Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 37 on 29 January 2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGAD GURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMIMUHURUMUHUHUH OM SHANNOMITRASHYAM VARUNAH SHANNO BHAVATVARIYAMAH SHANNAYINDRO BRIHASPATHE SHANNO VISHNURUKRAMAH NAMO BRAMHANE NAMASTEVAYO TVAMEVA PRATYAKSHAM BRAMHASE TVAMEVA PRATYAKSHAM BRAMHAVADISHYAMI RITAM VADISHYAMI SATYAM VADISHYAMI TANMAM AVATO TAD VAKTARAM AVATO AVATO MAM AVATO VAKTARAM OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HARI OM OM May Mitra be blissful to us. May Varuna be blissful to us. May Ariyamma be blissful to us. May Indra and Brihaspati be blissful to us. May Vishnu of long strides be blissful to us. Salutations to Brahman. Salutations to you, O Vayu. You indeed are the visible Brahman. You alone I shall call the direct Brahman. I shall call you righteousness. I shall call you truth. May Brahman protect me. May Brahman protect the teacher. May Brahman protect me. May Brahman protect the teacher. Om. Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all. In our last class, we have completed the 10th Anuvaka of the Taittiri Upanishad which is called Brahma Jnana Prakashaka Mantra or another way of putting it is let us go on doing Japam of the experiences of a great God-realized or Brahman-realized soul called Trishanku. The mantra goes like this. I am the originator, the inspirer, the enlivener, the mover of the tree of the universe. That is to say, I am Brahman. My fame rises high like a mountain peak. My root is the supremely pure Brahman. I am the unstained essence of the Self like the nectar of immortality that resides in the sun. I am the brightest treasure, greatest treasure. I am the shining wisdom. I am immortal and undecaying. Thus did a Rishi called Trishanku proclaim after attaining Brahma Jnanam. So these words in this 10th Anuvaka is the expression of the realization of a Rishi. Why? He is giving us the information. There is God and God can be realized. And why do we read Gospel every day? Many, many devotees every day. People go on reading the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. It is what we call the Parayanam of Gospel. Why? Because by reading, first of all, we get the knowledge that God can be realized. And in fact, that is the only goal of life. Second, some things at the first experience seem to be unbelievable. But as we go on repeating, there is a human psychology. When we go on trying to repeat something, it becomes a Satyam, a truth. Even an untruth repeated enough becomes a known reality, a taken for granted reality. Third, not only the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna gives us that there is the knowledge that God is, but what do we get? And then is there any choice that we can choose between worldly life and spiritual life? According to Gospel, no, there is no choice. This may continue for a long time. So today or after 10 trillion lives, we will have to go back because it is the law of life. The effect must go back into the cause. That is what we call breaking down, death, etc. Fourth, on the journey, we can encounter any number of obstacles. And that is a rule for any endeavour, not only spiritual endeavour. Even if someone wants to earn money, there also a person can and must and will encounter any number of obstacles. So this Japa is meant for a reminder to know that it can be done and to know that we get the highest benefit that we will not get anywhere else. And to know it involves certain efforts where obstacles inevitably come, but the grace of God also can help us. So this particular mantra in this 10th section is for Atma Jnanartham. A Japa for Atma Jnanartham. And the same thing, albeit unconsciously, we are all doing it. How? Whoever has taken a mantra, an initiation from any teacher, what is the purpose of initiation? So that we can go to God. Ultimately, that is the only purpose. So that is why this repetition or Parayanam is very necessary whether it is Lalita Sahasranama Parayanam, Vishnu Sahasranama, Bhagavad Gita, Gospel of Sai Ramakrishna, Upanishads, etc. Now more or less the first chapter has come to an end. Now we are going to enter into the 11th Anuvaka. This is called the Upasamhara or a chapter which concludes giving the very essence of all that has gone before and this is the summary. As we know, this Taittiriya Upanishad has three chapters and the first chapter is called Sikshavalli, second is called Anandavalli, third is called Bhrigavalli because it starts also with these same words. That is why the very title of the chapter is also due to it. Siksham, Yakhya, Siyamaha, Bhrigaru, Aivarini, etc. So we are going to enter into the Upasamhara means the essence concluding chapter and this Sikshavalli has got 12 sections. First and the last section, that is first and the twelfth are for peace chanting. Why two? First is a prayer to God for removing all obstacles and for obtaining His grace for a successful