Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 76 on 09 February 2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYOH SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU OM APYAYANTUM AMANGANIVAKPRANASYAKSHUH SHROTRAMADHU BALAMINDRIYANICHA SARVANI SARVAM BRAHMAHU PANISHADAM MAHAM BRAHMANIRAKURIYAM MAMA BRAHMANIRAKARO ANIRAKARANAM ASTVANIRAKARANAM ME ASTU TADATMANI NIRATE YAUPANISHADSU DHARMAH TE MAI SANTU TE MAI SANTU OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HA RE HE 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 So in our last class, we were studying the 20th section called Nishtha in the 7th chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad called Bhumananda. So Nishtha means single-mindedness and that alone can bring Shraddha later on. So Shankaracharya, he beautifully explains what is Nishtha. Nishtha as Guru Sushrusha. Naturally, the question or doubt comes in our minds, what is the relationship between one-pointedness, single-mindedness and Guru Sushrusha. We are not talking about ordinary single-mindedness. There are scientists, there are magicians, there are many other professionals who are completely absorbed. But these things would not take one to the highest goal. We are talking about the highest reality. And in this world, we can get some amount of knowledge through our five sense organs. But that which lies beyond the ken or the capacity of the five sense organs, that knowledge we can get only from one source and that is called the Vedas or Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Gospel of Ramakrishna. God exists. That is what they teach. So we cannot see God, we cannot hear God, we cannot smell, taste, touch. But first of all, we have to develop that God exists. That knowledge comes from the Vedas. Naturally, that question that arises is, what is the nature of this God? He is our father, He is our mother and He alone can save us. Whatever we wish to have, we can get, obtain only from Him. He can protect us, save us, nourish us and He is doing all the time. But we are not aware of it. So that knowledge comes. And how do we know that knowledge is authoritative, authentic? For that we look at people who have experienced that one. Such an experienced person is called Acharya or Guru. What does the Guru do? He cannot speak, he won't speak and he doesn't know anything else because whatever a person knows, that alone he can convey to others. So a Guru knows God exists. How do we know? His whole life is transformed and that person in whom we see either is a realized soul or he is sincerely trying to live that kind of life. Even to come across a person who is very sincerely trying to transform his life is an extremely rare phenomenon. This is what modern psychologists call an authentic life. What a man thinks or desires and speaks and acts out, such a person is called authoritative person and that gives tremendous happiness which others cannot even guess about it. It is all borrowed happiness and it is only what in Sanskrit called Kshanika, ever-changing. Kshanika means momentary. Momentary means it is liable to change. This was the teaching given by Sanat Kumara. You develop that Nishtha. Whenever venerable sir Narada replies, I desire to develop such a single-mindedness and then Sanat Kumara explains this which Shankaracharya comments upon. So you can take refuge in a Guru and out of compassion he gives you a knowledge which we cannot get anywhere else. So then we will have faith. How do we have faith? Because we see what we are seeking, what are we seeking? Fearlessness. We are seeking complete happiness and that is what we should see in any Acharya. That's what in the second chapter of the Taittiri Upanishad. As the chapter goes on enumerating higher and higher and still higher states of happiness in the form of. So hundred times the happiness of human being is Manushya Gandharva. Hundred times the happiness of any Gandharva is Gandharva happiness. Hundred times the happiness of Gandharva is Karmadeva etc. etc. So ultimately even the happiness of Brahma Loka which is unimaginable by people like us, it is still limited and anybody who is Shrotriya and Shrotriya means one who has complete faith in the scriptures and who has practiced this Nishtha, as a result Shraddha had come and as a result this person also starts experiencing and then he says even this is also limited. So I want that unlimited happiness which is called Brahmananda in general in this particular Upanishad it is called Bhumananda. So I desire first of all as a step towards that Brahmananda or Bhumananda Nishtha, single-mindedness and that can come only through Guru Sushrusha, serving the Guru. Serving the Guru means not simply supplying him with food or this or that but seeing that Brahman as the greatest manifestation of that Brahman in one's own Guru and it has nothing to do with the Guru. I have many times explained it. It is my Bhavana, the disciple's Bhavana. It doesn't matter what my Guru is but I decided to see God in one person and that too in a graduated step by step. First I try to see Godliness in my mother Matru Devo Bhava and in my father then only there is a likelihood of my success Acharya Devo Bhava