Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 77 on 15 February 2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYOH SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU OM APYAYANTUM AMANGANIVAGPRANASYAKSHUH SHROTRAMADHU BALAMINDRAYANICHA SARVANI SARVAM BRAHMAHU PANISHADAM MAHAM BRAHMANIRAKURIYAM MAHAM BRAHMANIRAKAROT ANIRAKARANAM ASTVANIRAKARANAM ME ASTU TADATMANI NIRATE YAUPANISHAD SU DHARMAH TEMAYI SANTU TEMAYI SANTU OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HARIHI 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. We are engaged in the pursuit of the self. May they repose in me. OM PEACE PEACE PEACE BE UNTO ALL In our last class, we were studying the 21st section called Kriti in the 7th chapter of Chandogya Upanishad called Bhumananda. Kriti means action, self-control, concentration. In other words, Chitta Shuddhi, Karma Yoga. Before that, Narada said that I desire to understand the nature of activity because you, my Gurudeva, had told me, Sanat Kumara told him that if you want to attain to the highest, you will have to go through this Kriti. This is called Karma Yoga. Activity means Karma Yoga. Kriti means Karma Yoga. So, what can Karma Yoga do? Karma Yoga gives Chitta Shuddhi. Karma Yoga gives control of the senses. Karma Yoga gives concentration of thought. Karma Yoga expands our identity, destroys our narrow attachments. Only when a person, a spiritual Sadhaka, is endowed with these traits, Chitta Shuddhi, he becomes an Adhikari. Then only, he will develop Shraddha. And that Shraddha leads him to Nishtha. And that Nishtha makes him approach a Guru and serve him. And with great faith and attention, listens to his words. This is called Shravana. It may take several lives. That is why there are seven qualities enumerated in the Jnana Marga. What are the seven qualities? First of all, Sadhana, Kshatustaya, Sampatti. The divine treasure of the fourfold. Actually, there are nine qualities involved there. But in short, four. Viveka, discrimination. Vairagya, dispassion. Shamadhamadi, Shatka Sampatti, which includes Shraddha, Samadhana, Titiksha, Uparati, etc. Then Mumukshutva, an intense yearning for the realization of God. Then what happens? He just becomes fit to enter into the school of Yoga. And this applies to all the other Yogas also. Then what happens? Three steps are there. Nobody can directly realize God. Is it true? Is it a fact? Sri Ramakrishna, he said, if somebody is intensely possessed of the desire for Mumukshutva, and if there is no ready teacher available or visible teacher available, then he must get invisible teacher. Who is the invisible teacher? God only. Visible or invisible, the teacher is only God. Sri Ramakrishna clarifies this issue several times. Satchidananda alone is the Guru and nobody else. Same Satchidananda takes the form of a Guru so that he can come down to the level of the pupil and make him understand. So, being equipped with all the requisites, Sadghuna, Sampathi, then he will be approaching the teacher and then he will learn from the teacher. What does he learn? Only the teachings of these scriptures. And for us, these scriptures are Vedas, which means Upanishads, which means Bhagavad Gita, which means the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Etc. But the interpretation should come through the mouth of the Guru. What does the Guru do? So, at every age, God incarnates as a Guru. Why? Because the interpretation must change according to the changing circumstances. That is why Swami Pranjanathanandaji Maharaj has four beautiful volumes, Eternal Values for a Changing Society. Values are eternal, but understanding them and applying them to the changing circumstances. Even in our own life, a child requires a different instruction. A young man requires a different instruction. An old man requires a different instruction. A sick man requires a different instruction. A man in terrible danger requires another type of instruction. Value doesn't change, but the approach to attain that value or application of that value under these changing circumstances, that should be obtained only sitting at the feet of the Guru. And so he has to serve and then he must also please the teacher. And then he must be thinking deeply. A thoughtless fellow cannot question the Guru. And if somebody is doing Karma Yoga, he will develop that capacity to put a question precisely. So that, to my mind, the example of chat-GPT comes and this questioning is called prompts. So if you want to get a precise answer, one has to put the question. So that the software can understand that what this person wants. And there are experts who can coach us in how to prompt. And that prompt in spiritual life is called questioning the Guru. So the questions depend upon the attitude, mood. A Bhakta questions in one way. Once a devotee approached Mahapurush Maharaj and he asked him, Maharaj, I