conclusion of the journey. But the twelfth is as if we have reached the goal at least of this first chapter and then all thanks to God, thanks to teacher, etc. So thanksgiving so to say or gratefulness, grateful acknowledgement. Now we are entering into this one. In my last class, I have given sufficient amount of introduction but still a little bit remains. In my last class, I have been following Swami Chirmayananda's beautiful analysis. So this section, the eleventh section is called Anushasana, exhortation to the departing student and this chapter represents as to say convocation address. University students after obtaining the degrees, certificates, then some senior is invited and he gives advice. What is the advice? How to conduct life? Because afterwards, a student enters into directly into the life. Whatever he has been learning until now is theoretical. Now he must put it into practice. But practice of academic scientific knowledge is only a small part of our true life. Whatever we do, any activity we do has a higher purpose. That is why, what is that higher purpose? That has been put into three types of prayers. So whatever activities we may do, we cannot neglect certain things. They are all meant as instruments for our progress in life. Progress in life means evolving in life. Evolving in life means, evolution means going back from where we have come. This is called reaching home. Every river starts. So when the water is lifted up and from that moment onwards, that is called coming down. That is called involution. But God makes it possible that this water in the form of steam or clouds, it is let out. You can say that is the manifestation of divinity and then the involution stops there. Evolution starts. The journey starts. So journey from God to the lowest and from the lowest back to God. So whole life, especially human life, is meant for this reaching God, God realization. That is what Sri Ramakrishna means. So studies are absolutely fine. Everybody has to make a livelihood. That is called Artha. Then what is the livelihood meant for? For fulfillment of certain natural desires. That is called Kama. But beyond this natural desire, that is what we proclaim the natural desire. I want to eat best food and sleep on the softest bed, get more money, name and fame, prestige, power. All these things are secondary things. The primary thing is, so am I progressing in life in the form of Sat, Chit and Ananda? And that is called evolution. Evolution always means I am approaching Sat, I am approaching Chit, I am approaching Ananda. This is the only meaning of life. Progress towards Sat, Chit, Ananda. Why? Because that is our nature. So Hindus divided life into four progressive steps. First step is to know what is life, what is the goal, how to live life. Second step is experiment with life, with what the student gains in the first stage of life and slowly progress, fulfill desires. But the real desire is to be one's own self. And slowly after a long period of evolution, the person understands what I am seeking outside is not available outside. So he turns inward. So that stage where we experiment, seeking, hoping we get what we really are after, that is called Grihasthashyam. But when we awaken from this, that is what Uttishthata, Jagrata, Prapyavarana, Nibodhata, then this is not the right path. There must be another way. And so the man turns into the other way. What is it? From the outside to the inside, from external to internal, Avaruta Chakshu, for what purpose? Amrutatvam Icchan. And then he progresses. Everything that is being done externally is now done internally. That is called Upasana. What is Upasana? Approaching nearer and nearer to our own nature. Asana here means our true self. We are approaching. That is called Upasana. If we don't do it, that is not Upasana. So like that we progress and a time will come when we are able to detach ourselves from everything that we have been depending upon from life to life through crores of lives, millions of lives. That is called solely trying to identify with our true self or God. That is called Sanyasa Arshama. So these students who have been taught and in the Gurukula, two things are clearly taught. First thing is what is life? What is the goal? This is called Brahma Jnana, theoretical Brahma Jnana. That is what Swami Vivekananda used to say, each soul is potentially divine. He condensed it into these three sentences. We know it. The goal of life is to manifest our own true nature and the way to manifest. The second part is we have to live in this world for a long time before we can turn inward. And for that a livelihood has to be learned. Let us not be under any misunderstanding, misapprehension that the students are learning only about spiritual life. No. First they will learn about the Karmakanda. The business of Karmakanda is to make our worldly life successful. But at the same time our Gurus remind us this is only on the way an instrument for the real destination. And