Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 71 on 25 January 2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYOH SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU OM APYAYANTUM AMANGANIVAKPRANASYAKSHUH SHROTRAM ATHO BALAMINDRIYANICHA SARVANI SARVAM BRAHMAHU PANISHADAM MAHAM BRAHMANIRAKURIYAM MAMA BRAHMANIRAKARO ANIRAKARANAM ASTVANIRAKARANAM ME ASTU TADATMANI NIRATE YAUPANISHAD SU DHARMA TE MAI SANTU TE MAI SANTU OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HA RE HE OM OM May my limbs, speech, vital force, eyes, ears, as also strength, and all the organs become well developed. Everything is the Brahman revealed in the Upanishads. May I not deny Brahman. May not Brahman deny me. Let there be no spurning of me by Brahman. Let there be no rejection of Brahman by me. May all the virtues that are spoken of in the Upanishads repose in me. I am engaged in the pursuit of the Self. May they repose in me. OM PEACE PEACE PEACE BE UNTO ALL We are studying the seventh chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad called Bhumananda. In our last class, we were studying the 17th section called Desire to Know Satyam. Why? Narada, after hearing from Sanat Kumara that he who realizes Truth, whatever he speaks becomes only Truth, nothing but Truth. So such a person is called Ativadi or Super Ativadi. So Narada wants to become an Ativadi. Previously, he who becomes one with Hiranyagarbha, he was called an Ativadi. Hiranyagarbha we can take as Saguna Brahma. And even he who becomes one or identifies himself with Saguna Brahma can also become Ativadi. But this person who identifies himself as Brahman or Nirguna Brahman becomes Super Ativadi. So I would like to be Super Ativadi. In reply, Sanat Kumara tells you will have to realize Satyam because knowledge alone, Gnanam alone becomes Satyam and the highest knowledge is called Brahman. At the level of Brahman, there is no such difference as this is an object and I am separate and I have the knowledge of the object that subject-object division, dichotomy will become subsumed, that is becomes one. So he who becomes Brahman, he is the Satyam, he is the Gnanam, he is the Anantam. Such a person is called Super Ativadi and that's what I would like to become. Okay, if you wish to become, you will have to realize that Truth, not know the Truth but realize the Truth. What is realization? I am that Truth, not that I am knowing the Truth but I am the Truth, Aham Brahmasmi. So if you want to know, so I would like to realize Satyam, that's what we have seen. So Truth depends upon understanding. Therefore, now slowly Sanat Kumara is leading Narada, his disciple. Now you will have to know the Truth. In order to become one with Truth, you will have to know the Truth and Truth depends upon understanding, Gnanam. Satyam depends upon Gnanam. Okay, I would like to know the Truth or I would like to know that understanding, I would like to understand that understanding. That is to say, simply saying, I want to become Brahman will not do. I will have to be fit for that. So for that purpose, we will have to work very hard. So this was what we were discussing. Sanat Kumara says, O Narada, you can speak Truth only when you know what Truth is. Otherwise, how can you speak Truth? Truth is not what you know now, what you think Truth is. In that context, we have said there are two types of Truths. I see a tree and if someone asks who doesn't know what that object is, I say that is a tree, that is a mango tree and it yields sweet fruits, which is an absolute Truth. But that is Paramarthika Satyam because I have not become the mango tree, I just remain separate and mango tree remains separate and something connects. This is called in Vedanta, Triputi. Triputi means the subject, the object and that which connects both subject and object. So that is called Triputi. That is what is called Maya. That is what creates all the bondage and therefore I must become one with Brahman. That means what? I must become one with the whole world. That dichotomy should be completely eliminated, destroyed. So what is not I is not real Satyam. That is to say, if I want to become one with the mango tree in this example, I should know I am that mango tree. Recollect, Ramakrishna was lying in his room. There was a beautiful lawn in spring season. Newly grown Durva grass was aplenty and a man was walking across it and Sri Ramakrishna felt the pain which that grass probably was experiencing on his own self. I am that Durva grass. So that is called Satyam. That is what is called Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma Aham Brahmasmi Aham Sarvam Idam Asmi. Since Brahman is everything, since I am Brahman, I am everything. That is called Satyam. That is what is said, what is not I is not real Satyam. I must become one with that Satyam. So we are entering into that subject which is so difficult. Sri Ramakrishna says it is extremely difficult to realize Brahman as it were. Sri Ramakrishna instead of using the word Samuna Brahma used the word Shakti. So one can attain oneness with Shakti but