and once I succeed in it I should be able to see God in everybody. This is the progression that each one of us who undertake a spiritual journey should go through and that is why he says Guru Sushrusha means an ideal person. Guru is an ideal person. Ideal for whom? For a Sishya who is seeking this kind of ideal. For that kind of Sishya, this kind of Guru will fulfill his idealism. That is what Kathopanishad means. Uttishthata, Jagrata, Praapyavaraan, Nibodhata. So you find out a Guru and if you are sincere Guru, God will supply the Guru or God comes in the form of the Guru and then you serve him. That service produces what is called purity of the mind and steadfastness of the mind, concentration of the mind and expansion of the mind and finally it produces Momukshatva, a deep desire. I would like to follow. In fact unconsciously we are all doing the same thing. A young youth, a youth who wants to become a football player or an actor or an actress in his room or her room, all the photos will be hanging, pictures will be hanging. Under that show I am a fan of these people. Why should you become a fan? Because it indirectly indicates I would like to become like you, famous, powerful and celebrity. All these desires are there but at least I would like to become and those pictures that represents the Guru. That is why Guru is given so much importance. Naturally is God not more important in the beginning? No. Why? Because we are seeing Pratyaksham directly. We are able to see not God but a person who represents God is called Godman. So that is the essence of this what is called 20th section. We have entered, we completed it. Now then we have entered into this 21st. After that we have to enter into the 22nd. And with regard to this, what did Swami Vivekananda call this? Shiva Gnane Jiva Shiva. So Guru Sushru Shaheer and all these things will come. But before we attain that Nishtha and before we can serve the Guru, there is something else. We have to obtain Chitta Shuddhi. So that is through Nishkama Karma or called Karma Yoga which Swamiji calls it practical Vedanta, transformation of our life. That is to say as we saw in this prayer that all those qualities which are conducive to our spiritual growth and which have been so beautifully described practically in every scripture of every religion, they have to be cultivated. Without those qualities, even if we are in the presence of God Himself, we will be blind. Not to speak of even a Guru, we cannot recognize. All the priests at the Dakshineswar temple, they considered Shri Ram Krishna not only not a normal person, a madcap. They even wrote, let this Bhattacharya be removed otherwise terrible disaster will come because the divine wrath will be ignited because of that. Fortunately, Divine Mother also thought that how to counter, how to protect. So she gave special insight, special what is called contact lenses to Madhur Babu. He came and observed and then he was convinced he is a genuine spiritual person which is contrary to everybody. Even Hriday could not understand. His near and dearer people also could not understand. A little bit of madness is admired as Nishtha but more than that is considered unsocial, undesirable and the only place for them is a special asylum called lunatic asylum. Anyway, fortunately in India, lunatics are put in lunatic asylum. Only normal people are put in lunatic asylum. The whole world is a lunatic asylum. That's what Shri Ram Krishna said, not me. Don't blame me if you don't like it. So how to attain this Nishtha? Step by step, the previous step has to be completed. If anybody wants to enter into the fifth class, he should pass first to the third class, then enter into the fourth class, pass it successfully and only should come to the fifth class, otherwise no. And that is the nature's way in every respect. So what is it that leads to this Nishtha? Which leads to Kuru Sushrusha? Which leads to Shraddha? Which leads to Manana? Keep thinking. So that is what this 21st section in the 7th chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. So this earlier, what was that? We discussed Nishtha. Nishtha is the effect of another important factor, a lower step without which we cannot develop Nishtha. So Kriti or self-control. This is the special meaning given by Shankaracharya here. Kriti means self-control. But there are many things other than the self-control. But self-control of course will come as a result of Karma Yoga. So the self-control that has either been exercised by the aspirant or risen in him, it never rises automatically. It is what is called what we call automatic is the result of long practice. A person sings beautifully and then there is somewhere I have read perfection in any field requires practice for 10,000 times. You sing any song 10,000 times and 10,001 time you will sing it perfectly. And if you cannot do it then you will have to take another birth. And how to develop that? That's what Swami Vikranta said Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva. And there is a very beautiful saying in Bengali that is what there is a saying even the most so-called untaste distasteful food if somebody goes on eating he develops a strong attachment to