that comes in the second part called Jnana Yoga. So this first part that is called Karmakanda. What is Karmakanda? Live the life in such a way we become fit ultimately to enter into the second part, spiritual life. Gradually from the worldly life into spiritual life. And it doesn't happen automatically. We have to go through some steps. And that is the real purpose of this essence or summary of whatever has gone. You have seen so many prayers, Japaam, earlier Japaam. That is give me great intellect, give me money, give me disciples, let students come to me from every side. That is part of the Karmakanda. So how to successfully conduct the second stage of human life called Grihastha Ashrama. And most interesting thing is why did Shri Ramakrishna first of all marry? Did he have any desire for a married life? We find absolutely no. Secondly, even after taking Sanyasa, he did not ask his wife. I have taken Sanyasa for every one of us. It is the iron rule that we should not be having any connection not only with one's wife if we are married but with the entire society. That is why a new Ashrama, a new name, new type of dressing, everything comes. So Purva Ashrama should be forgotten and everybody should be treated. But this stage will come only when we really lead the previous stage. Just as a student cannot enter into a higher class unless he successfully completes a lower class. Pass that is what is called pass. So how to live life so that we can get that is happiness in this world and happiness in the other world. So our Hindus have believed like almost all the religions teach exactly the same thing. Only the misinterpretation creates a lot of trouble. So every holy scripture tells us that God has created us and he has an ideal how we should live our life and that is clearly outlined in his words which have come to be known as scriptures. So there two-fold activities exactly like this Brahmacharya Ashrama. Two teachings will be there. You lead a life and you will be worldly happy and you lead also this same life in such a way that happily you will go from a lower stage to a higher stage, lower world to a higher world, from the higher world to the ultimate world. This is the essence. So this Swami Chinmayanandaji he had very logically, rationally divided this 11th section into seven sub headings and briefly I have already mentioned those things but first of all advise ruling one's own mode of living with reference to the society and oneself since we are individuals and then we are also living in society. So every human being's life can be subdivided into three types of relationships. First of all we are the individuals and our relationship with ourselves is very very important. The first thing is I have to be authentic. My relationship with myself should be absolutely healthy, strong, positive. Thousands of books are being written almost every day. How to think properly, how to think positively, how to be happy etc. So it all depends upon our mind. How we train ourselves and training will not do. Simply some books mislead us. Power of positive thinking that you think this way and you think I am going to become very rich and I become rich. Money is not going to come down from there. What is meant is I would like to be rich. If I have to be rich I must fulfill two conditions. I must be very intelligent and I must apply my intelligence in the right way in every sense of the word. So first of all what is my relationship? Do I think I am inferior? Do I suffer from inferiority or superiority complex? Do I think I am strong or weak? Do I think that I can do? Do I have confidence in me or no confidence in me? Swami Vivekananda emphasizes this very much. So am I truthful to myself? Because even if the whole world doesn't know immediately, later on they will come to know that if we are not truthful then we ourselves are cheating ourselves. So that is why we must have very healthy relationship first of all with ourselves. So what are the three types of relationships? Individually we must have a harmonious relationship with ourselves. Secondly immediate family that we are living with which of course is part of the society. So that is the family, parents, brothers and sisters, wife, husband, children, grandchildren. We must have a very harmonious relationship, a realistic relationship not an imaginary relationship. Of course we are living in society. Society means where everyone depends upon everybody else. That is where the Pancha Maha Yagnas will come. So we must have a balanced harmonious relationship with the family and with the society and naturally we must devote sufficient amount of time for both. But exact time, how much time, what type of relationships and it all depends upon the one's position in the society, in the family. But at the same time the most important thing is, am I leading an authentic life? This is what modern psychologists call leading an authentic life and for that purpose earlier also we have seen