to know that I am Brahman then one has to transcend even that Shakti. Merge himself into Shakti, Shakti into Nirguna Brahman and then he will be able to say Aham Brahmasmi and if he comes back again into this body-mind complex he will say Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. And after hearing from Sanat Kumara, Narada says so may I venerable sir become Ativadi by the knowledge of the truth. Sanat Kumara says but you should desire to know the truth. Venerable sir I desire to know the truth and in answer Sanat Kumara he says Oh Narada, listen to this. This is the introduction to section 17. For several sections only one mantra will be there but with profound meaning. So what did Sanat Kumara say when one understands the truth only then does one declare the truth. Here understanding means not like us understanding another person, another tree, another object. Here understanding means attaining complete oneness with that object. One who doesn't understand the truth does not declare it. Only one who understands it declares the truth. That means whatever he speaks that is the Satyam. Here true means Satyam. So one must desire to understand this understanding. Venerable sir I desire to understand. So this is what we have spoken. Just now I have given that introduction Paramarthika Satyam. We are already in that state whatever we come to know. Even in this Paramarthika Satyam how many things are there that we really do not know. Billions and billions every day scientists are trying to fathom the mysteries of so many things. In fact we don't know anything about this world. Can anybody claim I know everything about amoeba or a mosquito? Many people think. Simple example I am giving. Many people think mosquitoes are very dangerous insects. They spread disease but we do not understand. Suppose all the mosquitoes are eliminated then there will be a terrible loss. We will be subject to incurable diseases. How come? Because these mosquitoes what they do? We do not analyze. We only know when they bite us then we are probably we will get sometimes diseases. But what they are doing at other times? How many undesirable elements they are removing? For example another example there are vultures and everybody hates vultures because they eat rotten carcasses. But how much they are cleaning if those carcasses are left without anybody destroying them? How much of disease they can spread? We have to open our eyes how this black death has practically decimated the whole of the world a few centuries back. Even today we are ignoring. Who knows tomorrow some rogue country it need not spend trillions of dollars for destructive weapons. They can develop and release such a virus that even that very ordinary virus which we called covid had damaged so many so many people died so much of loss was there. Millions of people have died actually but there are billions of times more powerful viruses than that and many countries know it. Some countries are actively cultivating them because they cannot do the other destructive weapons. So only the divine mother knows what is happening. Coming back to our subject how much good the mosquitoes are doing that we do not understand. There is no single object in this world which plays only the role of complete destruction. Every object has both destructive and constructive sides. Take a human being. If a real intelligent person is asked who is the most destructive creature in this whole world and we will be forced to admit it is only human being. How much of destruction other things have done? How much we are doing it to ourselves? What is the point? Nothing is redundant. In this world everything has got a good side and also a negative side. So we have to take it into concentration and left to nature. Nature keeps a beautiful balance and that is called holistic attitude. Anyway what I am trying to tell you that when I become one with the whole universe by knowing the truth that everything is Brahman and I am that Brahman and therefore I am everything then only that is called Paramarthika Sathyam and that's what one must realize then only one can speak become super ativadi. So I would like to become. So for that you should realize the truth. So I would like to realize the truth but if you want to realize truth you must have intense desire what Sri Ramakrishna calls Paramavyakulata. So I desire to understand what is the truth. So these are two orders Yavaharika Sathyam we already know but even we are terribly ignorant of even Yavaharika Sathyam not to speak up Paramarthika Sathyam but it is not necessary we have to know everything. In fact Sri Ramakrishna says to know many is called ignorance and to know one is called knowledge. So there is higher order of truth called Paramarthika Sathyam and if one wants to realize it first of all one must have tremendous understanding that I must have that understanding. What is that understanding that unless I realize that highest truth I am bound to suffer. I am already bound I am suffering. Oh is everybody suffering? Bhagwan Buddha he says the very birth is