentioned earlier they will come to me how do how will they come to me they have to know even students indian students trying to obtain higher education they will make a research which university in usa or canada or australia is best for the pursuance of my studies and if a scholarship is also available so they will be applying there because the fees are so high comparative to indian system of monetary system so this is a prayer then shreyan vasyaso asani swaha so shreya the word shreya is a beautiful word so among those who are leading the life of not prayers but shreyas and they are all around me so may i also become one of them the best of them swaha that is the prayer why i also want to propagate this knowledge i received it from my guru i also have to give it to others so may i become well known among all those people as famous isha means famous well known so that people will come seeking me not only that even among those who who at present are very famous for this kind of life let me be more wealthy wealthier than all the wealthy people in the society first is for name and fame second in every society when we look around we can see that there are plenty of people and we may be ignorant about them this person is a millionaire but there may be a billionaire among them and among billionaires there may be a trillionaire among them so let me also become a very very great wealthy person for what purpose same purpose let me spread the sanatana dharma in the form of teaching the students so that all the wealth for performing yagnas yagas especially the panchamaha yagna getting rid of our debt which we incur through our very birth so therefore this is a prayer both to let lakshmi devi come and let also saraswati devi come having said this swaha then give an oblation those of you who have witnessed a homa ceremony on special birthdays of siram krishna holy mother swamiji and other direct disciples so there will be a special homa what is called ritual and that happens after the puja is over and with that only the worship ritual will be concluded and you must have seen how the pujari and his helpers they have a small implement where they fill it with sand and they arrange the faggots in a particular way and with ghee having lit up with mantras and 108 times the main ishta devata they will be offering with the word swaha so here also the swaha is there and then the student remember this is the prayer of the student and then he says what is what is the student saying oh omkara parameshwara you are like the scabbard for whom for brahman because what does it mean you are like the doorway nobody can enter into brahman or come out of brahman accepting through you you the omkara brahmanaha you are like a earlier also we have encountered it you are like so you are like the scabbard scabbard is where a sword is kept very safely so it won't rust or any such thing so you are like the house which houses and then what is it you are like the doorway and it is no use approaching a house and standing outside we will not be protected from the cold from the heat from the rains from the insects like mosquitoes flies etc but once we enter into the house and this house also later on is compared to a rest house here itself we will come to that so you are like the house which house of the brahman you are like the doorway to that house where from we can enter scabbard the example of scabbard is that you contain brahman so if i approach you and i can easily take out this sword out of this cupboard so also if i approach you enter into you become one with you then it is as good as becoming one with brahman but here specific words are used from hey bhagwan oh lord and what type of lord puja you are worthy of worship and it doesn't mean you have to gather fruits and flowers and then no this is only a mental worship and in mental worship we have to offer mental flowers it is why in every puja 15 types of flowers are offered araga amada etc that is non-attachment non-arrogance non-egotism non-hatred but the final one is five types of flowers are there and this is the an invariable process in the what is called third stage of the puja which is called manasa puja so there one of them is a lack of irsha asuya i should not be jealous of anybody ahimsa paramam pushpam ahimsa non-injury is compared to a most marvelous flower here we have seen why should they come because when i approached my guru i was also that kind of i had those kind of qualities i was a brahmachari endowed with dhamana i was a brahmachari endowed with a quality called shama shama so let me also get disciples like me who are yogiyas like that okay what do i want to do you are like the doorway to the house may i enter into you now normally when any one of us enters a house house is different but i am different we are you are different but you take one vessel full of water small vessel and take it to a bigger vessel and pour all the water that is in the smaller vessel into the water of the bigger vessel then water becomes one with water that is the type of yoga or union as i mentioned there are three types of unions so if it is one is a stone another is a iron they can they can be nearer or one is wood another is a nail in our furniture we get it they are near they keep unity but that is the closest type of unity then second type higher you mix either salt or sugar into any liquid like water or milk i don't mean oil so they do not appear you do you see only water or milk but when you taste it is salty milk or salty water or if you put sweet sugar it will be sweeter salty milk but even though it is not visible it is experienceable the tongue completely separates milk is separate and the salty taste is separate the sweet taste is separate it is only the eye which fails to see it not like that that is the second type of unity first type of unity is like water entering into water like oil entering into oil so like earth entering into earth like water entering into water like fire entering into fire like air entering into air like space entering into space if at all there is any such thing So, O Bhagawan, such as You, who is the doorway to Brahmahatva, I want to enter, I want to merge into You. May I become one with You, like oil becomes one with oil. This is called Jeevatma-Paramatma unity, Aham Brahmasmi unity. But is it possible for me to enter into You? No. Like a baby, who will pray whenever the baby is hungry? He prays to the mother. How does the baby pray? O Mother, You are the Mother of the Universe, Tantwa Bhagapravisha. So, O Mother, I enter into You. You think He will be uttering Vedic prayers? He cries. A cry is a prayer. I need something, please respond. And mother, even before that, with a thousand ears, thousand eyes, she is watching. When does my child get up? When does he become hungry? And then she will rush, ever ready to come to the rescue of the baby. It is not possible for us to enter into God. It is not necessary for us to enter into God. Because if He is somewhere else, then we have to go and enter. If He is here, then we can enter immediately. That means the limited cannot become the unlimited. But the unlimited can make the limited a part of it. It is wrong to say part of it. It also makes it unlimited. That is what we have to understand. That is what Sri Ramakrishna always says that one cannot realize God by oneself. It is only by the grace of God that one can become God. He gives the illustration of a police sergeant going around with a torch light at night. Then what happened? We should not get any other Siddhis. Sri Ramakrishna once offered Siddhis. He was only longing for God realization. Sri Ramakrishna said, I have got lots of Siddhis and I have no use. Very funny. I will make a little bit of fun. Sri Ramakrishna's stomach was in such a condition, he could not even digest boiled water, let alone anything else. If he has got Siddhis, let me get first class masala dosa, idli, etc. What is he going to do with that? So finally, his wisdom prevailed. He understood it is totally useless. Then he offered it to Narendra as a way of testing him. I have got Astra Siddhis and I know I will not require them, but I can give them to you. And what was Swami Vivekananda's response? He said, first I want to realize God, so let me first realize God. After that, I will think about your offer. Sri Ramakrishna appreciated it very highly. So here the student understands because he was endowed with the right type of intelligence that I would like to enter into you. I understand it is not possible for me, but you enter into me. But is it possible for God to enter? Because God is everywhere. Where is He going to enter? It is not possible. Therefore, the meaning is that you grant me the knowledge that there is no I or You. Both of us are the same. And example, like all, Sri Ramakrishna meditated on Radha, on Krishna, on Hanuman, on Rama, on every God and Goddess, Kali. And like all the Gods and Goddesses entered into Sri Ramakrishna, they themselves entered. We can read it in the Great Master. Everybody, Hanuman, Radha, Rama, Sita, Krishna, Kali, upon whomsoever He meditated, they became one with Him. God alone can make it possible. It is not possible for us to do this. This tremendous understanding that I am limited, the limited can never become the unlimited. But the unlimited can make it possible to break that ignorance. From the point of unlimited, there is no such thing called I am unlimited, but you are limited. That is not unlimited. Unlimited means neither I exist nor you exist. Whatever is, is. But that what is called ignorance can be broken, can be destroyed only by God's grace, Swaha. So a further description will come which we will talk about in our next class. Bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.