especially in the 9th Anuvaka etc. These mantras, part of this mantra is an advice, how we should conduct our own life, what relationship we should have with ourselves, with the family, with the society. Second, we are living in the society, in the family, both. So second part, regulating one's relationship with the last generation and also the present elders. Last generation means our forefathers, grandfather, great-grandfather, grandmother. That is why, So we should never, never neglect what we should do with our forefathers. But also with our immediate living people, our mother, our father, our teachers, other great souls. So regulating one's relationship with the last generation and the present elders and what type of relation I must maintain with our own teachers, teacher or teachers. So here we have to be grateful to our gurus, teachers eternally and we also have to be grateful to our four ancestors and we must continue this progeny that is getting married, fulfilling one's own desires at the same time, adding to the society healthy individuals, bringing them up etc. That is the second part. And then what in that part, what should be our relationship especially with four types of people. Relationship with immediate concerned people with whom we are very closely related. We know Matru Devo Bhava. We will discuss about it in some more detail later on. I am only giving that broad classification. So our mother, most important, whether she is illiterate, that is not important. Without mother, without father, we are nothing, we do not exist. And also develop a healthy spiritual outlook. Let us start with mother, then extend it to father, extend it to teacher, extend it to other teachers, not only one's teacher. Acharya doesn't mean only one's own immediate teacher but every teacher we must extend. And this vision of seeing godliness in everybody, divinity in everybody should be extended to everybody else that is called Atithi. Atithi means what? With whomsoever we may have to deal, that is called Atithi. And it doesn't even mean only human beings. It can mean even animals also. How? There are so many stories. I will just give you very briefly. There was a great soul and he was a Christian and he was a great devotee of Jesus Christ. And one night Jesus appeared and said, tomorrow I am coming to your shop. So this man was a cobbler. So he prepared food and he waited first a hungry child has come, then a hungry man or woman comes. Like that one after the other, Christ never appeared. One dog came finally and then the man was terribly angry with Jesus, you promised but you didn't come. That night he was probably thinking more deeply about Jesus Christ because he was so angry with him. When you are angry with somebody, your meditation on that person is much deeper than your meditation on God. So Jesus appeared smilingly, innocently. You cheat. So you promised and you should have fulfilled. Then Jesus said, why? I came not once but four times I have come. In the form of a hungry child, a hungry woman, a hungry dog and a hungry another human being. And you entertained me with food. So you have served me well. I am so pleased with you. And whoever serves the sick people, the poor people and they are serving me only, Dharidra Narayana, Rogi Narayana. This is the meaning of Aditi. Then one should have tremendous respect for the elders. So there are so many elders are there and they are called Vriddhas. Vriddha doesn't mean only those who are aged 70 years, 80 years. No. Even if a human being is paralyzed, maybe that person is only 10 years, 20 years old. That is also Vriddha. That means helpless person. So our relationship with the society. So there will be, of course, so many people and they may be great in their own respective fields. So we will have to show their great respect. And then when such people come, you should be very respectably salute them, welcome them. Details we will see when the time comes. But don't sit, simply say, hey old fellow, how are you? Instead of saying old fellow, we developed sophisticated language, senior citizen. So like that. These are all, the mental attitude should be great at first. So that is how the persons have to be respected. Why was Shri Ramakrishna visiting? Many people, when Shri Ramakrishna entered into Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's place, you know what happened? For a long time, he was writing something. He looked up only after a long time. So I think it is Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar or Keshav Chandra Sen, I do not remember. Probably Keshav Chandra Sen. Whatever it is. Immediately you are not making a person welcome. Please take your seat. I am very busy now. Just few minutes, then I will be with you. No. So we have to show our respect. Shri Ramakrishna, wherever he found somebody great, he ran there to visit. Why did he go? He said, it is the Divine Mother who is manifesting there. If I do not go and show my respect to these