suffering, to be born is suffering, to grow up is suffering and to become old is suffering and to die is suffering. Everything is suffering only that is the real truth about it. Suffering is the truth of life. Who says? Buddha. Does it contradict reason? Is everybody suffering? You see Sri Ramakrishna told something very important. Supposing there is previously and there used to be some kind of lower type of caste people whose duty it is to clean the laboratories. In those days this present system was not there. So they used to carry in buckets other people's filth on their heads and it looks horrible for us but those people they are laughing, they are joking and they are staying in what is called slum areas and there will be some person when they are smelling an old person and frying pakodas and they are sitting and eating pakodas, drinking roadside tea. They are enjoying like any one of us. What does it mean? It means human beings are capable of adjusting to where there is terrible cold, where there is terrible heat, where there is a terrible smell. How long will the smell will be there? After a few days that smell becomes, we ignore that smell completely and after some time maybe we cannot live without that smell like that the flower seller cannot live without that smell, the fish, dry fish seller cannot live without that fishy smell. So we can get adjusted. So is that called happiness or is that called suffering? When the same person becomes a little bit advanced then you can say that person cannot tolerate, he cannot go back. So this is the one of the steps leading to the highest happiness. This is called the law of happiness. So long as we do not know anything higher happiness then the lower happiness becomes our goal but once we taste a higher happiness then the lower happiness is called dukkha or suffering. Suffering or enjoying, less of enjoyment is called suffering, less of suffering is called enjoyment. So look at it in this light then you will see we always compare ourselves. Another example I cannot resist giving for clarification. Suppose a person who is earning only 1,000 rupees suddenly he is promoted to 10,000 rupees a month salary. For some time he becomes very very happy because he is comparing I was only earning 1,000 now I am earning 10 times more than that. Then after a few days he becomes terribly dissatisfied. He looks up to somebody and says but that person is earning 20,000 rupees or even 10,001 rupees. So his satisfaction starts because of the comparison. If he remains comparing I was only earning 1,000 now I am earning 10 times he will be the happiest person. So less of suffering is called Sukham and less of Sukham is called Dukham. Think of it then you will understand what it is. Anyway coming back to our so one has to desire. When does one desire? Only when a person attains to a particular state then for a short time oh I am so lucky to be in this state but then soon dissatisfaction comes. When does the quest stop? Only when we attain to the highest because there is nothing higher than that and that highest is called Brahman. Call him Nirguna Brahma whatever by whatever Satyam whatever name. So the understanding of this truth is also a higher kind of understanding or self-awareness described here as Vijnana. I would like to know so first of all I must have that desire so to see this there is an example given to see fire as burning luminous substance is a lower truth. Fire is burning and it is luminous and it also burns anything that is there. What is the higher truth about that fire? That there is a higher dimension. Do not use the sixth case now. We have to come to the first case. Fire is burning. Burning is fire. Fire is light. Light is fire. We popularly say sunlight the light of the sun that is called sixth case but no there is if you remove the sunlight from the sun it is like trying to remove whiteness from the milk and the burning power from the fire. So many times we discuss at this point fire with though conventionally we say fire burns fire doesn't burn that is its nature fire means burning power. So if something goes near and put it some paper or some pieces of wood and it starts burning and then we say fire is burning as if it is doing some action you ask the fire why are you burning these pieces of wood it says burning what do you mean by burning am I burning something I don't understand because fire doesn't know what is called burning that is its very nature ask the sun why are you sometimes giving bright light sometimes you are only giving smaller light say in the at dawn at dusk but at midday it gives tremendous and at midnight no light at all the sun says what are you talking what do you mean by light what do you mean by heat that is the higher truth that the sun and the sunlight the sun and the heat they are not separate if you separate then that is called if you do not separate that is called and that is what Shri Ramakrishna means means to see Triputi Brahman means to see nothing because we will not be there even to see that is the essence of the 17th that is