Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 59 on 02 July 2025

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

भुम् जननीम् शरदाम् देविम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुर्म् पादपद्मे तयोः स्रित्वाः प्रणमामिमुहुरुमु

ओम् सहनावभतु सहनावभुनक्तु सहवीर्यम् करवावहे तेजस्विनावधीतमस्तुमाविद्विशावहे

ओम् शन्ति, शन्ति, शन्ति, हर्ही ओम्

Om. May Brahman protect us both. May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of knowledge.

May we both obtain the energy to acquire knowledge. May what we both study reveal the truth.

May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other.

Om. Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all.

We have entered into the second chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad called Ananda Valli, Brahma Valli or Brahmananda Valli. We have also seen three important points of this first section. Prathama Anuvaka. First of all, who is Brahman? And secondly, whoever knows Brahman, what result does he get? Third, how to realize that Brahman as my own Self? We have studied the first two. Now we have come to the third point, how to realize? So, in order to show that Brahman is the only thing that is existing, it is the Self of all. Now, when we are using certain words like Self, as if it is something separate from us. No, Self means I Myself, Myself Self. Usually when we say Myself, we mean the body-mind complex. But that wrong, ignorant notion had to be completely eliminated. For that, this particular Upanishad, even though many other Upanishads do them in their own way. For example, Mandukya takes the three states of experiences, the waking, dream and deep sleep. That is the three avasthas, three states of experience. But in this particular Upanishad, even deeper, Panchakosha Vaivarna, that is going to be defined. How is it going to do that? So it says, first of all, you expand yourself and you find out what is the cause of your body. First of all, find out what is the cause of your body, where from it has come. Naturally, the answer will be, it came from our parents. And how did they come, from where did they come? So what is the cause from which I have come, parents have come, ancestors have come? And then we say, it is annam. Annam means the entire earth, what is called prithvi tattvam. It is in philosophy, this is called the, without which one cannot even exist. That is called the karma. Without clay, pot has no existence. Without gold, ornament has no existence. Not only that, that is a simple point to start with. Then the next point is, not only one particular ornament, all the ornaments that were, that are, that will be in the future, they have no separate existence, which means they are not separate objects, other than clay or gold, etc. So that which is the cause of everything, physically, externally, we are experiencing, that is called virat, that is called annabrahma. And this in a slightly better way, I think, more elaborately, more clarifying way, is dealt with in the third chapter called bhriguvali. There it is called annabrahma. Here also it is called annabrahma. Brahma means what? That cause without which the effect cannot exist. That is called. So what is this Brahman?

So it is said, satyam jnanam kanantam brahma. How do we understand this? Taking the familiar examples, every single pot, even that would be produced in the far distant future, if it is produced from clay, so clay is the Brahman. Because Brahman means asti, satyam means what? Asti. And it doesn't change. That is how we have to understand. So that is called satyam. But whenever we see, we are aware, we say I see a tree, for example, that means I am aware of the tree. But I am not aware. Even if I go on staring, my eyes go on staring at it for a billion years, I would not know. So that consciousness which makes me recognize the existence of some object, that is called jnanam. And since the karnam is anantam, infinity, how do we understand this? So take the same example of clay and pots. So let there be a billion pots now. And all this clay is pervading all the pots. There is nothing else except the clay. That all pervasiveness is called anantatma. Whereas if you just take a single pot, this pot is the tenth pot, that pot is the ninth pot, this is a small pot, that is a bigger pot, this is here, that is there, and this is new, that is old, etc., etc. That is called limitation by time, space and object. Where there is a small pot, there cannot be a bigger pot. Where there is a bigger pot, so long as it is there, even the smallest pot cannot be placed there. But clay is everywhere. It is anusyotham. That is why in Sanskrit we call it karnam sarva karyeshu anusyotham. That means the cause is pervading within everyone of the effect. That is called anantam. So this Brahman or reality or atman is sathyam. It is jnanam or consciousness. It is chit and it is anantam. It is all pervading. Therefore it is inescapably bliss. As I mentioned many times, any number of times we have to repeat it. How can infinity be ananda in Puranas especially? Very scarcely in the Upanishads we get this satyachit ananda. But in Puranas we get ananda. If you are identified with, say you are a parent, you are identified with four or five of your children and one may be not so happy or even two may not be happy, but looking at all the others are happy, then you are bound to be happy only. And when you are anantam, note the point, there is nothing called death. That which has death is not unlimited. When there is no death, death means change. When there is no change, what is that we are talking about? This is happiness, this is unhappiness.