people, then it is like insulting my Divine Mother. And I want to love my Divine Mother. How can I both love and disrespect or hate my Divine Mother? It is not when we sit in front of an image. It is what we do in our day-to-day life. Even if we do not give anything to people, but do not cherish negative thoughts or become jealous or try to backbite. These are very common things which are pulling each one of us down. So therefore, one's attitude towards the learned and wise, great people. And what about people who are not great? So how are the other people doing? There were so many people who gave trouble to Shri Ramakrishna. One of them was Pratap Chandra Hajra. And one day he got very angry. Then immediately he understood, what can the poor fellow do? The Divine Mother has not awakened that buddhi, that capacity to understand. And therefore, first he was angry, but later on he changed and said, I pity him. He is not having that same understanding. So that understanding has to come. That is very, very important. This is one part of this division. Then charity. So you earn money. And then in this particular Anvaka, we get any Hindu who does not earn more and more and more and more. He is not a Hindu. But two conditions are there. First, one should not be 24 hours in trying to earn money. And second, whatever we earn, it should be in accordance with dharma. We should not transgress dharma. And then sufficient time should be there, as I said, to meditate upon God and to spend time with the family. And also, of course, necessarily we have to be in the society and devote. But anybody who neglects these things, that will be their downfall, actually. So charity and the loss of giving. So never, never ever neglect to lead a prosperous life. Become prosperous. And it comes very beautifully in other contexts also. You must earn because it is not only for you. And you should cook so plentiful if any guest comes. And it could be in the form of human being or birds or whatever. So we must share whatever we can with other people. So charity and also how to be charitable. With what attitude? Shraddhaya adheyam, Ashraddhaya adheyam, Shriyadheyam, Priyadheyam, Bhiyadheyam, Samvidadheyam. That is, you must have complete love. And Ashraddhaya. Oh, some fellow has come and they are like parasites always sponging upon we, the hardworking people. Ashraddhaya. Don't give if you feel like that. Shriyadheyam. You give if you are a millionaire. Give millions. If you are a millionaire, give lakhs. If you are a lackier, I don't mean that you don't lack. You lack in money. If you are having lakhs of rupees, give in thousands. Whatever you need, you keep. Save some money, but give also. Shriyadheyam. Priyadheyam. With great humility. Bhiyadheyam. Be frightened. God is judging me. Am I giving? Will he approve my actions? Samvidadheyam. All this should lead to spiritual progress. Then sixth one. Remedy for doubts regarding one's duty and conduct in life. Atha edhite karma vichekiccha pavrittha vichekiccha vasyat. E tatra brahmanaha sammarshinaha yuktaha ayuktaha alukshaha dharmakamasyoh. Yatha te tatra varte ran. Tatha tatra tvam yoyam varte dhaha. So find out. You may have doubt whether you are doing a ritual or any action properly or not. Either your job or your ritual. If you have doubts, approach those brahmanas because there are plenty of other people who are great people. They are called brahmanas and they are doing the right thing. Yuktaha. They know what to do. Ayuktaha. That is they know how much to do, what to do, when to do etc. Alukshaha. They are not motivated by greed and by miserliness etc. Dharmakamaha. They all want to progress in dharma. From dharma only comes artha, kama as well as moksha. Yatha te tatra varte ran. How they are behaving. Tatra tatha varte dhaha. You also react and you also imitate Jesus Christ, imitate Sri Ramakrishna, imitate Guru Nanak etc. But there will always be people who are evil, wicked and doing undesirable activities. How should we behave is very important probably nowadays because they have become what is called our highest goal. Celebrities. They are worse than the worst human beings and what are we doing? We are trying to follow them. Atha bhyakya teshu. That is if there are some people whose conduct is blameworthy, how shall I, what attitude, what behavior should I cherish towards them. E tatra brahmana. Then look, those great brahmanas, sammarshina, yukta, ayukta, aluksha, dharmakamasyu. Find out because they also are in society along with you. They are your contemporaries and they are living the right type of life and how are they behaving towards these despicable creatures, these evil minded people. Yatha te teshu varte ran, tatha teshu varte dhaha. So life consists of these three relationships. Very very important point. We are individuals. We should not spend too much of time with society or with family. Neither should we spend less time but at the same time what is our attitude also. Sri Ramakrishna's