don't have devotion and I don't know whether I am travelling in the right path or not. What would be my fate? Mahapurush Maharaj said, forget all those things. Wholeheartedly, you pray to God, weep, weep my child and then pray, O Lord, I do not know what is right, what is wrong. So you please guide me and God will guide him. There is no doubt about it. So the essence of all spiritual sadhanas, according to Mahapurush Maharaj, according to Bhagavan Krishna, according to Shri Ram Krishna, according to every Avatar, is to take complete surrender at the feet of the Lord. If you study the cross, the Christian cross, cross means what? That vertical wooden pole that represents our terrible ego. It has to be crossed. That crossing is called Sharanagati. I am not, only you are. So Sharanagati, Gnana Marga, I am not the Jeevatma, I am Paramatma. Destroy the Jeevatma, then I know who I am. In every religion, this is being taught. So one must practice this Sharanagati at the feet of the Guru. One must make that Guru a target. I don't mind what you are. In fact, the worse the Guru, the better for all of us. Why do I say that? Because a great Guru, that one surrenders at the feet of the great person. There is no greatness. But if we can surrender ourselves to a person whom we know is much worse than us, that shows the greatness of the Sadhaka. So many times I expounded this sacred relationship between the Guru and the disciple. Not because Guru is great, Guru is Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Maheshwara, Guru Sakshat Parambrahma. We of course go on hymning, but we don't understand anything of it. When I myself don't know who I am, how am I going to know who the Guru is? These are all conventionally learned words, meaningless words. But one thing we can understand. I have taken refuge at the feet of the Guru. And whether he is a good man, not good, whether spiritual, unspiritual, I don't care. But I decided to look upon him as God. That is my target. How to look upon him as God, even though he may not be at all having any good qualification for that. And then one has to serve the Guru. That is very important. And then put the questions properly. And that is called Kriti, Karma Yoga. And Karma Yoga makes a person very, very rational. Chitta Shuddhi includes that rationality. That is very important. And therefore, you must perform Karma Yoga. With this, the 21st section is over. But to do Karma Yoga is not easy. Even to do Karma is not easy. We are always, our tendency is like water. Water always flows down, but it never climbs up. So whichever work is easy takes less energy, less time. And we prefer to do that. Most of us prefer to do that, given a choice. Of course, if we do not have a choice, it is a choiceless choice. So what is it that makes us take up any work? There must be some secret. What is it that inspires us, that literally puts a gun behind us and forces us to do? I am not talking only about good work. Any type of murder, stealing, torturing, they are also actions. Behind every action, there is a motive. And this is one of the most wonderful sections that discusses. And especially, there is that Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. In the very first Adhyaya, fourth section, from eighth mantra onwards, Atman is the most dear object. In this world, there is nobody, everybody, a householder loves his son. Especially, if there is only one son. Because he is called Atmaja. That is, the father himself is manifesting in the form of the son. So the father is not loving some other person. He is only loving himself. And why does he love? Because he gets tremendous joy. Where there is joy, that becomes a lovable object. But what do we love? We love happiness. And we want happiness. And that happiness is there within oneself. How do we know? Because whatever is enjoyable, that we love. And what is most dear to us? Putrat, Rayat, Kalatrat, Dhanat. So Agnivalike was expounding that everything is not dear. Nothing is greater than Atma. If I love somebody, that is because of my love for myself. If I love my children, because they contribute to my happiness. Because they are my children. My wealth, my house, my country, my religion, everything, my, my, my. So me, whatever contributes to my happiness, I love that. But I do not love the object because it contributes to my happiness. And that object, just somebody compared that object to a sugarcane, raw sugarcane. And why do people go on eating sugarcane? Because there is wonderful juice inside. And what do the people do after buying? So they go on chewing it, extract the juice, Rasa. Sugar Rasa. And then what do they do? They throw it out. Because what they want is that Rasa. And that Rasa is called Ananda. Rasagullabdhahi eva anandayati ko pranyat. Who is going to even breathe if a person is not getting this Ananda? Taittiriya Upanishad gives