it. I am a bit amused to think about it. For 33 years this Gopala's Ma, Gopala Irma, her diet was a bit of potato and then bitter gourd and some greens that are available plenty in the nearby garden. The whole garden was weeds. So there is no nothing called weed. If we do not know it is called a weed. If we know it is called a medicine. So these three every day she cooks. Now what happens after some time if you try to give masala dosha to such Gopala Irma, she will spit it out and say what is this? Actually this kind of thing happened once Swami Vikranta was traveling in a ship and he was very fond of you know what that called hookah special with a special type of tobacco. And there was another person European and then they became friends. Swamiji thought innocently I am enjoying this marvelous hookah special tobacco. This ignorant fellow doesn't know anything about it. So he got it prepared and said brother take a puff and one or even half puff and he spat it out. What can Swamiji do? He can only helplessly watch but not to lose faith. So if he goes on doing half a puff and another half a puff one complete puff afterwards he is hooked. That is how we all get hooked to so many things. And this is what Sri Ramakrishna is telling. What is he telling? Simply saying Siddhi Siddhi. That means without doing anything, without practicing, without trying to practically convert our desire into practical action nothing is going to happen. So his favorite illustration. Somebody came to know that this is a marvelous intoxicating substance. But simply it will not intoxicate saying Siddhi Siddhi I am intoxicated. No. Just to bring the substance nicely make it into a beautiful paste in a particular way and then take it and then wait for the result. Then he will feel the intoxication. So like that it is there. So self-control doesn't mean it is something which is coming from outside. Self-control means not to control by anything anybody else but myself controlling myself and it is a spontaneous withdrawal of consciousness from its desire to externalize itself which in yogic terminology it is called Uparati. Pranayama. Pratyahara. Pratyahara and Uparati. One and the same. Pratyahara. That is take it back, bring it back or Uparati. Withdraw it and then practice it to fix it somewhere which is called Dharana. Gradually it develops into, matures into Dhyana and which matures into Savikalpa Samadhi and which finally takes us to Nirvikalpa Samadhi. So this is the way. So self-control means I am the master. If I want I will do whatever I want. If I don't want nothing in this world can make me do and the ultimate power of the self-control is complete surrender to the divine. So this is what it means but this complete withdrawal from outside is it possible? Can we do it? And that is when certain examples come to our mind, should come to our mind. What is that you know? So in the Sushupti complete self-withdrawal occurs and the mind completely merges in one particular state of consciousness called Sushupti that is merging to oneself. So what does it bring? Tremendous amount of peace, Shanti. Such a Shanti for five hours, six hours, seven hours is not seen anywhere else. We cannot get it from anything else and the beauty of this Sushupti is so another name for this peace is called happiness. So what happens? There is a person tormented by thirst for example and he is supplied with drink water and he drinks. What happens? So his mind got hesitated before because a desire has possessed him and that desire is removed now. So is he getting extra happiness? No. What he was before he became thirsty or hungry or tired or whatever he is getting back. What does it mean? It means Swatmananda, our own Ananda. We are of the nature of Ananda that is disturbed by the desires and when those desires are removed either by temporary fulfillment or through discrimination and that is what is here it is called self-control then naturally when there is no desire there is no curtain or obstruction that can hide our own happiness from ourselves. It is like you stand in front of a mirror and cover your face and body and what do you see even if you make slits so that you can just see pinhole and then you will see only the cover. Nobody can know who you are but the mirror cannot do anything. Remove your dress then you will see whatever you are. This is called removing the five covers with which we are completely screwed as it were. In Sri Ramakrishna's words not only five dresses are there it's called pancha kosha. Kosha means like a sword lying in a cupboard. So our soul is enclosed within the five sheets beginning with Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, Ignanamaya and Anandamaya. But what happens in Sushupti? A spontaneous withdrawal of our mind from its desire to externalize itself. There is no externality during Sushupti. So in respect of outward things there is no individuality as a waker, as a dreamer but only that much less less fettered pure self called I am the what we call Ishwara, Prajna. That's why so much of joy will be there. So the entire world will merge and when the world is not there then the perceiver of the world also disappears. This is the strange