beautiful solution to it. Just as a maid servant, she does everything perfectly. She brings up the children, she cooks, she cleans as if this is my house. But she knows in her heart of hearts, it doesn't belong to her at all. These are the commandments. How do we know? This is not only anusayasanam, an advice. Eesha Adesha. Adesha means it is a commandment. Upadesha is a teaching. Adesha, a king doesn't say I am requesting you to do this. Your red lights do not say I am requesting you to stop. You will have to obey. A doctor will not say I am requesting you to do this. Nobody does. Of course, they do that. But what it means is if you want your own good, then these are the commandments. Every religion has its commandments. Hinduism also has got its commandments. You know what those commandments are? There are two types of commandments and there are eight commandments. What are they? Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi. In that first two, Yama and Niyama, all these things that we are discussing, probably these are the expositions. Also, now you try to understand. Sri Ramakrishna's whole life can be divided into when he was young, he really became a Brahmachari, means learning everything wonderful. He did not want to learn only the living, that which helps obtain a job, etc. That is necessary. But the most important thing is what is life and that is why he refused to attend these things. And as I mentioned earlier, why did he keep Holy Mother with him? Because he wants to show what should be an ideal son, an ideal student, an ideal friend, an ideal husband, an ideal disciple, an ideal Guru. That is why Swami Vivekananda raised him. These are very, very important things for us to understand. These are really commandments. But if somebody has got any objection, oh you are behaving like a dictator, you are giving these commandments. So, the Acharya modifies. So, my friend, you are grown up now. Now I have to treat you as equal to myself. When you are young, you have to be commanded. When you are grown up a little, not only in body but in buddhi also, then I will have to treat you as a friend and when you enter into the Grihastha Ashrama, I will treat you as equal to myself. So, this is how Hindu's life goes like that. So, this is the most marvelous thing. Now, what I am suggesting to you after listening to all these 7 divisions which is about all these 11th Anuvaka, now you look to Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda, direct disciples, ideal householders like Naga Mahasaya, like M, etc. and look what they did. They are not telling Sri Ramakrishna had given this 11th Anuvaka, Satyamvada Alu. Sri Ramakrishna's father was an embodiment of Satyam and Dharma and Sri Ramakrishna was Satyam Murtiman Dharmam, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, same. They were established in truth, not only in the truth, a secular truth, a temporary truth but in the permanent truth also and they were not dull people, unintelligent people. Even Lato Maharaj, if you take his life, you know instinctively whatever is there. I am giving you a small example. At one time, Swami Advaitananda used to live in Upen Bahu's printing press because he had no place to go. Not that he really did not have a place, he could have gone to Belur Math but he led his own independent life and then there stacks and stacks of paper were being stored and his bed was some of these huge stacks of paper and then a drunkard, just one small incident, somehow fell in love with Swami Advaitananda and he used to come after drinking and Advaitananda used to treat him, listen to his ramblings and then feed him if he was hungry because drunken people usually spend their money more in drinking than in eating proper food etc. So he used to feed him and that fellow used to be overwhelmed emotionally and after some time he will go. Somebody asked questioningly, Maharaj, why do you do these things? He said, drunkard, he is a worthless fellow, he is wasting his money, maybe he is neglecting his family. Then he said, what do you know, miseries of the world. Then he said, if I talk to him, he is so happy and if people like me do not show sympathy, who else is going to show sympathy for this kind of people? The whole society looks down upon this kind of people. So what I am trying to tell, whatever we have discussed so far, these seven divisions, you look into the lives of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami Vaikananda and other direct disciples, both monastics as well as laymen, see how Bhakti automatically makes them follow the same things, even though they have not been to Guru Kalabhasa. And this subject is so beautiful and every devotee should do Japa of this 11th Anvaka. 10th is okay, I want to, I want God, I want God, I want God, that is okay. But every devotee, I see that one leg is travelling towards the West, another leg is travelling towards the East. Today, I will stop here. Any questions, we will deal.