Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 96 on 20 April 2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYOH SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU OM APYAYANTUM AMANGANIVAG PRANASCHAKSHUH SHROTRAMADHU BALAMINDRIYANICHA SARVANI SARVAM BRAHMAHU PANISHADAM MAHAM BRAHMANIRAKURIYAM MAHAM BRAHMANIRAKAROTANIRAKARANAMASTVANIRAKARANAMME ASTU TADATMANI NIRATE YAUPANISHATSU DHARMAHATE MAYI SANTU OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HARE 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. So we are studying the last and eighth chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. And in our last class, we have completed four mantras. This first section in this last chapter has got six mantras. And what is the essence of what we discussed earlier? Presumably, there was a Rishi, a teacher. Because all the teachers whom we call Gurus in Vedanta, in the Upanishads, in the Vedas, they are called Rishis. Mantra Drashtas. So there must be either one or more than one disciples called Sishyas. So the teacher said that I am going to teach you about the Chit, the consciousness part of Brahman. As we know, Brahman has got or qualified by three epithets, Sat, Chit and Ananda. The aspect of Sat was beautifully elaborately discussed in the sixth chapter. And the concept of Ananda was discussed in the seventh chapter, also called Bhumananda or infinite bliss. In this chapter, what was left out? The Chit aspect of Brahman. And that's going to be taught really from the seventh section onwards through the dialogue between Prajapati and two disciples. One was Indra, another was Virochana. But to make us fit so that we can grasp, even intellectually understand, the Upanishad Rishi is teaching how to prepare ourselves. For that, contemplation on the Saguna Brahma has to be practiced for a long time. Which means, to the exclusion of every other thought, one particular thought alone should dominate. And that is called Brahma Akara Vritti. But if we recollect, in the case of Ramakrishna, it is Kalika Akara Vritti. But if we presume to imagine, in the case of Gopalerma, it will be Gopala Akara Vritti. Thus, everybody's concept of chosen deity will be that particular thought. But only that single particular thought. No other thought should intervene. And one thought rising up again and again to the exclusion of every other thought. And finally, even that thought also will disappear. And the contemplator will become one with the contemplated object. That is, the devotee becomes one with the deity. A Bhakta will become one with Bhagawan. Like Ramakrishna became one with Hanuman or with Radha. And thereby obtained the vision of the Supreme Reality. So for that, Dahara Akasha Vidya, a particularly effective contemplation, that is Upasana, has been introduced. What is it? My dear children, do not think this body as a contemptible made out of what is called nine elements. Ashtadhatu are eight elements like flesh, bones, marrow, etc. It is nothing less than Brahmapuri. That is to say, the body is nothing but the temple, sacred temple. And within that sacred temple, there are seven enclosures which we have to cross. Each enclosure is called a Chakra according to Tantric expression. And within the sanctum sanctorum, that is Garbha Gudi we call it, inner shrine we call it, there is a small space called Dahara Akasha. Dahara means small, but small does not mean small. It means infinitely subtle, infinitely greater. So therein, Brahman is available. As Ramakrishna expressed, a Jamindar will be mostly available in the drawing room. So you contemplate upon him. Then a disciple or disciples heard it and they said, but they did not understand the concept of Brahmapura. Brahmapura has two meanings. First meaning of Brahmapura is that this body is called Brahmapura. Within that, there is Brahman. That is the first gross external meaning. But the real meaning, what is called Lakshayartha, this body itself is Brahman. Brahma, Eva, Puram. How come? We explained many, many times. The whole universe is nothing but the outcome of this earth. Earth is the outcome of waters, which is the outcome of fire, which is the outcome of air, which is the outcome of space and space itself is the outcome of Atma. So there is nothing which is not Brahman. It is like clay and several pots. Here a beautiful example can help us. You call a child, show him a lump of clay and a pot. Ask him, pointing to the clay, what is it? He says, it is clay. Point to the pot and say, what is it? It is pot. And for him, clay is separate, pot is separate. But a grown-up also, if he is asked, we are all the grown-ups, what Swami Vivekananda calls moustached babies. So we also reply, a tree is a tree, but it is not Brahman. A house is a house, it is not Brahman. An animal is an animal, it is not Brahman. But from the beginning, we have to be trained in a particular concept called Karana, Karya, Sambandha. So the cause is never different from the effect. An effect is in other words, nothing but the cause. So the pot is nothing but clay, but with Nama, Name, Rupa, a form. An ornament is nothing but gold only, with name and form. And these disciples, they chose to understand this Brahmapuram as the first one. So within this body, there will be a heart, just like a lotus. Within that heart, there is a very small space. And within that space, there is something that has to be sought after, that has to be enquired deeply, means realized as Brahman. That's what the Rishi must have explained, just as we are taking classes. So the Rishi will not simply utter these mantras and leave the disciples to wonder what the Guru really means. No, he will explain and that explanation will be for years together. But because that has to be remembered. And in those days, there were no tape recorders. So they invented a system called Sutras. Sutra means a small file name. In your office, there are many files and every file will have a specific name. For example, this file contains all letters that I have written to such and such a person. In another file, all the correspondence that has taken place between me and maybe my father, my mother or somebody like that. So by remembering the file name, usually we recollect. And that's what we do in our day-to-day life. So accidentally, even if you are thinking, you suddenly come across this file name, letters written to my parents. And immediately, you can also recollect most of the content of those letters just by having that file name. This is the methodology called Mnemonics. The trick is to remember a long something just by taking a password, a keyword. So they must have told, having heard, this is the way you have to contemplate upon Brahman because that Brahman is within that lotus. There is a small space and within that small space, always space is bigger than what it contains. A container is always bigger than what is contained. And therefore, there is Brahman. So the doubt might have come to the disciples or they might guess. People like us might have this guess. And therefore, one of the disciples might have expressed these doubts. What happens in this body? Because body is changing, it becomes old, becomes sick and finally disintegrates. What happens to this Brahman within? For that, he said that the Guru replied beautifully, I know that space about which I advised you and that space is equivalent to the external space which contains an imaginably large universe, etc. And that is the topic he is giving. So even if one single body or even mind is destroyed, Brahman will not be destroyed. For that, we have taken up the example of a space or Akasha, it is called, in a pot. So ponder over it, think over it. So there is a small pot and you enclose that pot. Definitely, there is Akasha. Akasha means empty. Akasha means space. Space means emptiness. So within that pot, there is this Akasha. Now, is the Akasha inside or is the Akasha outside? So is the pot inside the Akasha or outside the Akasha? For us people, it looks as if there are two Akasha spaces, external and internal, outside and inside. And in between, there is a pot. But in our last class, I also explained to you, even if you analyze that pot which seems to be dividing the external and internal, it is nothing but a modification of earth, which is a modification of water, etc. Finally, it is nothing but Atma. So Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. So this is the explanation we had given to the disciples. And for that, in this fourth mantra, which we have been studying in our last class, this was the doubt that came, which we just now discussed. So the people should request further clarification. Everything that exists, all beings and all desires, is contained in the city of Brahman. Then what is left of it? Then old age overcomes this body or when it dies, when it perishes. And then what happens? The students might think that Ishwara, who is located in the individual body, within the heart, which is like a lotus, and which heart is within this physical body called Brahmapuram, Ishwara is the content there. And what happens? When the body becomes old or coats with death, then what happens to that? Means avasishyate. So what happens to that Ishwara, to that Brahman, to that Saguna Brahman? The answer, the teacher replies, nothing will happen to Ishwara. Just as when an enclosure is destroyed, the space will not be destroyed. It looks as if space is as if divided by the pot, by the walls, etc. But really these are also another form of space only. So there would be no change at all. Only there is a change in the name. What do you mean? So earlier we were telling space within, space outside. They are names. But when the enclosure, the wall is destroyed, then we say it is a total space. No inside, no outside. That's what we discussed in our last class. And the teacher continues in the mantra five. If that was the doubt, either by his disciples or anticipating such doubts with people like us. Now the teacher wants to clarify, lest we should not misunderstand. Sabruyat. Saha means this teacher, the Rishi, must reply like this. na asya jaraya etatu jiriyati na vadhenasya hanyata etat satyam brahmapuram asmin kamaha samahitaha esha atma apahatapatma vijaro vimrutyuh vishauko vijigatso apipasaha satya kamaha satya sankalpaha edahi eva iha prajaha anvavishanti yatha anushasanam yam yam antam avikamaha bhavante yam janapadam yam kshetrabhagam tam tam eva upajevanti First I will give the translation and then we will take up word by word or idea by idea explanation. So the teacher should reply to these disciples who might require such clarification. Thus, with the old age of this physical body, that Brahman described as the Akasha in the heart called Dharakasha doesn't age. With the death of this body, that Brahman doesn't die. That Brahma and not this body is the real city of Brahma. So we have given that clarification. First meaning of Brahmapuram is that it is the city of Brahman, the house of a person where the person dwells. Like that city of Brahman or house of Brahman where the Brahman dwells within. That means Brahman is different, that city is different. That is the superficial external meaning. But the real meaning, that which is intended meaning, that body is also Brahman. That body is none other than Brahman. But that understanding can come only after realization. Ramakrishna says this is not the roof, this is not the roof. But once a person reaches that roof, then he understands. Oh, whatever I have been telling, this is not the roof. There is no difference between the roof and other parts of the house because they are also made up of the same thing. So that Brahmapuram is Brahman itself. And what is the use? This might be, we are all what we call utilitarians. We want to know if I meditate for 15 minutes, what do I get? If I realize God, what do I get? Swami Vivekananda says in one of his Jnana Yoga lectures in UK, that if a child is taught to pray to God, he will ask, will my prayer give me ginger bread? Swami says, yes, not only ginger bread, not only once, every type of bread, every type of food, every type of desire will be fulfilled, not for once, but for eternity. So this is what is said, Tasmin Brahmapure, in that Brahmapuram, Sarve Kamaha, in it all desires are contained. Now this word, peculiar word, desire Kamaha, we have to understand not Kamaha, but the object of Kamaha. If I say I have a desire to eat Rasagulla, I mean I want a sweet meat called Rasagulla. If such a Rasagulla has no existence, the desire for it also never exists. Because if I don't know something, I cannot desire that something. So something must exist and I must come to know about it, then only the desires will come. Sarve Kamaha, in it all desires are contained. That means all the objects, whatever a person wishes, are contained. That means you don't need to go anywhere. In my house, everything is there. I don't need to go to any shop because the biggest shop called the whole universe is within me. It is the Self. He gives eight qualities for this Self. Meaning, if anybody really contemplates on this Dahara Kashvidya, which is also in short called Dahara Vidya Upasana, which is also discussed in the Brahma Sutras and which is also discussed elsewhere also. And then, as I mentioned, we are also supposed to do this Dahara Vidya every single day, at least all those who are devotees of God. For example, if we are devotees of Shri Ramakrishna, So, eight qualities are described. It doesn't mean only eight qualities, but all the important qualities are indicated, like we say, etc., etc., we have to add. So, it is this Self which contains every object. In fact, object means the whole created universe, the entire created universe. In the stomach of Mother Kali, within Mother Kali, the entire created universe is there. We have to understand, that means, if this statement is believed in, that means I am also contained within that Kali only. In fact, I am Kali only. If I am Kali, the whole universe is within me. And yesterday also, I have explained, everything exists in the form of awareness, thought. And that thought becomes alive when it is illumined by the Chidabasa. Therefore, the whole entire universe that I am talking about is alive only because I cognize it. And that cognition is within me. Therefore, the entire universe is within me. And Sri Ramakrishna explains this marvellous concept in the form of a conversation between Ishaan and Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna heard it and in front of other devotees, he asked Ishaan, please repeat it, what you said, that a devotee is greater than, And Ishaan says, this unimaginably great universe contains everything. And this whole universe is inside Narayana or Bhagawan. And that Bhagawan is inside the heart of the devotee. Now who is greater, God or devotee? This is only a way of explanation. That is the same thing here. In it, that means in that Brahman, all objects, that means all Lokas, which he has already specified, Dhyava, Prithvi, Surya, Chandramasau, Prithvi, Nakshatrani, everything we have discussed already. Entire what we call Brahmanda, not only one Brahmanda, Anantakoti Brahmanda, infinite in other words, is within this Brahman. Brahman is infinite. Infinite is Brahman. And therefore, whatever the person desires, he has only to think and he will experience that one. He need not go anywhere. Like you are lying on your bed and then imagine, there are so many things by your bedside. There are eatables, biscuits or cookies and coffee machine is there and you just press a button and coffee machine starts varying and it extends the first class coffee according to your specification and all the cookies, everything. And then you don't need to go anywhere because you have worked hard, you earned the money and you purchased all these gadgets. So everything is there. So you can talk with anybody in this world. You can see anybody on your mobile phone. You can watch all the news. So in fact in the future, I am just adding out of curiosity, so this 3D experience specs are there. So I am an old man, so I cannot climb Mount Everest but I have a desire to climb the Mount Everest. I can sit in my easy chair, put on those 3D specs and there will be a footage of what is there and within twinkling of a second, I am transported to that Himalayas and I am climbing along with others. All that wind, all that cold, everything will be made experienceable in future through all the tactile sensation, the smells, the tastes. Now we only have sight and sound that is Rupa and Shabda but in future the scientists are going to create and it is no different and no less real than the thing that is happening there. It is very interesting topic. Of course I will not go into it in deep depth. So all the objects are available. It is like this person but it is only a hint how we have to understand this particular mantra and then is it like human beings? Some are sinners and some are virtuous people, a few. No. It is the Self free from sin, free from old age, free from death, free from grief, free from hunger, free from thirst and all its desires inevitably, invariably come true and its thoughts consist of only truth. A person will never think something untrue and all his desires will be instantaneously fulfilled not one by one like us. For example, I love some salt, what is called sweet and sour. Sometimes I love sour, sometimes I love sweet. So one after the other I have to eat. But this person, he simultaneously enjoys sweet, sour, bitter, tangent, astringent, everything. Simultaneously, at the same time. So a person who realizes the Self, all his desires come true because Atman's desires are all true. And just for that, an example is given. Just as here on earth, people follow. What do they follow? Whatever the governments tell, whatever the kings or rulers command. So we depend completely upon them. And if we desire some things, then whether we want to be ministers, whether we want a piece of land, whether we want some cultivable land or whatever, so also we depend upon them. If they give, we can get. But if the rulers themselves, if they want, they can take. Everything belongs to them. A king can say, the whole country belongs to me. The Self is like that. A realizer of Self becomes like the Self. And those who are not realized, they become just like ordinary people, like us. So, if wars can go on, and my visa can be cancelled, and anything can happen, because I am totally helpless under the rule, command of laws promulgated by the ruler. What does it mean? The scripture is telling, do not remain a slave, but become a master. So this is what he wants to tell. So, unlike us, the Lord is not dependent. Therefore, we have seen the example of the space in a pot. Now, is the space dependent on the pot, or the pot is dependent upon the space? If you analyze, you will understand that whether the space is inside or outside, the space is not dependent. It is one, indivisible, and everything is space only. And therefore, there is no second, where there is no second, the question of ruler and ruled, the person who commands and whom he commands. This division, subject-object division, doesn't arise. This subject-object division is only for the ignorant person. So if the pot breaks, nothing will happen to the space. Nothing will happen, even if the pot is there. That is how nothing happens to the Ishwara, whether we are alive. That means body is there, mind is there. If we can understand this example, then we can understand what the Rishi is driving at. So, it says the disciple's doubt was cleared. Even if the body falls, nothing happens to the Ishwara. What happens to the body? Does it die? No. It also cannot die because the body is an effect. Effect of what? First of all, it is a combination of five elements. Space, air, fire, water and earth. So it goes back into those five elements. Just like if you take five pieces and glue them together and when it breaks up, you can separate all those five pieces just as it was before. So, if we analyze our body or our panchakoshas or our sthula-sokshma-karana bodies, then nothing but pure Brahman but with nama-rupa. So, nothing happens not only to Ishwara, nothing happens to the body, nothing happens to the mind because there is what scientists have discovered, existence cannot be made into non-existence. Matter cannot be created, cannot be destroyed but you can change its nama-rupa, names and forms. So, Brahman is not destroyed by the aging of this body. So, and then na vadhena asya anyate if the body courts death, dies, destroys, if nothing happens to the Brahman, it remains. In fact, the body gets merged in Brahman only. So, that is the Brahmapura. And then, we have to understand this Brahman is consisting of eight qualities and this is how upasana has to be done and if we do it properly, we become one with that Brahman. Which Brahman? Saguna Brahman. Qualities cannot be talked about of nirguna Brahman, of only saguna Brahman. So, there are, actually, we can do contemplation or upasana or meditation only on saguna Brahman because I am thinking of God. I cannot think of nirguna Brahman. I can think of only saguna Brahman. So long as there is that distinction I and God and I am small, God is big. I am here, God is elsewhere. So long as this understanding continues, we can only contemplate on saguna Brahman. We cannot contemplate on nirguna Brahman. We can become one with nirguna Brahman but we cannot contemplate on nirguna Brahman. This is an important distinction. You will have to keep it in mind. And this saguna Brahman, as I mentioned earlier, is endowed with ashta guna visishta eshwara upasana. So eight qualities are there. So what are those eight qualities? We will have to think of them. And if we can do, what happens? This person, he will become one with saguna Brahman. Then he will attain, he will go to Brahma Loka. Not to nirguna Brahman. Brahma Loka, the highest Loka. But unlike other people, he will not come back. This is called krama mukti or gradual liberation. So along with Brahma, he will merge later on into nirguna Brahman. So what are those eight qualities? Esha Atma, that means this Brahman, whom I have advised you in the first mantra to meditate upon, that saguna Paramatma, that maya sahita Paramatma, he has eight qualities. And those qualities have to be meditated upon until we can say, I was meditating upon saguna Brahma, for example, saguna Brahma, who is apahata papma, free from all sorts of sins or karma phala. And when I progress, I understand, Brahma, saguna Brahma is not apahata papma, I am apahata papma, because I become one with saguna Brahma. Therefore, whatever qualities are described about him, the same qualities have to be described about me, because I, the individual, no longer exist. Simple example, here is a river, pure water, sweet water, and it becomes one with ocean and what happens, it loses its names, forms, namarupe vihaya, Ganga becomes Samudra, Yamuna becomes Samudra, Saraswati becomes Samudra, Kaveri becomes Samudra, Krishna becomes Samudra, Brahmaputra becomes Samudra, then is it sweet water or is it salt water, taste of the Samudra or ocean, the river also, by becoming one, tastes exactly the same way. So, this is what we have to understand. First of all, I am free, Sagunamayi ishtadevata, and we do that without thinking about it. When I am thinking about, for example, Ramakrishna, so prakruti vikruti shonyam, all these eight qualities, he is free from all the prakruti and vikruti changes, saguna, maya, and all these fall under only maya category. So, apahata patma, patma means usually sin, sin means we have to understand both punyam and patam, both are the results of virtuous actions or actions of evil actions. But Ishwara is untouched, he doesn't do any action. Why? Because every action is to be done only for the purpose of acquiring something. If I don't have a desire to eat, I will not do the action of searching for food, bringing it in a plate, and start eating and then digesting. So, Ishwara is Brahma, he is everything and there is nothing to be desired because he is separate. So, therefore, he doesn't do any action. If he doesn't do any action, the results called punyam and patam do not affect him whereas it affects all of us. And Ishwara doesn't have what is called kartritva buddhi, I am the doer. So, when I say I am the doer, then I will have to think about it, I am the doer, I must make an effort to acquire that house and so that is where so whether I acquire it legally or illegally or with dharma or adharmic way or bribing some people etc. So, that is what brings the results of karma in the form of punya and papa. And since I don't have desires, I will not acquire something. Therefore, I do not do anything and therefore I do not have, I am not affected by any results of any karma because I never do any karma. That is what Bhagavan also says in the Bhagavad Gita that there is nothing that is not obtained by me and that needs to be obtained by me. So, that is one quality. Apahata Papma No result of actions. Karma phala is not there. There is jaraha. Jaraha means old age and I am free from all old age because old age belongs to the body and death also belongs to the body and therefore I am jaraha means jaraha. Era means old age. So, I will never undergo old age. Similarly, mrutyu means death. I am not the body and therefore I will have no death also and I was never born. Therefore, shadvikara, sixfold changes and then I lack something or I have something but I have lost it. I want something I cannot get. I have dukkha. Dukkha means suffering. If I have a head, I will have headache. If I have a tooth, I will have teethache. Temporary solution is take some pills or give one root canal treatment etc. But permanent is you become a vedanti. Remove all the dantas, become a vedanti and no problem of death. So, no sorrow because sorrow comes from separation and I am infinite. There is nothing other than me. Therefore, I am not with something. I am also not away from something. Therefore, vishokaha vijigatsaha vijigatsaha means hunger. Vijigatsaha means no hunger is there. This is pranamaya kosha I don't have the body. Therefore, I am not going to suffer from hunger. Apipasaha I am not going to suffer from thirst. So, that is to say shoka. Shoka means sorrow. Sorrow belongs to the mind and the other thing old age, death, hunger and thirst they belong to the I do not suffer from these things. So, all these thirst and the hunger they are also decided by our karma phala. There are poor people who can eat but they can't get. There are rich people who can eat but they can't eat because of some problem. Now comes this person has become so pure that he is meditating on satyam, brahma satyam and therefore now mental condition satyakamaha that is his desire. He will desire only truth. Therefore, all his desires that means all the thoughts, every desire is a thought will be consisting of only satyakamaha truth. I want God. I want so try to acquire the picture of a bird how it looks when it is hatching its young ones etc. So, a person when he advanced in spiritual life he is possessed of all the time the thought of God and therefore he desires only God or anything that can remind him that he belongs to God. Prasadam not only that if he has any desire it will come true. So, first of all his desires are pure secondly all his desires are completely fulfilled because that is what Sri Ram Krishna says that is what Bhagwan Krishna says so I bring to them what is needed and I protect them and their possessions so that others cannot take them away from such a person. So, these are the eight qualities and we are the disciples are advised to meditate upon them and we as the disciples are