relationship between the subject and the object. Either both are there or both disappear and the best example is Sushupti. So now Narada having heard he asks what is this absolute what is called Kriti, this great achievement. How can I achieve this? What is this action of self-control that you are enjoining upon me? Here Sanat Kumara did not say self-control. He used the word action and if we analyze our actions it is nothing but to be the masters of our own self. How? So just a simple example any example will do. I have a desire to drink water then that desire has made me lose control. That means I am not myself. I am a thirsty person. I am not a person. I am a thirsty person. Then remove that desire by drinking water then thirst will go. No more I am a thirsty person. I am the person who was before the thirst overcame me, hunger overcame me or tiredness overcame me. So desires that desire is gone and that is called self-control. When a person doesn't require anything, doesn't depend upon anything then such a person is called self-controlled person. How can a person achieve? Only by doing things and that should be starting from the bottom of the ladder step. There is no other way. So how can I achieve this perfect self-control? Only through action. What does action do? It brings about transformation but ultimately it will teach us that the desire can never be removed. It is like ratta bheja. You fulfill one desire and it expands into 100 desires. Like one seed you cultivate it becomes a mighty tree and how many seeds that mighty tree will be producing that is the way and this is the mantra that goes like this. karoti atha nishtishtati na akritva nishtishtati kritva eva nishtishtati kruti hi tu eva vijijnasit avya iti In answer narada only one kritin bhagavo vijijnasa iti. When one acts then alone does one become steadfast. Without acting one does not become steadfast. Only through action does one become steadfast but one must desire to understand to act activity. Hearing this narada rejoins. Previously I desire to understand activity that means I desire to perform such actions which alone are going to lead me to perfect self-control. So what is this activity here? It consists in the control of the senses and concentration of thought. Only when one is endowed with these two traits the activity any activity involved in the service of the preceptor and longing attention to his words leading through other characteristics will result in the ultimate realization of truth. This is the essence of the 21st section here. So we have to do actions that is very important. So birth is an action as well continuation is an action as well going back to rest that is what we call death. If we are going to sleep that is a temporary phenomenon but when this entire instrument called body becomes incapable of helping us then we discard this body or I would say put it this way we will disassemble we will take it part by part and then reform it. Now nowadays many things are recycled plastic is recycled you take the old plastic melt it and put it again in a new form that's exactly what happens according to Hindu theory and that is called punar janma or a new birth but without activity it's not going to happen. So when a person goes on performing actions in the beginning they're all selfish actions and then after long long time the person understands selfishness is the greatest obstacle to my greater happiness the proportion that I do get a bit of pleasure but I am paying a great price for that that knowledge that awakening will come and then begins nishkama let me then share let me be selfish let me be also a bit unselfish that is much what is called better than complete pure selfishness observe a baby you give any number of chocolates or lozenges and after giving you stretch your hand and say you give me one that person doesn't want to a baby doesn't want to give and it is understandable because that's a baby but Swami Vivekananda used to call all of us moustached babies we don't give up this is what in psychology is called oral stage oral means mouth so when a child has grown up a little bit starts crawling and whatever he catches hold he'll try to put it in his mouth that's called oral stage psychologically it means I want everything I want to accumulate I don't want to give it out that is called oral stage and life after life most of us even if we are not able to enjoy that is what exactly is going to happen so this is called Vedanta in practice and for that purpose the whole scripture it is there to tell us what to do what not to do and how to do it the Veda doesn't go on teaching us that you must desire God we don't know what is God but we know what is body and what the body wants and what the mind wants there is an inalienable law that every creature longs for higher and higher and still higher happiness so long as we have not reached a certain state of higher happiness that would become our greatest goal so but once we reach that one then it becomes taken for granted and then immediately starts I see higher happiness here this tendency towards desiring towards higher and higher happiness is inbuilt it is inherent that is the divinity is trying to manifest itself