It is all thoughts, thought waves in our mind. Really speaking, just like a dreaming person or a dreaming emperor thinking he was put in a dungeon and people were beating him black and blue. Accepting his thought, reality is totally different. When we come to know the reality, then we don't feel unhappy at all because our astitva, our easiness never gets destroyed. You know how it is? What is this easiness? It is anantam. Just now we have discussed about it. So therefore this infinitude, it is changeless because anantam by definition means beyond the limitations of time, space and object. Our happiness is time bound. Now we are happy, a little bit later we are unhappy. That means this time we are happy, that time we are not happy. Time means change and our happiness is changing all the time and that cannot be anantam. Whereas true anantam is, is means what? We have seen earlier, is means truth. Truth means what? That which never deviates from its nature. So that is always remains exactly the same way because it is not bound by time, space and object. Therefore the ananda that is associated with existence, pure existence called sat, never changes because it is satyam. And therefore the bliss, we call it bliss. If we call it happiness, it has its opposite called unhappiness. If we call it bliss, it is beyond time, space and object. This is a good definition for us to remember that happiness is limited by time, space and object.

Anantam, bliss is not bound or limited by time, space and causation. So if we go on, supposing a pot wants to find out what is my cause and then it finds out, let us imagine, it finds out, clay is the cause. As soon as it understands I am the clay, certain things happen. What happens? I am not merely the pot, I am the clay actually. That means I am not the limited thing called pot, I am the unlimited existence called the clay. So it goes beyond all limitations. And without giving up that individual identity, one can never identify oneself with that universal reality. And what is it? How many existences are there? There is only one existence. It may manifest as gold, it may manifest as clay, it may manifest as wood, so these are all manifestations and every manifestation is a limitation. So what do we understand?Supposing a pot is an intelligent pot, it goes on doing spiritual practice, slowly it understands that my root cause is clay. As a pot, I am born at a particular point of time, I become old, change in time, time means change, and one day there would be a break, or called in Sanskrit, srishti sthiti laya, but as clay I am infinite. But this is only for our understanding a simple example. But that is, you should not go on thinking, Swami told so many times, clay is existence. Existence is clay. That would be the greatest mistake we will commit. Up to a certain point, it is clay is existence. But what about gold? What about wood? And there are so many other things are there. So for that purpose we have to say that in their turn, even the clay, even the gold, even the wood, they are effects, but the real cause is pure, indefinable, infinite, pure consciousness, which is called sat chittananda, that is the real cause. That is the second point. Third point is, where there is existence, there should be consciousness, and there should be bliss. If you take the example of the clay, clay is the cause of any part that was, that is, and that will be in future. For initial understanding, that's absolutely fine. But if you go a little bit further, you have to understand, this clay doesn't have consciousness. Somebody has to recognize, oh, I know, this is clay.

The moment somebody else has to recognize, that is called jada or inert. Similarly gold, similarly wood. Any number of these are only examples. So where there is pure existence, it must be pure consciousness. Again I am repeating, how do we know? Because if consciousness is not there, who is going to be aware, be conscious, that this is a tree, this is a mountain, this is a human being. Anything that we cognize is possible, that it is, to know that something exists. Itself is an act of awareness, chaitanya. And if I can identify every existence with consciousness, and consciousness is anantam, consciousness is satyam. That is what is, when I use the word consciousness, you have to substitute it, satyam jnanam anantam.