Sanat Kumara you should know the truth you should know the truth so Narada says I would like to know the truth obviously he went and did a lot of Upasana we have to add that one so it is not said here so you must contemplate Pranam as Brahman etc etc that we have seen until 15th section that we have to forget but here again we have to add that one and say same process so I would like to know the truth realize the truth so for that you should have intense desire to know the truth and Narada must have been aroused that is what Katoopanishad says Uttishthata Chagratha Praapya Varahan Nivodhata so we approach them and we will discuss this mantra from Katoopanishad is very important for us so 17th section so you must what is Satyam you must desire to know the Satyam and how does that desire the desire to desire to know the desire to create an intense desire to know the truth how does it come and these processes we are familiar with in our psychological analysis how suppose you come to know that there is a sweet and you have this knowledge and in the beginning that knowledge doesn't create any desire so after some time you go on hearing this sweet is very very best of the sweets like that you go on hearing from whom from people who have experienced it who have eaten it and who knows the difference between this particular sweet and other sweets so by hearing them hearing them hearing them many times then maybe it is wonderful maybe I am missing something so let let me desire that one the desire doesn't become immediately very strong it requires tremendous amount of effort about anything like that we have to think a lot about it that is what Sanath Kumara is trying to lead Narada so I would like to know that means I would like to develop a strong desire to know the truth you see we are all listening to this Upanishads we are discussing the highest truths is there a strong desire in us I want to realize God how many people are about to cut their throats or cry like Ramakrishna mother another day passed without seeing you how many of us will fail so we just pray mother I would like if it can come very easily then I would like to realize you but if you are not very happy about it okay I will wait for some time because I have other things also to do desire so what is the obstruction other desires desires for other than Paramarthi Satyam is the only obstruction that is has to be overcome so the 18th section now Sanath Kumara is leading understanding depends that is I would like to understand but that desire to understand depends upon what Manana reflection here it is called so when this person starts what starts what Manute go on thinking thinking thinking thinking so that is why as we go on thinking so things become clear that's called Manana that is what exactly what happens in the second step according to Gnana Yoga the Guru tells you are that you are that but the disciple listens he has got some faith but he doesn't have that desire he doesn't have that desire okay Guru told it must be true so let me think about it let me think about it so many doubts will come is he telling the truth maybe he thinks he's telling the truth then Manana churning like churning the Samudra Kshera Samudra and as we go on churning what comes Hala Hala Visha will come what is this Hala Hala Visha terrible doubts all these Janmas Koti Koti Janma I have been seeing this world is real and suddenly this person comes and says this is all Mithya a real reality Paramatik Satyam is different is very hard for it because how do we know the moment we are convinced that God alone is real a person will not will just run like a madcap towards God but that's not happening leisurely we say so when it happens it happens let me meanwhile go on about it so how do we produce that deep desire this is beautiful psychology when a person starts thinking thinking what pros and cons what do you mean by pros and cons pros means what so cons means what cons means the negative points am I not happy now so I have got a family I've got money I have got so many things cars and anything that I want but what happens when I become old even if I have what becomes if when I die what becomes when I'm sleeping so what happens if the what do you call stock market falls what happens ever so many things nobody is sure what is going to or the person may die what is the point his family members may be very happy but that that is why why the family members how much money they are going to spend upon that funeral ceremony do you know depends upon how much they think they are going to get as an inheritance so it is not easy even for ordinary object because even in this world there are much much superior ideals for us to attain how many people really want to understand the true meaning of history how many people understand science how many people understand art how many people understand psychology very very minimum type of people even in this world not to speak of spirituality so it is a law that if I cheat I will be cheated if I tell untruth I will be told untruth so if I am not telling