divinity here means infinity any amount of finite achievements is not going to help us but the key to slowly progress is practice and for that purpose the Veda tells Vidhi and Nishedha and it applies in both fields both secular as well as spiritual so I want worldly happiness then you must do something very strange you know so I want unadulterated secular happiness worldly happiness can I get it no there is nothing called unadulterated everything is adulterated only what does it mean so the payment for Sukham is Dukham is the payment for Dukham is Sukham sometimes many times I think I have tried to explain it even if you love a particular sweet and what is the payment it's not the money that is only what is called a smaller part of acquisition of that sweet if you are not hungry if your stomach is not capable of receiving it even if somebody gives you a mountain full of these sweets you are not going to enjoy it in fact your regret becomes more everything is available but unfortunately I am not able to eat it and it becomes worse when that such a person has got a big family and rich person and plenty of servants so as if it is like our worship prepare the best things take them to the shrine room and then Drishti Bhoga just to see and then Prasadam will be brought down and everybody else will be enjoying but this our head what a generous person he provides us with the best food and helplessly we smile outside but inside we are what is called grinding our teeth how I wish I had the stomach of that my servant who works like a donkey but who eats also like a bull so it is it is that desire is there so there are certain things which we must fulfill then what happens what does it mean means Vidhi and Nishadha even in the smallest thing I'll give a small example for example so maybe here is a child mother is very grand cook and she loves her child and she wants to feed the child and the child also wants to eat and enjoy but the mother says go and play for three four hours run here and there play why because practically woman you know because this fellow will be nuisance so long as he is near if he goes into the street she she will be free to do what she likes to do she has her own personal things so she can devote her time to cooking and other things so like this when the child gets terribly tired and ravenously hungry ma give me food immediately and the mother's heart swells in the greatest joy and he demands today the cooking is wonderful what am I talking about there are rules and regulations even to derive merely obtaining objects will not do we have to pay and that payment is possible only through avoiding certain things and doing certain things if anybody wants good health avoid what is called unsuitable foods and accept only suitable foods and that to go out for a long walk and when the body exhausts its energy and comes back tired hungry then how much joy every day practically we are experiencing this one without getting hungry we will not be able to enjoy anything apply now this to everything so what does the veda do this secular person worldly person is called prayokangshi he has innumerable desires so the scripture like a mother should prescribe baba you do this one then you will get this result he doesn't know whether it is a just a hypnotic statement an advertisement or it is a reality but he has no option initially he starts it with okay it is like a scientist experimenting with a hypothesis a scientist doesn't know whether it will work or not but he will never know whether it will work or not unless he puts it into practice so like that this person he does some sathya narayana or he climbs steps to thirupati venkateshwara or he comes in the maha kumbha kumbha and then takes bath because you will get lot of punyam so slowly he finds yes after some time my desires are fulfilled then slowly as his experience grows he develops that faith yes whatever is written in the first part of the veda called karma kanda is real and this is the inevitable step stage of each one of us including the greatest saints and sages only incarnations and others their exceptions to it they are born with that knowledge for the good of humanity they are not coming here to achieve moksha they are here to help us achieve the moksha so vidhi and nishedha and then the same vidhi nishedha then produces tremendous amount of greater and greater happiness and the greater happiness that comes he'll still increase the thirst for more happiness and then he starts looking at the same scriptural teaching in a new light how did i miss this one so until now i am merged in this these are called like leaky rafts in the bundaka upanishad adradaha plava ethe adradaha means what leaky boats their boats and we are not sure he will take us to the other shore without drowning us in the middle then this is through experience we understand this one then is there any boat which can take me safely across the thing and then i need never again cross this ocean of samsara that is when first of all what is called gnana jignasa a beautiful discussion is available to us by shankaracharya so the very first sutra the opponent asks why not start with dharma jignasa shankara's beautiful rejoinder to