So Brahman is truth, knowledge and infinity. Satyam jnanam anantam. Anything that exists as pure existence, pure existence means without namarupa, names and forms and qualities, that is called pure existence. And to cognize that it is existent, we must have that awareness. But at that stage, not at our stage, why am I saying so? At our stage, I see a tree, so I the cognizer, I the subject, I the experiencer, is separate from that tree. But at that highest level, pure existence, there is nothing else excepting pure existence. Somebody has to recognize, and there is nothing besides pure existence, because it is infinity. So it must be necessarily consciousness itself, manifesting as both existence and infinity. So where there is infinity, it is both pure existence and pure consciousness. Where there is pure consciousness, that is pure infinity and pure existence. Wherever there is pure existence, that is pure jnanam or consciousness, as well as infinity. All the three are three different names, by which only one single entity is described, which is in Vedantic literature called Brahman. And if Brahman is everything, so like every pot is nothing but clay, with nama roopa, then if you take that example, stretch it a bit further, I as a human being, am a created being, so therefore I am also, my mula karana is Brahman. If Brahman is the root cause of me, I cannot be other than Brahman. What is the problem? I forget my original cause, I identify with the name and form. This identification with name and form is really called maya shakti, vikshepa shakti, etc. So we have seen earlier, maya has two powers, avarana shakti and vikshepa shakti. Maya means saguna brahma. So saguna brahma, that Brahman with maya, is called saguna brahma. Some Swami called it married Brahman. So married Brahman means mad Brahman, that's all. So wherever there is maya shakti, what is it first thing? That it covers up the truth, and then it projects it as something else. Whenever we mistake anything, these are the two phenomena available there. For example, in the famous classical example, in semi-darkness, if I see a snake, first of all that part of the rope which looks like a snake, resembles a snake, is covered and suddenly I see in its place, I replace it with the form of the snake. The form of the rope is now replaced with the form of the snake. But the existence of the rope and the existence of the snake, that is not changed. The rope is or there is a rope, there is a snake, that there is, is called existential part, that nobody can cover it up. This is called, that covering up is called nama rupa. So that which is formless is now covered up with a form. And so we mistake, our body is me, reality, and here also reality means what? What we think is the truth, and that is called reality. And another name for it is self. So who are you? I am XYZ. So when a person says I am Ramu, he is not selling, he is not thinking, he is not feeling, I am mithya,I am a delusion.

No, neither this ignorant person thinks that I am not the self, he will not think. Only his concept of self is I am this body-mind complex. A jiva mukta on the other hand, he never mistakes himself to be a body and mind. He doesn't even say formerly this body belonged to me, formerly this mind belonged to me. He says everything is Brahman. There is no body-mind concept at all. Brahman with nama rupa, and that is also our understanding only. This point has been beautifully clarified Vidya Avinaya Sampanne is the description of a jiva mukta. Pandita means panda. Shankaracharya clarifies this. That is how Bhagavad Gita starts. Eleventh shloka, verse in the second chapter. Who is a pandita? He who has got panda. What is panda? True knowledge is called panda. That is why the temple priests who take to guide people, they are called pandas because they have the knowledge about the temple or at least supposed to have the knowledge. So this is called pandithya. And that is what is called a brahmana, a learned brahmana, a great man. A brahmana is a great man. And then a cow, an elephant, a dog, and the eater of dog's flesh. All of them. Those who have true knowledge. That is why when Shankaracharya encountered probably he still could not get rid of his I am a born as an upper class varna, brahmana. That is why he could not tolerate Chandala. Automatically the ignorance came out. Ignorance means by that time Shankaracharya was supposed to have written so many vashyas and other things. So you move away from this place. And then that Chandala had to teach him a lesson.