beautifully. We are going to discuss about it. So this Atma is dearer than everything in this world. Is it dearer than God also? Yes. This looks like a funny statement. How that we are all, we say we want to love God. So why are you getting up from your meditation so quickly? And if it is some immersive cinema or beautiful bhajan or excellent tasty food or rubbish worldly conversation, how time passes? And then we don't want. Why? Because time passing, not noticing time is because of Ananda. Ananda means forgetfulness of time. But why are we acutely conscious of time? Every passing second, is this clock going so slowly? Is there something wrong with this clock? I just wanted 15 minutes. It looks like 150 minutes. Why? Because at that stage, God is different. I am different and I don't have love for God. Why don't I have love for God? Because I don't derive any happiness from God. Just see, if I can derive happiness from God, nobody wants to stop thinking about God, being with God, loving God and sacrificing everything else. But at the beginning, in fact for a long time, we are not going to get it. First of all, according to Gaudapada, there are four obstructions are there. First thing is sleep comes. Second, if somehow one can control it to some extent, then terrible restlessness. What am I doing? I have got so many other things to do. If we can overcome it, what a fool I am. My friend is enjoying his time in the public house and like a foolish fellow, I am listening to this Bhagavatam, Ramakrishna narrates. And the other fellow also is doing exactly the same thing. Why am I wasting my time here? So, if God gives us happiness, is called Ananda Swaroopa, then we should have been thinking more and more of God. It takes a long, long time to really squeeze the juice out of God. But what am I talking about? What are we talking about? That nobody does anything. If we are either not getting joy or hoping to get joy later on. If anybody understands, I can go on doing whatever I am doing. There is no remotest possibility of getting happiness from this action. Immediately, we give it up. And that is what Ramakrishna says. A man, he says, I want water. So, he goes on digging. And when he encounters the slightest obstruction, he gives it up. Who can give it up? Only a person who is not thirsty. But a person who is thirsty, he will not waste. How quickly can I get water? That is the psychological condition. So, in the 22nd section, what is the root cause or the secret of Karma Yoga? Sukham. So, there is only one mantra again. It goes like this. These are the words of the Guru, Rishi, Sanat Kumara. And then Narada rejoins. I would like to know, what is this Sukha? Where is this Sukha? How much Sukha can I get? What is the secret of this Sukha, happiness? We all think we know about Sukham. And most often, we are like donkeys. We, what we pay is 99% terrible unhappiness. And what we get is very little. And even that also, we are not getting from anything outside. That is what Sri Ramakrishna illustrates beautifully. A camel goes on chewing the thorny bush. But thinks that the thorns are giving such juicy happiness for it. A dog chewing the bone thinks that it is going to get happiness. No, sir. It is from within ourselves. These are beautiful parables which we will have to explore. So, well, oh Narada, I tell you. Nothing can be done unless it is propelled by Sukham or happiness or joy. Everywhere we find happiness is the object of every kind of aspiration. You just try to find out. Open your eyes and then you find out. Is there any activity which is done bereft of hoping for joy? So, this is what we call Taittiriya Upanishad. It says it. It is a long passage. And then comes very relevant to our topic here. God or Atman or Brahman is of the very nature of Satchidananda. Eternal, infinite happiness. So, it is only because of this Ananda and when Ananda is obtained, even the slightest degree, even for a millisecond, every living creature becomes Anandi, happy creature. And then Upanishad goes on talking. If this God is not of the nature of Ananda, who is going to live in this world, who is going to breathe, the moment we come to know that there is no chance of my being happy, then that person, that very moment desires death. But if there is a hope, after some time I may be suffering now, there is great hope for me to be happy. And that is what keeps. This is what Holy Mother had said. So long as there is a desire, then man will be living. The moment desires are destroyed, the body will fall down. And what does Holy Mother mean, desire? So, when we say I desire food, I desire fine garments, I desire fragrant flowers, anything, I desire this and that and the other thing, there is a wrong way of putting. Right way of understanding is I hope to experience happiness. I hope to be happy by obtaining these things. And if anybody doesn't see that