the truth then I will get the result of that everything this is if this karma siddhanta whether people accept it or not know it or not the result will come and we see it every day so deep reflection with the shraddha like that of nachiketa so this is called mati mati means that type of mind which is cannot rest without the it cannot stop itself thinking so how can I attain that understanding how can I get that kind of knowledge how can I attain that goal so manana similar other words are used mati manana deep reflection etc so but the upanishad carries a deep meaning than what we understand we do not know what we are speaking and what we are hearing simple example I am giving so many of us read chandi at the especially at the durga puja time quite a number of people read it every day as a parayanam it is full of stories full of battles this is what most people see it but they have some kind of belief that there are so many beautiful hymns and every day chanting or parayanam will bring some effect and no doubt that's one type there are a second type of people for them it is not parayana shastra it is a mantra shastra that is probably you have heard it in south india near chennai there is a place called kanchipuram and in that there is a shankar matha which is not recognized as an orthodox mata belonging to shankaracharya there is controversy anyway there is a shankaracharya and he was considered as a walking encyclopedia chandra sekar indra saraswati and he had delivered a lot of talks on what is called saundarya lahari and then his interpretation is saundarya lahari another work of shankaracharya is a mantra shastra it is a beautiful poetry if you are a poet you will enjoy it even if you are not a poet but an appreciator of poet you will enjoy it but if you are in a slightly higher position you will consider it as a mantra very sacred mantra so mantra is usually according to tantra shastra is accompanied by a yantra mantra is accompanied by a yantra so if somebody has got fever there are some verses which the swami he quotes and says you repeat this mantra with these yantras you will get this result and do they really or is it a superstition i have to call ourselves stupid people because even a person goes mad only by thinking too much about it dhyanam upasana a madcap is the best example of a upasaka he thinks i'm a dog or he thinks i'm a napoleon and he becomes one with napoleon behaves like a napoleon how many of us can claim we have that kind of concentration very few people have that one so sri ram krishna when he used to do puja we know the agni mantra immediately became prateksha so there are people who have tremendous faith and they do it and for them it becomes parama satya it is a truth so one has to have faith in the guru in the scriptures and do all those things and they every one of them will come true so the swami interpreted it as mantra shastra there is another type of person those are they are called artists or what we call poets and they look at it purely from the viewpoint of poetry only and there are some other people who look at it that they contain deeper spiritual truths and i am one of them what is this battle life is a battle dharmakshetra kurukshetra and there is a continuous constant unceasing battle between daiva and asura gods and demons that is the theme of the bhagavad gita also upanishads also so in the case of gita bhagavan krishna is the divine mother and here in the chendi it is the divine mother devas are those who are endowed with spiritual quality not i don't exactly say spiritual but very good qualities and the opposite the asuras rakshasas whether it is madhu or kaitaba mahishasura or shumbha nishumbha or ratta bija they were all asuras that is they are divine beings but temporarily covered up with demonic qualities don't forget each soul is potentially divine so fight life is a fight but in that battle if we surrender ourselves to the divine mother then the divine mother will help us she will fight on our behalf that is our mind is endowed with this power of the divine and it will fight and it will subdue it will destroy and slowly spiritual qualities hey my santu hey my santu let all these wonderful qualities manifest in me so as an example i'm telling you the second story mahishasura so this mahishasura what does he represent his mahishasura means buffalo buffalo has got the quality very stubborn it will never listen to anybody that mahishasura is representative of what is called egotism and egotism we can never directly see because it can take six forms kama, roda, lobha, moha, madamacharya only no egotism can also take what Krishna calls nature ego i'm a devotee of god so i am a bhakta of god or i'm a good person i want to be a good person i want to be a truthful person i want to be helpful person i want to be a serviceable person whether it is asuri sampath demonic qualities or daivi sampath egotism is not necessarily a horrible thing it can be as Shri Ram Krishna says a mature ego or an immature ego one endowed with knowledge another endowed with ignorance so there