That whom are you addressing? Are you addressing the body? According to your own knowledge the body is mithya, mind is mithya and that which is mithya doesn't exist and that which doesn't exist. What is the meaning of moving it here and there? If you are talking about the atman how many atmans are there? Don't even say there is one atman. A true answer is only because we have to put in in the form of words there is only one pure existence. So sir, now whom are you addressing? Are you addressing the body? Because what is the difference between your body and my body? The same positive, negative blood type is flowing between. How do you make a distinction? So you see a great lesson had been taught. If that was the condition of Shankaracharya who is going to describe our condition every millisecond oh, now it is hot ah, now cool air is coming I am relieved oh, today's payasam is very, very enjoyable, tasty every millisecond we are distinguishing, discriminating this is good, that is not good this is pleasant, that is unpleasant this is friendly and this is non-friendly etc. So, how can that be brahma jnana? If everything is brahman then I am brahman so I call myself I am the self, myself I am brahman, myself is brahman your self is brahman every self is brahman sarvam kalvidam brahman So this universe that we experience as changing, limited and as infinite many Is it also brahman? Yes nothing else exists excepting brahman but I have faith this is what my guru said and I have faith in my guru but now I cannot contradict my guru and that is called discipleship whatever comes out of the guru's mouth and truly speaking truly speaking guru never speaks anything that belongs to him he only talks about the scripture which is nothing but god himself so god is speaking through the instrumentality of somebody some mind some body, some mouth has to bring out this knowledge in the form of understandable language and that instrument is called guru of course if the guru is truly spiritual person then our reverence because anybody who is in a better position we have to honor that person that means only when we honor respect, then only that shows that I would like to be like that person admiration, you see if you are walking in the street suddenly you see a car ah, what a beautiful car you are admiring it even if you don't say I want that car, it means I would have been a very happy person somehow if I could make that car my car this applies with regard to it may be a house it may be a dress, it may be a person, so much danger is there, the moment you admire then you want to become like that, the only exception is I would like to be like my father who is truthful, who is honest, who is loving who is unselfish, who is always happy, like say Ramakrishna used to say my goal in life is to follow the footsteps of my father Kshudiram he never uttered a lie he was always very happy nobody ever saw Kshudiram getting angry, there is not one single mention that he ever got angry, on the other hand peace and bliss and happiness used to come out of him and that is why people used to visit his house often because there they physically used to experience that ineffable peace so that is the goal, everything is nothing but pure Brahman and now that Brahman is me, Aham Brahmasmi how to reach that state, that is where the Panchakosha Vibharana is coming, but before we come to that why is this Srishti Prakriya the process of creation given because what is the process of creation, description of creation it is to tell us hat you are an effect and something else is the cause that is the first point everything in this world is an effect and every effect must have one cause so gold, golden ornament has a cause a pot has a cause, a furniture has a cause, but that is only first step, everything in this world finally must have one single ultimate cause which we call God that is why we call him the creator so therefore it is to slowly take us first you go from a lower cause so I am an effect

what is my immediate cause it is called earth or herein that which is called annam food and what is the cause of the food because it is also an effect the cause of the food is water, jalam that is the cause of the jalam agni, that is agni tatva, tejo tatva what is the cause of this fire vayu, because even scientifically so you go on churning something heat is produced and if you produce sufficient heat and put some small fibres of cotton and the cotton will catch, that is how they used to rub some stones earlier they used to rub some particular type of wooden pieces called aruni, so like that without air there cannot be fire and what is the cause of the air akasha, space and what is the cause of akasha atman, so quietly that which is described as brahman is now being described as atma tasmaat atmana means atmanaha akashaha sambhutaha so gradually taking a person, supposing a person wants to go to upper floor so first step, second step third step, fourth step fifth step, but what is important for us to understand the person who is crossing the first step is separate from the first step not identical with the first step the subject is now identical with the object so finally we go beyond the five steps this is called five covering process, kosha so that is why it is called panchakosha vibharana instead of three states of experience here panchakosha vibharana will come but here is the secret first of all we have to identify with the universal annam where from a tree has come from food, where from a mountain has come from the same food only where from a river has come food only, where from a forest has come food only so whether it is one celled creature amoeba or is it an insect or it is a plant kingdom or bird kingdom or animal kingdom or human kingdom or celestial kingdom everything is an evolution and this evolution process also we get in this very chapter in the eighth section it is called ananda mimamsa analysis of the ananda but herein to teach a spiritual person actually that first now you are identified the scripture need not tell us identify yourself now with your body no need to tell that we are identified with our possessions first with our body next with our mind next or with the three bodies it is a very natural process and that is severely limited so expand yourself until you identify yourself first with your village then with your state then with your nation then with the world not only the living the nonliving everything