choice, then he will not even attempt. So, So, when a person doesn't get happiness, and happiness is available only in infinity, infinity means no duality, there is no second. Because as soon as a person, he makes a distinction, this is me and there is something else. Only when a person identifies himself with that Brahman, which is of the nature of oneness, infinity, only then he will not have any fear. So, here the word fear is equated to Dukkha. And fearlessness is equated to happiness. So, this is a beautiful one which we will study. The whole creation, process of creation, manifestation, dissolution, evolution, involution, any activity, entire activity of the cosmos in this world by any creature is what is an urge for happiness. It is happiness that is trying to recover its own consciousness and establish itself in its own pristine all-comprehensiveness. It is this that is called activity. What is activity? To be completely identified with that consciousness which is called Chit and which is of the nature of unbroken eternal happiness. It is this that is called evolution. You are all evolving. Why do we want to evolve? First of all, we want to survive. Secondly, we want to obtain more and more happiness. We are going to discuss this in comparatively larger detail. So, happiness is the ultimate goal of everybody. But look here, the beauty of it. If I want to be happy, I have to fulfil two conditions. The first condition is that I have to be alive because a dead person neither seeks happiness nor avoids Dukkha because he is not alive. But we are all alive. So, what is it we are seeking? Happiness. Whatever we do, that is all a quest for happiness. This is eternal quest. And every bit of evolution is only trying to climb higher and higher into higher and higher types of happiness. And there are varieties of happinesses. We will deal with that. But briefly, Shri Ramakrishna divides happiness, classifies happiness into three types. Vishayananda, Bhajanananda and Brahmananda. We will talk about it when the time comes. So, all evolution is meant for what? For happiness. But if I want to be happy, what is the first condition? I have to be alive. But that will not do because I am alive but I am asleep. That's not going to give me. When you are asleep and if somebody comes and then puts into your mouth, even your most beloved sweet, you will get annoyed because this sweet happiness is nothing in comparison with what you are already experiencing it. The nature of Sushupti is beautifully described in Vedanta as Anandamaya Kosha. That Anandamaya Kosha, if anything, you put a sweet for example, when a person is in that state, that is trying to pull him down from that greater happiness into what is called insignificant happiness. And that is why we get. But supposing a person is tossing here and there and then you give him something much superior to him. So, I gave you many examples because these are the things you will have to ponder upon. Here is a person extremely tired because of the daytime work in the office or factory or clinic or whatever. And he comes home dead tired and he is starving. So, he has already a plan. I will eat food. I'll just watch the headlines and I will then sleep happily whole night. I will take to bed early. But when he turned on the news, suddenly he heard there is a wonderful football or cricket match is going to start now. And it is very famous between famous players. And this person is a fan madly in love with that particular type of game. Do you know what happens? All his tiredness vanishes in a trice. And then like an owl, he will be going on sitting and watching. Try to disturb him at that time. You will see what would be the effect of it. Even if you are the nearest and dearest. So, Sushupti gives tremendous amount of happiness. If somebody can give even better happiness than Sushupti, then we will not get annoyed. But every objective happiness that we try to give, wake that fellow up and say, I have prepared something very special for you. He will only get very, very angry. So, happiness. First of all, we have to be alive. Then what is the second condition? We have to be aware. We have to be conscious that I am not only alive, but I am also very happy. And the whole evolution is nothing but it is happiness that is trying to recover its own consciousness. What is the consciousness? Here we are talking about is a big, big words. Chaitanyam. But if I put it in simple language. So, I want to be aware that I am a very happy person. And without that awareness, happiness will be no happiness. If you give anesthesia to a person and apply it to his plate full of his most beloved objects, that's not going to give that person any happiness because he is not aware. So, if a person has to know I am alive, he has to be aware. If a person has to know I am happy, he has to be aware. If a person has to know I am