that is because this person he had already known about dharma jignasa what is dharma what is dharma knowledge about the first part of the vedas that is called dharma jignasa and he develops faith in that and he does what is prescribed and then he proves to himself that everything written is absolutely true and then the further insight opens up if what vedas says in this respect is proving true and the same veda is also condemning condemning means what not really condemning condemnation by the vedas mean praise of the other things so if somebody says to a lower type of lower degree of musician you are an inferior musician always the other person is somebody else and say he is a superior musician so this is not to criticize the present musician but is to say that you also have to try to attain to that because veda never criticizes never condemns anybody as we never condemn a child a baby who is over sleeping maybe 20 hours a day the child is baby is sleeping did you find anybody who will condemn a baby because that is the only way for that baby to grow eat drink and that is the state of kumbhakarna but as the child grows up and he doesn't he wants to continue same eating and sleeping then the mother will give him if necessary some ear twistings that is why guru is called karnadhar he catches hold of your ears and twists and it is very painful and then only he will grow so therefore then through karmakanda what happens chitta shuddhi happens and that is exactly what we discussed that nishta nishta means guru sushrusha what does the guru do he doesn't merely take the disciple service in return he gives he serves you even more than you serve him what does he do he says i am pleased with you therefore tadvidhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya pariprashna ask what do you want and then you are encouraged to ask and then you have doubts so he will inspire you he will remove your doubts he will correct you your behavior and he will be severely scolding and all those things look at sir ram krishna's life there was a devotee called author and he hated so he did not like keshav chandra sen because he was pandering to the white-skinned people british people in those days so he advised sir ram krishna don't go and visit keshav chandra sen immediately the axe fell upon oh you are serving the boots of your british officers you have no objection to visit them every day and serve them and you are giving advice to me not to visit keshav chandra sen because he makes us freely with the white-skinned people i don't know how far this person understood but the point is that the guru himself achieved the result and then he will tell you how he himself had become perfect and that is to be known through pariprashna sir how did you achieve this state what are the means and then when guru says you have to believe him you have no option why because it is not tondik and harry lecturing on the theory of special relativity he's he's this this person every day he's seeing the guru is very happy and he's unselfish and he treats everybody exactly in the same way and he's ready to give up his life for the sake of even a prani look at gautama buddha he was ready to give exchange his life if a small lamb dumb lamb can be life's life of the lamb can be saved in the sacrifice that was being performed by ajatashatru so when we see such qualities not only qualities effect of those qualities then we wonder so there must be some reason some cause which is producing all these effects and that what is that cause the person had removed all his desires so how do we know he became poornakama one meaning of poornakama is all his desires have been completely fulfilled he says i am the infinite i am poorna poornamadaha poornamidham poornat poornamudachyate poornasya poornamadaya poornameva avasisyate and as i said shrotriya shacha akamahatasya a person who is not fell down by various desires what does it mean it means he is getting more happiness from god by knowing that i am god by knowing i am ananda swaroopa then after running any object including brahma loka so that is why the actions are very important and that is what is indicated in this particular chapter when a person fulfills all the conditions of the scriptures then only slowly he experiences the shraddha then his mind becomes unpointed only when puts it into practice he develops one-pointedness without doing na nishtishtati akritva na nishtishtati without practically doing anything he is not going to attain that one-pointedness kritva eva only through actions he can transform his life nishtishtati he develops that special quality called absolute one-pointedness kriti hithu eva vijijnasi tavyam so navo narada that kriti that right action as directed by the scripture alone should be sought after kritim bhagavo vijijnasa iti yes i would like to perform these actions and attain the results which are called chitta shuddhi chitta ekagrata chitta vaisalyata and mumukshutva that is the essence of this particular section and i will stop here if there are any questions where i will be happy to discuss om jananem sharadam devim ramakrishnam jagadgurum may ramakrishna holy mother and swami vekananda bless us all with bhakti