that is there so this process of expansion is it possible yes every brahmagnani he tells I am everywhere so where is mars somewhere else ask Ramkrishna are you the mars es I am the mars ask Ramana marshi are you the moon yes am I those billions and billions of galaxies yes I am that billions and billions of galaxies because I means here existence a galaxy exists yes the sun the moon the mars the venus the saturn do they exist yes whatever exists that is me he will answer unhesitatingly but for us it is an intellectual even intellectually it is a challenge to identify ourselves but that is what we need to do slowly let us expand and then for that purpose we have to do certain practices like oh here is a person he is my friend I can identify myself with this friend but that is easy but here is a person who gives me trouble unhappiness and he wants to take away whatever I have got and to treat that person also as equated with myself that is much more difficult but it has to be done because that is the truth that is why we must have faith in the scriptures it is very difficult our experience shows this world is real the scripture tells what we experience is severely limited it is santa not ananta so our experience over millions of years of evolution versus the sudden teaching that sarvam kalvidam brahma it will be conflicting but no there are small

steps you take there is a god you are in trouble worship him in the form of an image or a symbol we discussed about it pratima pratika nama rupa etc and then you get your desires fulfilled and then some faith grows oh there is somebody who listens to my prayers and then slowly slowly mind will be purified and god will be angry if I do not lead a certain way of life because by this time I got a proof that there is somebody who listens and rewards me but who one who can reward can also punish if he is pleased with my behavior he will reward me if he is displeased he can punish me punish me means what he will keep me away from him keeping nearer to him is called happiness keeping away from him is called suffering and happiness etc and suffering is a great awakening so this is how what is the process in this particular taittiriya upanishad second chapter first you expand yourself so first of all you know you who are the vishwa and who is also he taijasa who is also the prajna and this we have taken for granted but you have to say I am the vishwa I am the taijasa

I am the prajna I am not three different persons I am the same person experiencing three types of experience one after the other but I am the only person that is where the first step of separation from the three states come and the subject I do not change everything changes slowly certain what we call spiritual qualities moral qualities that treat others as yourself feel pain with others pain feel pleasure with others pleasures etc etc deliberately cultivated will make me identify myself with the both happiness and unhappiness of other people and then when somebody is happy I am happy when somebody is not unhappy and somebody is not happy I am also not happy so sympathy sharing caring it grows and in a number of lives it takes long time this evolution which is called moral evolution and also guna evolution guna means from tamo guna tamo guna means what I am concerned only with myself I am the center of my own universe that is called tamo guna but I also want to interact with others identify with other people and that is called rajoguna sattva guna means everybody is a great lesson God appearing in different forms to take me to remove the obstacles and draw me closer and closer to him that is called sattva guna that is why say Ram krishna says sattva guna is also a rob or limitation no doubt but it has a great merit it shows us the way when a person becomes sattvik then there is your home this is not your home so that means I am not the what is called jagrat svapna su shupti avastha I am not the pancha koshas but we cannot do it at the beginning so we must identify ourselves with first of all with annamaya kosha and here in this beautiful second chapter first section it is telling every dhirti one and only root cause of everything living nonliving of the entire creation is called annam annam means you can take it as earth and scientifically also you see they say that there was a fireball burning terribly at the highest temperature the question of earth doesn't arise and out of this a vast pool of water had come and slowly these waters had become solidified certain places here and there like islands pop up emits the oceans like this earth is burning this one became water water became earth and slowly so first some one celled creature had come out and it gradually evolved into whatever we know now but the earth itself is the root cause that earth is called here in annam annam means food and that also has significance what is this annam annam means our body for example it has come from annam only our parents have eaten.

These points I am only giving the introduction it is very important for us to understand this background crystal clearly so here annam means the root cause so what happens the process is given beautifully the atmana akasha akashadvayu etc which we have seen to some extent and we will also deal with it later on after this introduction is over perhaps in our next class because important is we have to understand what is this process really means so the grossest element that we have seen is this earth and from this earth plants have come oshadvayu this is annam and these plants are eaten any form of plant it may be a tree it may be seed it may be root it may be bark it may be fruits it may be leaves everything is eaten so animal seed insect seed everything is eaten even honey is produced from the flowers bees go and gather it that is the greatest food for them and in the process they also propagate the plant kingdom so this honey what we call is nothing but concentrated form of energy annam means energy so this everything so this our parents my parents your parents are born because they have eaten the food and different parts of the food go to make up different elements in the body including the bones and what is inside the bones some become blood some become other cells brain cells, hands, feet everything but the particularly finest part of it which represents the entire body system that special type of food becomes converted in the male human being that is called shukra semen and in the female it is converted into an egg and these two when they come together the baby is born the offspring comes out whether it is an animal or insect or plant or human being but it is all because of the food so anadyeva kalvimane bhutani jayanti but then till our death how are we sustained because to do activity we require energy annam means energy annam has no value other than that it has to be eaten and what about taste god created a piston called taste so this s very tasty my child you eat it you will be happy but the purpose is that the food will go inside the pleasure acts as a piston pushing it inside more and more and you digest it it turns into energy and that energy in various forms is supplied to various parts of the body and it will do its job nature's job so nature provides food for its own purpose for propagation etc but propagation is not the true import it is the evolution of the potential divinity to fully manifest that is the real process so first find out what is the cause of this entire physical creation which is called annam or earth then slowly the earth itself we find is limited we will discuss it in our next class so hat is also karyam or us it is the cause but from its view point it is an effect its effect is the waters and the effect of the cause of waters is agni fire the cause of the fire is vayu air the cause of the air is akasha and the cause of the akasha is atman therefore by this analytical process just as it is the clay which is manifesting with namarupa called gold pots just like gold manifesting in the form of ornaments every ornament is nothing but gold every furniture is nothing but wood everything in this creation is nothing but pure brahman that is how trace the cause final cause and that we understand that final cause called brahman is manifesting as air as space air fire waters and earth and everything that we experience is nothing but a combination of these five elements but in truth it is nothing but like gold in every atom of the ornament so also brahman sarvam kalvidam brahman this is how we have to we have come down through those five steps now we have to go back and going back means give up each step detach yourself and then climb to the next higher stay for some time then slowly start climbing to the next step that is called detachment that is called vairagyam through gradual process called viveka so how much viveka vairagya samadhi shatka sampati which helps us to detach ourselves and detachment is possible only when we attach ourselves to something higher different until we reach where we cannot detach ourselves and that final thing from where we cannot detach because that is our own true self we can only detach from what we are not so that which we cannot detach ourselves nor attach ourselves that is called brahman and that is the final meaning of this explanation of the five sheaths beautiful subject which we will talk in our next class.

Om Jananim sharadam devim Ramakrishnam jagadgurum padapadme tayosritva pranamaami moho

May Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti

Jay Ramakrishna