not happy, he has to be aware of it. And this is what is called happiness seeking that awareness. Then only that person knows I am a very happy person. And so long as a person is in that state, he doesn't say anything else exists in this world other than happiness. And he doesn't want anything else. He doesn't want to come down from that state of happiness. Even if we are getting momentary pleasure, so long as that moment lasts, we don't want to come down from that. We don't want to cut short that moment. So, here Sanath Kumara is taking slowly. This is the most wonderful way of understanding. Now, I will put you briefly, this Panchakosha Vyavarana, which comes again in the second Anandavalli of Taittiriya Upanishad, which is illustrated beautifully in the third chapter called Bhrigavalli. How to obtain, that is, how to transcend from a lowest kosha to the highest kosha. I will give a brief introduction because that is very, very intimately related to the topic we are talking here. You know, Vedanta gives us two models, how that we are not what we think we are, but we are totally different, separate, nothing to do with all that. So, the first model is what is called Avasthathraya Visleshana, analysing three states, waking, dream and deep sleep. And there is another model that is called Panchakosha Vyavarana, that is, as if the real person, that is Atman, is covered with five layers of clothing and the outermost is what we call the body. So, we see, oh, this person is the body. The body is the person. It is better to say, instead of saying what is called the person is the body, say the body is the person because the entire personality is only completely identified with the body. And this is our normal condition. But then certain Vedantic principles teach us that if you are the body, you will never be able to experience the body because whatever you experience, it is an object. And the subject and object can never be the same. This is what in the Bhrigu Valli, Shankaracharya gives this beautiful commentary. So, if anybody sees any difference between Dharma and Dharmi, that is to say, a substance and its qualities. You cannot see a substance without qualities and you cannot see the qualities without the substance. So, very beautiful discussion is there. When the time comes, I will discuss. But I am giving you just an example. Here is a, let us say, mango fruit. A mango fruit. What is a mango fruit? It has got a skin. It has a color. It has a flavor and it has a taste and it also has a touch. So, when you are handling a mango, even from a distance when you are looking at it, you are seeing so many qualities. It is a green mango. It is a red mango. It is ripe mango, unripe mango. These are called Dharmis, that is qualifications, adjectives. Now, when you see these adjectives, you see the substance. And when you see the substance, you see all these qualifications. Now, try to find out. Separate them. Take a knife and say, So, this is redness. This is sweetness. This is beautiful flavor. Cut one by one separately. What remains? Nothing remains. This is what Shankaracharya wants us to understand, that if you are the body, then you will not know you are the body. I don't know whether I am making sense. If you think you are the body, you will not know the body because you cannot separate Dharma from the Dharmi. So, you cannot see. I am. To see, to experience, it must be something different. So, to say I am the body, the body must be different. In actual fact, that is what is happening. Every day of our life, I look at the body and say, Oh, it is becoming old. It is becoming gray. It is becoming weak and it has developed certain inconveniences. If you are experiencing it, then you are not that because the subject and the object can never be together. This is a brief hint and the occasion comes, we will discuss about it. So, Sanat Kumara finally opened the door. What is the door? It is called Sukham. And then there are degrees of Sukham. There is temporary Sukham, changing Sukham and Alpa Sukham. Very, very small happiness, but nobody will be satisfied. There is what is called irrepressible, unsuppressible urge within each one of us to transcend to higher and higher states of happiness. So, slowly Sanat Kumara is leading to it. First of all, he wants to prove that we cannot lift even a finger if we think it is not going to bring happiness. And if we are not in a state of happiness, in which state are we? Either you are happy or you are not happy. There is no in-between state. Even Sushupti is not an in-between state. It is a state called Anandamaya Kosha. You are so peaceful because there is no duality, because there is no mind. There is no world. World exists in the mind. The mind, temporarily though, merges in this Sushupti state. And therefore, there is no such thing called, second thing called mind. Mind is when in waking