must be a transition but if we fight these two then if divine mother assists like Krishna without Krishna Arjuna could never have won the battle we are not talking about the external physical gross battle we are talking about we are continuously fighting against his demonic qualities because each soul is potentially divine so this mahishasura so at some time he will manifest in the form of kama tremendous what is called lust and then the divine mother wants to kill him then he will change his form if kama is somehow destroyed it becomes krodha anger if krodha is destroyed it will become lobha if lobha is destroyed becomes mother matsarya etc so we cannot see directly pure ego pure ego is brahman but all these six will like a crystal reflecting whatever colors are there behind it this ego reflects that is called egotism and as i said egotism is not only what is called wicked egotism but good egotism is also there so we have to transit from the wicked to the good egotism so this is an example just the first story is between madhu and kaitava madhu means what these two demons were born of the what is called from the ear dirt of vishnu so what does it mean it means our ears we have all of us are endowed with two ears so e a r s not y a r s so two ears what is it our nature we have become slaves to these ears that means hearing what are we slaves we would like to hear only appreciation of ours praise of ours buttering of ourselves and we never want to hear about criticism however right the person is even if the doctor wants to say he will he we say you invent some technical word for it so that i can tell it to my other persons we do not want to accept so there are what is called symbolical meanings are there so that is one way of looking at things so whatever a person wants interpreted that will be true for that person so what are we talking about this manana is deep churning first terrible doubts will come and that terrific form of doubt is called and vishnu sends you you take it to shiva and stupid fellows interpret vishnu always makes ridicules shiva so he sent it to shiva shiva traditionally represents gnanam vishnu represents bhakti so gnanam should come and destroy the visha that is poison virulent poison how my friend your own old samskaras are coming up and you will have to swallow because it is your own creation and slowly slowly transform it how go on churning this visha and then ultimately nectar will come spring out of this your own mind is the shira sagra it contains demonic as well as divine qualities but the whole mind should join together there cannot be any dichotomy division between the mind and these doubts will come disbelief will come and if you study renam krishna leela prasanga the great master then you will see at some point of time even swami abhedananda says i lost my faith in god and he was troubled he went to siram krishna siram krishna said yes at one time i also had to go through every sadhaka has to descend into the depths of this disbelief and this is what saint john of the cross says the darkness of the soul the soul should travel from the darkness the dark tunnel to light before we can go to light we must travel the dark night dark night of the soul that beautiful poem so beautifully interpreted it is a mystical poem actually so we have to go on doing mananam that is the essence of this particular section in this so it is the tendency always where each soul is potentially divine and i said we are all standing on the escalator called evolution the final goal of the evolution is to take us to that highest reality how do we know that reality is to be known who put this idea into our head so we say i want to know god so i have to think about god i must search for god for reality i must aspire for the absolute where from this idea has come stupid people are with less intelligent people think oh i read about it in the scriptures i heard it from the guru billions of people read scriptures every religion has got its own scripture and one's own experience in this world also can do the can lead us to the same effect is it is that desire coming from this no there is even prior to creation that desire is there this is what in vedanta in philosophical terms it is called teleological urge that is there is every seed has that urge i must manifest into my true nature because the seed is nothing but each seed is a potential tree or plant so that potentiality is there and that is not somehow coming superfluously sometime on the way it is inherent in it so this desire that i want to become divine that means i want to know the truth that means i want to realize that i am the truth that is there even before creation comes but during the state of evolution and every evolution is only is preceded by involution that involution contains that seed i want to become myself this is going to come in this particular 18 chapter which we will see in our next class Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Padapatmetayo Sritva Pranamami Muhurmuhu May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna