Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 98 on 27 April 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 In our last class we completed the first section of this 8th and final chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. Now I would like to summarize because this first section is teaching us Upasana and through Upasana slowly we approach God. The very word Upasana means we are approaching Asana, the Divine Lord is called Asana. So as we contemplate upon Him more intensely, more unbrokenly, we are able to move nearer. Just as we move nearer to blazing fire, the nearer we move the more heated up we also become. Heated up means we are becoming like fire because the nature of fire is to burn. When it is too high a temperature it burns, otherwise we call it heating up. So that is the only pathway whereby we can approach the Brahman. So beautifully the teacher had explained that this very body and within this body is called Brahmapuram because Brahman resides, Brahman enlivens, Brahman controls from within and Brahman itself is a modification, modifies itself as this body, as this mind, as this heart, as this Akasha. So this is the final understanding we must have according to the view of the Advaita Vedanta. The body is not different from Brahman, the heart is not different from Brahman, the Akasha that is in the heart that is also not different and the space within our heart and outside our body are not two different things. That was the teaching. Then further the teacher elaborated that what is the result, what fruits, what benefits we get by such a contemplation. As you get without doing any external work otherwise one has to go through the physical rituals. It is even more intense than going to office and doing work. The rituals are very exacting and they are more stricter bosses than anything else in the external world. So just by contemplation through we approach that Brahman and Brahman is everything. Therefore every object is available through this contemplation. Ultimately when the person succeeds in completely destroying the distance between himself and Brahman by the process of negating not this, not this, I am not this, I am not that but I am Brahman then all his desires are fulfilled. It is a worldly way of expressing that means he will forever continuously be enjoying bliss. So the teacher emphatically clarifies that the heart spoken of by the Upanishad doesn't age. Why is he telling this? Because if you recollect the disciples expressed a wish. First of all this body is a small speck within that body what is will be still smaller and within that heart what space is there is even more small. Then how could this small space contain not even one atom it can contain but you are claiming that the whole universe is contained and then the teacher clarifies is absolutely no difference between the external Akasha and the internal Akasha. Meaning thereby that Akasha is what contains everything and that Akasha cannot be divided. So in that undivided Akasha there are no divisions called inside and outside. Through the example of pot, the space in the pot, the space outside the pot we have learnt the highest truth Brahman is one ekam eva advitiyam without a second which was reiterated in the beginning of the sixth chapter of this very Chandogya Upanishad. Because these disciples were still far away from Brahman their understanding is far away. If we say I'm far away from somebody it did not necessarily mean that a person is at a long distance even if a person is sitting next to you but your mind has gone away to Mars or to Australia you are as far away from that person as Mars or Australia. On the other hand if the person is somewhere else on Mars and you are here but you are only thinking of that person you are so near to that person. So this is the idea we have to understand. So the Upanishad says emphatically to clarify, to clear away the doubts of the disciples and that means they were thinking also not swallowing whatever the teacher was telling. The Rishi through this Upanishad says that Brahman does not age with the body nor is it destroyed upon the body's death. It is the eternal city of the gods indestructible because it is not made up of material elements. That little thing a heart is not neither mortal nor physical. It is the Atman itself and the Atman is synonymous with this inner heart and that Atman is free from all afflictions, sorrow, limitation. It is unaging, timeless, deathless, sorrowless, self-existent and full of its own glory devoid of hunger and thirst. And the closer we draw nearer this heart through the contemplation through this Upasana as described in this first section the greater the strength and manifesting power of our will in practical life. That's why Swami Vivekananda says the essence of education is nothing but development of that willpower. Once a person develops whatever he wants he will gain. That is what the Upanishad is also meaning. This Atman is equivalent as Sathyakama, true desires and Sathya Sankalpa. That means this person who has realized I am the Atman he will never desire anything inferior, unworthy, accepting God and His desire. If there is any desire it will be fulfilled. How do we understand this? Will such a person have any desire? Not necessarily. The person himself will have desires. Suppose a disciple of Sairam Krishna approached and said I want money. Sairam Krishna immediately said yes you will get money. Now Sairam Krishna himself who could grant any amount of money to anybody he himself is completely indifferent but he can help people. That is why in the Upanishad there is a commandment. Somebody wants any type of greatness, improvement or fulfillment of desire he should worship a soul which has realized God because a realized person is none other than God himself and God can fulfill every desire of everybody. So this is what the result is a kind of I told you advertisement. So the same topic will be elaborated in the seventh section onwards. So whereas what about these people's consciousness? Where is it? Their will, their consciousness and their thoughts are rooted in Satyam. Therefore whatever thought comes it becomes manifest. There is a beautiful story. There were two sisters in America who looked after Swamiji marvelously well for several weeks and while departing Swamiji turned to one of the sisters who was subject to a mental depression and he said madam I am leaving my tobacco pipe on your fireplace whenever you feel depression coming over you take that pipe in your hand and just go on stroking it as if I am there wherever I am I will come and strengthen you and so later on she confirmed it once she was in deep depression actually she forgot this assurance of Swamiji and as she was looking unmeaningly at the fireplace suddenly her eyes has seen that small pipe smoking pipe immediately she remembered she took it Swamiji you told me you will strengthen me uplift me and as she was thinking she felt the presence huge presence of Swami Vivekananda and she felt tremendous strength was entering into her in a twinkling of an eye all her depression has vanished she felt she was in the highest cloud enjoying bliss so that is the same thing Krishna appeared to many people and helped them whenever they required whenever they prayed for it so whoever is rooted identified with Brahman they get whatever they want either for themselves or for other people but those who are not rooted in truth they are like subjects Upanishad itself gives in a kingdom there are some people living and they are dependent upon the king whatever a ruler a controller bestows upon them whether they like it or not they will have to be bending their heads and gladly accept it otherwise their heads will be chopped that means they are not independent they're totally dependent where are the realized souls they're all completely independent nobody can control them so these worldly people their actions and desires everything their very life is conditioned by the dictates of these rulers and these rulers can be natural forces celestial beings or an external authority compelling obedience to specific laws you open your eyes look what happened in Kashmir few days back so you can interpret it in a spiritual way exactly these people these people only are presented the exact place at right time when these murderers killers came out they could have been in the hotel they would have come and gone or they might have come a few hours later and why they were found in that place don't go on saying it is all accident but no there is no accident in this created world of god it is all is sarvantar yami so he's sitting in the hearts of people so dependence on the world which means anatma or which means external factors and factors outside of our control leads to the law of karma and that law of karma binds individuals to reincarnation suffering and the greater the dependence on external anything the stronger will be the karmic consequences but conversely on the other hand greater independence diminishes these bonds of karma so actions performed without the knowledge of the atman yield only very transient results which is expressed if somebody had accumulated some punyam virtue then they will go to higher worlds result of virtue is ananda or sukham and for a few days until the punyam lasts then they will have to come back after enjoying same thing if somebody done karma forever he will not be in hell he will pay the price of his own action and then he'll be given another chance another chance another chance until he understands that he is he reaches god and says so i am the this is the condition of the worldly people they're bound they're slaves they're controlled by forces external to themselves on the other hand the blessedness of those who realize the atman is immense they're unbound they're free by the external laws of desha kala and vastu time space and object not only that they become lawmakers themselves they can make laws because their will is one with the will of ishwara but these layers of atman understanding the ultimate reality find the law of the external world becoming the law of their own inner world in other words what ishwara wills is expressed through the will of these great souls so their wills manifests instantaneously without any gap between intention and realization the moment the desire any desire comes they will the word will is used in the meaning of desire i will or i wish for something so there these realized souls will manifest instantaneously a small comparison would be the moment you are in dream state whatever you think i am under a tree you find yourself under a tree and a huge snake is crawling towards me and you see the so i am running away and you find yourself far away from that snake that is the difference your thoughts become as if instantaneously in fact you you are not aware of your thought you are only aware of the effect you see whatever you desire so this is the state of the blessedness of the blessed souls who have realized the atma now what is this expression this is the essence of the second section of the eighth chapter there are 10 mantras here and there the upanishad is graphically describing whatever desires arises in the minds of these god-realized souls instantaneously it will manifest itself but you know we can also recollect once in am krishna cherished a desire that if some rich man looks after me then i can be free to do what i love and mother provided other babu once he had a desire during his sadhana time i would like to sit without being observed by anybody so for that a small enclosed space has to be constructed but you remember he was a poor pujari as he cannot express anything but then today he thought next morning tomorrow morning he found all the materials including the sticks the rope the sickle and perhaps ram krishna had expressed this wish to the gardener because there were some gardeners who are highly devoted to say ram krishna you must remember a ram krishna was a very charming attractive charismatic personality wherever he goes he establishes a fan club in his own village the whole village many families became his fans many young boys and girls fell under his magnetism he used to spend his time happily singing for them reading for them speaking for them doing worship for them and even some of his male friends he will be teaching them how to enact different roles etc so saran krishna was allowed even at dakshineshwar but by quite a number of people because that purity that innocence that absence of guile everything contributed they felt he is my own person so he might have expressed his wish to the gardener and then what to do next morning all the materials got stuck at the ghat then that the first person to notice was that gardener came joyfully running baba all the materials have come i will do the labor work i will construct so he made an enclosure and saran krishna with his own hands he planted some tulasi plants and then within three four months because of the ganges ganges mud is very rich fertilizer and continuous supply of water etc they have grown seven to eight huge thick bushes and if saran krishna happens to sit there nobody from outside will know that a person is sitting here and meditating so whatever saran krishna wished i want to practice tantra by ravi brahmani appeared i want to practice vedanta then totapuri appeared of course saran krishna did not know if the divine mother must have created whatever desires instantaneously they will be fulfilled why because they are not praying they are not begging their will had become one with the will of ishwara so what happens whatever desires come they will be fulfilled and what are these desires and before we delve delve into this section one very curious question we have to put how come a realized soul simultaneously enjoys everything so along with brahman whatever brahman is experiencing and brahman experiences the ananda of every object simultaneously of all of the joy of all objects in this world that is for our sake it is an advertisement if you want then you don't need to work if you get married you will have to pay a lot and lot expensive i think i told you the joke that there was a married couple and they had one four-year-old son and one day the son went and asked his father dad how much did you spend for your marriage and the father sadly he became sad and then he said i don't know my son i am spending even now he did not tell i am going to spend until you grow up you get married you have children until i die i am going going on going to spend money on you and so i don't know exactly how much will it be therefore this any fulfillment of desire in this world entails tremendous amount of hardship in every way before beginning while it is happening and afterwards also simple example person wants to eat so to get that object so that he could eat he has to waste a lot of time energy money and then what about while eating then he eats the happiness of eating lasts only for few seconds milliseconds but once the food goes inside then he has to work very hard to digest it if it is not digested if undigestible something doesn't go out we know how much of trouble it gives but here sankalpa matrena that is the word we are going to use the upanishad is going to tell us describe it immediately it desires what desires only two kama and kanchana sarvam krishna summarized it that is i want to enjoy women i want to enjoy of course men for women i want to enjoy food i want to decorate myself i want i love my parents i want to see my parents i want to see my brothers and sisters i want to see all my beloved ones so whatever desires come instantaneously they will fulfill his desires here comes the question when a person knows that i am brahman and he is experiencing to know that i am brahman is to swim in the ocean of brahmananda and where is the question of desire coming no even the brahmaloka person will not desire because brahmaloka is the highest concept of all our fulfillment of our desires then why is that is this whole second section nearly nine mantras in the description of different objects including fathers mothers sisters brothers and male companions female companions and ornaments and food and drink etc do you think a realizer of god will really have all these desires absolutely no then why is the upanishad spending one whole section so far as i understand this is the answer the answer is for people like us so as swami vikaranda says if a child hears about vedanta or realization of god his question will be will realization of god bring me gingerbread swamiji says yes not only gingerbread many things you are not even aware you will get all those things now the point is this point is it is all a description that once you realize brahman that you are brahman and there would be every desire of will be fulfilled by the realization itself after that you don't need to say oh this is okay but i would like to enjoy see my father and mother or who are there in some other world no that should not be the understanding so the question should come to each one of us if it has not already come so the upanishad is not telling that after realization of god there can be some desires it is trying to tell to encourage us there would be no desire which remains unfulfilled and for that purpose a graphic description comes through this also we can understand how deeply these upanishadic rishis have thought of all the varieties of enjoyments a person can have i'm just elaborating a little bit supposing this modern computer scientist may say these rishis do not know anything we are creating artificial intelligence all right okay you created artificial intelligence and it is made available to everybody what does everybody do what does anybody do says okay i want to do research you research for me and you write for me you enlighten me and it does it marvelously well now the point is okay you got your phd permanent head damage you have obtained what do you do with that oh i will get a professorship what happens i will get a lot of salary what happens i will get married what happens i will enjoy with my family with my children with my parents all enjoyments fall only within five categories there are no more than five categories what are the five the what is called five sense the objects of five sense organs sounds touches forms and tastes and smells these are five sense organs we don't have six sense organ and therefore there is no object which corresponds to the sixth sense organ the whole of our known world consists of these only and therefore the knower of brahman he does he will not have any desire but when people like us hear about it that you become brahman and all your desires will be fulfilled you don't need to do anything you don't need to waste money work for hard or do anything you are going to get everything just by knowing i am god i am brahman that is the idea this is how is a kind of incentive that you have good reason you are working very hard and whatever you get as described earlier is very very ephemeral temporary and it changes and therefore there are so many obstacles but once you identify yourself with god you will have untrammeled uncontaminated pure joy and infinite joy and forever that is the idea so this as soon as this person realizes what does he understand this world is not distinct from me no other world just as this world is not separate from me the even if there are 14 worlds they are not different from me because there is the brahman is only one without a second first of all it is eternal then there is no distance also it's a we we all act according to distance even if you are five feet away if i want to come to you i will have to walk five steps or you have to walk five steps towards me so these distances vary but there is no space which is distant it is one without a second infinite doesn't mean if we don't understand the concept of infinite perfectly we think it is a vast space and then just as if i have to travel even to the railway station negotiating all the madly carrying these vehicles on the road it may take 20 minutes half an hour but no there is no distance because everything is one distance means difference oneness means whether it is 50 billion years light years away or here i know what it is as if and i have that one already here so the different descriptions are being given in the form of forefathers and mothers etc etc therefore if these realized souls if they desire to see their mother brothers fathers sisters friends immediately they find all these worlds up they don't need to go anywhere all those things as if they have magically appeared before him and then the same principle applies to the manifestation of desire sensory experiences like garlands perfumes ornaments same thing applies to food and drink music and even the company of women sex therefore as i mentioned earlier you have to understand that every happiness any worldly person gets in dribbles nibbles he will get in infinite quantity and for all time together so again let us remind ourselves about a marvelous fact and that fact is nobody wants an object i want sweet it is my intention is not to have this sweet i want to squeeze the happiness that i derive that's why what do i do i love rasagulla okay i i give you rasagulla first class rasagulla quality rasagulla what do you do immediately i kill it that means i eat it that means i i cannot tolerate the separation it must become me i must become it that's why they say whatever you eat that is what you are so the upanishad is emphasizing whatever desires can come to any one of us if we but realize our true nature and our true nature is i am brahman everything will be fulfilled as i said it is an incentive yam yam antam avikamo bhavati whatever ends this person desires yam yam kamam kamayate whatever desires is longing to have by just thinking about them all his desires are instantaneously simultaneously fulfilled how how come that's because these realized souls will is in perfect harmony with atma therefore there is no atman and me it is nothing but only god all desires in our hearts are in reality a self-search for itself in the external world a marvelous truth this upanishad now is pointing out through the second section why are we having desires for our father for our mother for our family members for external objects of enjoyment etc etc no this it is our search can i find myself in my father in my mother in this suite in the ornament in this decoration in this flower in this sound in this forum it is a search for oneself like the kasturim riga it is searching for the marvelous intoxicating fragrance it is emanating from its own navel we are all like that that's what swamiji expresses in one of his beautiful poems i searched over the hill and and i prayed i fasted i never got any answer suddenly one day when i am in the deepest valley of depression this is not exact words of swamiji but paraphrasing suddenly i hear a gentle voice my son my son where are you searching for me i am by your side so what is our problem because we are identified with this body mind complex and we think that is the reality so this false identification is the real reason why whatever we are searching is anruta but in fact the mind becoming restless only to know who am i in reality so liberation from this identification with the body mind complex and everything external enhances our capacity to reach god to enjoy fulfill all our desires simultaneously with this background we'll enter into the second section there are 10 mantras in the second section and of these the first to nine mantras describe all human beings are non-human beings any pranis any living creatures desires in nine different ways of course human being has more capacity to imagine more things the tenth mantra sums up the whole nine mantras and says whatever desire arises in the mind of a realized soul attains it simultaneously now one more point and we will enter it what is it we don't there the every mantra doesn't have a separate meaning accepting expressing different desires but they are all the meaning the only so if this desire arises within you then by your sankalpa very very well i want this immediately that object as if presents itself in front of that realized soul and then fulfills his desires but as i said a realized soul has never such desires because there is nothing external remember if you want to desire something it should not be with you it should be outside you there is there must be difference between you and the object of your desire then only you will work out to make that object your own and then the object itself is not the our quest but what happiness we can squeeze like we chew the sugarcane and throw away the cane itself in this background at center first mantra and then they do say dito dito dito but all the other mantras so here goes the first mantra in the second section of the eighth chapter of the chandogya upanishad beautiful idea should this realized soul become desirous of the means means means ancestors who died it may be father mother whatever as objects of enjoyment so that means i want to see them i want to be with them and as if when they were alive i was with them same way i want to be with them then i will be happy person because it is a long long time since i have seen them i don't know how they are in the other world this is the experience imagination of the worldly person not a realized soul then if this realized soul becomes desirous at any time for whatever reason it happens the forefathers appear by his very wish instantaneously and being associated with those means as objects of enjoyment he becomes glorified that means his desire is fulfilled that is called glorification oh i am with my parents i have seen them like sudhiram had the darshan after a long time when he was at gaya 10 days wholeheartedly he performed all the rituals necessary to offer pindadana to his forefathers and all of them appeared at the end of the 10th day in a dream of course he thought it was a dream and then he had the vision of lord vishnu gaya vishnu and the vishnu said i want to become i want to be born as your son that was the first intimation that this blessed sudhiram had but because he was immortal he was not yet a realized soul he had that longing he believed his forefathers were still there in some other place and there is no way because they don't have human bodies human minds and therefore he has to see them and his desire was fulfilled because he prayed to god so intensely through the medium of the ritualistic worship so that that means there is a freedom where is where is sudhiram on this so-called our earth in india and where were his forefathers in some other higher loka pitru loka but the distance doesn't matter there is freedom of movement they can come we can go there it does it doesn't matter we meet each other that is the idea one being endowed with the disciplines like celibacy etc which will be spoken of later on as directly realized in his heart the atman as described and so all his desires become unfailing desires that is what he said should he desire that whatever he wants he will immediately get it wherever he is in this world or in the other world because mukti is of three types as we know sadhyo mukti mukti jeevan mukti but whoever is mukta in whatever way all his desires will be fulfilled as we say mars is so distant from us but according to upanishadic teaching in brahman there is no kala there is no desha and there is no vastu everything is absolutely one and the same so if a realized soul perchance desires oh i have not seen my forefathers for a long time that very second a desire arises and the desire is fulfilled because his will has become one with ishwara's will and everything is in ishwara having fulfilled his desire of as if he was he went to pitru loka he becomes glorified simple meaning is he there is no brahma loka indra loka or naraka loka the what is called space is one and indivisible the time is one and indivisible and there is no other object because every object is nothing but pure sat pure existence and if you understand this first mantra the rest is you have to understand in the same way that is why it's very easy that background i have given only because of that now let us go then should he become desirous of seeing his mothers as objects of enjoyment just as we derive enjoyment by meeting our mother and father after a long time so also as if this realized soul also has that kind of desires then the mothers appear by his very wish and being associated with those mothers as objects of enjoyment he becomes glorified note the word objects of enjoyment that means what when you meet your parents after a long time you become happy when you meet your friends you become happy when you come into contact with a desirable object you become happy so we desire to be happy only nobody desires what brings unhappiness the rest is ditto ditto ditto should this person realized soul become desirous of the to see his brothers as objects of enjoyment the brothers appear by his very wish that very instant should they realize this will become desirous of seeing his sisters and enjoy their company his sisters as if appear by his very wish instantaneously should he become desirous of friends as objects of enjoyment the friends appear by his very wish instantaneously these are about people athayadi gandha malya loka kamo bhavati then should he become desirous of enjoy perfumes and garlands as objects of enjoyment then perfumes and garlands appear by his very wish and being associated with these perfumes and garlands he becomes glorified that means he becomes completely satisfied then should he become desirous of food and drink as objects of enjoyment food and drink appear by his very wish should he become desirous of songs and music or instrumental music etc anything as objects of enjoyment songs and music appear by his very wish and being associated with that song and music he becomes glorified athayadi stree loka kamo bhavati then should this realized soul become desirous of women as objects of enjoyment women appear by his very wish and being associated with those women his objects of enjoyment he becomes glorified so every mantra here nine mantras different objects of enjoyment the goal is not the objects but the enjoyment again you can question does a realized soul really man does he desire a woman it is not mentioned here but we have to substitute if a woman realizes that i am brahman like maitreyi or gargi then do you think it will come oh i liked that man very much i never had his association a brahman realization is okay but this would be even better for some time for a change do you think they will do no not at all so it is mentioning because these are our desires as i mentioned all these desires fall under what sri ramakrishna calls artha and kama that is what the purushardhas are there dharma and moksha sandwiched in between are artha and kama that is what sri ramakrishna means kanchana and kama just he reversed it that's all kama and artha so woman and gold etc he said so we have to understand and then in the tenth the whole thing is summarized yam yam antam abhikamo bhavati yam kamam kamayate same words whatever province he becomes attracted to whatever objects he desires by his mere wish instantaneously he enjoys those objects as it were and he becomes completely satiated what is the essence of this one there is no desire which remains unfulfilled by a realized soul and this is what prajapati declares in the seventh section we will come to but in case any worldly man has to question his guru or spiritual teacher what do i get by the realization of god you get all your desires fulfilled and much much much more we will discuss these beautiful ideas in our next class Ramakrishna holy mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti Jai Ramakrishna