state, in dream state, mind intervenes between subject and object. And that's why the being is called Jeevatma. Jeevatma is neither completely Atma nor completely inert object. But he partakes in a combination of both these things. And this is a practical fact, not merely a psychological truth. So, a mere recognition of the presupposition of happiness behind every kind of activity doesn't solve the problem of happiness. Of course, we understand. Nobody lifts a little finger unless it is for happiness. We understand it. But do we understand where is this happiness? And how many types of happiness are there? And what is the way to get the highest happiness that is called infinite happiness? So, we are accustomed to think that happiness is an achievement. What is an achievement? I don't have it and by doing some things, I will achieve it. But this is the greatest mistake all of us are committing. This is the greatest misnomer. Happiness is not something we obtain. Happiness is something we experience by removing the obstacles. Every desire is a desire for happiness. But unable to get directly into ourselves, we seek the intervention of something else. That something, that instrument with which we remove the obstruction in the form of desires, that is called an object. What does food do when we are hungry? A desire is there. I am not strong. I require food and that desire will not allow us to do anything else. So, we eat food. The desire, that food, what does it do? It removes the desire that I need food. And what happened before the desire came? What I was. And after removing the desire, then we become that we are aware. I am not hungry. I am a happy person. But do you see that merely this is an example. You have to understand that even before we are not hungry, but are we happy? No, we are not happy. Why? Because when we are not hungry, we may be angry. When we are not angry, we may be thinking of accumulating so many things. If Kama is not there, Krodha is there. If Krodha is not there, Lobha will come. So, thus Moha, Madha, Matsarya, these are called psychological enemies. Used in the wrong way, they are enemies. Used in the right way, positive way, they help us to recover our forgotten memory. That is to say, we don't need anything. We just are what we are seeking. Like the Kasturi Mriga, which produces that intoxicating fragrance from its own navel. It is in search of it. It is looking for it everywhere. Finally, it gets exhausted and dies, not knowing. This is what Kabir Das wants to beautifully put it in a bhajan. Mooko kaha dundere bandhe, mai to tere paas mein hoon. Fool, where are you searching for me? I am near you. Near means what? Near means I am inside you. I am you in fact, but you are not able to understand me. Only when the Guru comes at the right time, He says what you are searching, that is what you are. Tat means what? Whatever you are searching, giving it the name God, Brahman, etc. The actually, you are that only. You are searching like this Kasturi Mriga and you are searching for your own self. But you are searching in the wrong place. Therefore, what is evolution? It is a deep search for our own self. And when we discover who we are, then our life becomes pleasant. Not only that, we also have to understand what does a Guru do? He becomes a mirror. I am searching for myself. When I look at anybody, I see that I am somebody else. But when I look into the mirror called Guru, then I see my own true reflection, that I am that beautiful me, myself. And I don't need any type of any external means, help of anything else, because there is nobody else, nothing else, all that exists. That is only you. These are the profound truths. So, now the doubts will come because after searching here and there, and we don't get, not only we don't get happiness, we get plenty of compound interest, Dukha, misery. So doubts will arise. When a person becomes awakened, what does he discover? I want happiness because I am not happy. So I want happiness. That is the starting. Then is happiness one or many? Are there different kinds of happinesses? And where is it? Where is this happiness? So is it in the object that I am searching all this time? Or is it within me? Where and how I can get it? This is the essence of this particular 22nd, which is leading slowly. First he explains, Sanat Kumar explains the nature of happiness. And then he says, In small happiness, there is no happiness. Infinite happiness, alone infinite. No man can be satisfied without that infinite. There are beautiful points. There are what is called loss of happiness. And how many types of happiness are there? Adjust to four stalls. According to one calculation, five types of happinesses are there. Vishayananda, Medhananda, Kalananda, Dharmananda and Brahmananda. About which we will discuss in our next class. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.