Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 117 on 05-July-2025

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

Oṁ jananīṁ śaradāṁ devīṁ rāmakṛṣṇam jagad-gurum pāda-padmetayosritvā pranamāmi-mohur-moha

Oṁ āpyāyantu mamāṅgāni vākprāṇas cakṣuḥ śrutra-mathu bala-mindriyāṇi ca sarvāṇi

sarvam brahmau paṇiṣadam māham brahma nirākuryām mā mā brahma nirākarot

anirākaraṇam astva nirākaraṇam me astu tadātmani nirate yau paṇiṣadsu dharmaḥ te mayi santu te mayi santu

Oṁ śānti śānti śānti Hari Oṁ

Oṁ 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

who am engaged in the pursuit of the Self

May they repose in me

Oṁ Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all

We are in the last mantra of section 12 of chapter 8 of Candakya Upanishad

He was teaching Indra the Brahma vidya, Dahara vidya of nirguna brahma. In the earlier sections and even in this 12th section also, the first six mantras were meditations on the saguna brahma. But now from the 7th to the 12th, the 12th section which we are right now discussing and that too we have come to the last mantra, the 6th mantra. This is to wrap up what is nirguna brahma and how to achieve it and what would be the result. All these things have been beautifully discussed.

So we will proceed further and just to recollect what we studied in the 5th mantra.

अतः योवेद इदम्मन्वानिति सा आत्मा। मनों अस्यदाइवाम् चक्षुह। सभायिशयेतेन दाइवेन चक्षुषा मनसा एतान कामान पश्यन। प्रमते येते प्रम्हलोके।

We have seen earlier that God created all the sense organs, physical, external sense organs, five of action and five of knowledge for whose purpose? Not for our ego purpose but for His own purpose. Just as we create in our dreams the entire dream world for our own enjoyment. Here also Brahman alone has created, He had become as it were two, the creator and the creator. Just as we become our own self in the dream and as well as the rest of the world. At the time of dreaming, we do not say, we do not feel we are dreaming. Only when we come from that state, we say it is dream world and especially when we come back to the waking state. And same rule has to be applied. So long as we are in the dream state, the dream state is the waking state and what happens to the waking state? It becomes Mano Rajya, only a mental world or a dream world or an imaginary world having very little impact. Whichever world we are living in, that will have 100% effect upon us.

So previously all the external organs were created by Brahman for His own enjoyment. Now in this fifth mantra, He is telling even the mind without which the body, body means all the 10 sense organs. There is nothing else in the body excepting the manifestation of the 10 sense organs, five of action, five of knowledge. Together we call it the body, physical body but without mind the physical body cannot function. But even the mind is inert. So we have to add reflected consciousness plus mind plus body that is what makes our entire personality. So who created this mind? So that is why even Brahman created the mind for whose purpose? For His own enjoyment.

Why? Because the enjoyer is Brahman. The enjoyed is also Brahman. The instruments through which Brahman enjoys himself is also Brahman. Everything is nothing but Brahman. And this mind is called Daivam Chakshu, Daivi Chakshu. That means what? The mind has far superior powers, much plus limitations. So as I mentioned earlier that the mind can go to any place it wants including Brahmaloka within fraction of a millisecond. And it can transcend time because to reach even the next room it takes time not to speak of next house or next village, next city, next country. But just one thought and we are where we want to be. Whatever object we want to have everything is possible.

So the mind it is limited no doubt but much less limited than a physical body and therefore it is called Daivam Chakshu. Not only that the physical sense organs can only or even all the ten organs of action and knowledge together can only function in this waking world at this present moment. But the mind can go back 100 years, 5000 years. If we develop that yogi's mind, Jati Smaratva, we can remember all our past lives. That was what Bhagawan Buddha used to remember. That is why there are stories what Bhagawan Buddha was previously. 500 times he was born he says and they are called Jataka stories. So we come here that the mind can go back even though that it can go back we have not developed that special instrument for going back not to speak of the future. And there are some minds who can even think of the future. In fact all the time we are thinking about the future and planning the present according to our future vision. I want to become a PhD. The school child some school children at least they have the planning. Why do you want to become? So I am interested. I want to do research. I want to do something good. I want to control the whole world. I want to become the emperor. Napoleon it is said that even from the babyhood he was only craving for power and position. I will be the emperor of France even though he was not even a proper French citizen but he did eventually become.

Swami Vivekananda used to see his future and either he would become the greatest emperor in this world or he would become the greatest monk in the world. Bhagavan Buddha astrologers predicted of him either he becomes the greatest ruler or the greatest renouncer. So the mind has tremendous powers. In fact it is through the mind only we can realize that we were or and will be Brahman only. So who is experiencing Brahman? Through what is he experiencing? So he created for his own experience the entire world in the form of as we have seen the Tanmatras very subtle five elements as well as the five gross elements which become mixed up called Panchakarnam and a combination of both these. Through the subtle elements he created the subtle world including the causal body and through the physical five elements grossified mixed up five elements he has created his entire universe and to experience that he created this individual body and mind so that we can all experience it. So that is why this person who realizes I am Brahman, he becomes uttama purusha, he crosses over the individuality, he gives up his attachment to the body mind, individual body mind he will give up his attachment or identity and slowly he becomes identified with Brahman and then he realizes that the whole universe is created by me, maintained by me and again taken back by me. That is what he said a person a realized soul is called uttama purusha and what does he do?

So he sees, he hears, he listens, he smells, he touches, he tastes as if that is to say anybody seeing is he seeing. Anybody is walking is walking sahasra path and anybody who uses his hands sahasra pani. So there is nothing other than Bhagawan that is why he is called purusha. Purusha means he who pervades whatever we call his creation he is nothing but that purusha manifesting to whom? Not to somebody else but to himself and where does he sees everything and he plays and he enjoys he roams about where? That means Brahma Loka is not what we call the 14th world called Brahma Loka but Brahmans Loka.

In Sanskrit language we have no problem to distinguish Brahma and Brahma. Brahma is the creator, Brahma is the nirguna Brahma, Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara.

These are the three aspects of Saguna Brahma. And this Ramakrishna's statement on pure atma, it was revealed to me that the Paramatman who is described as the pure atman in the Vedas is immutable like Mount Sumeru, unattached and beyond happiness and sorrow. And yet as a Jeevan Mukta he enjoys everything, how? Through identification with everything. He is the enjoyer, he is the enjoyed, he is the eater, he is the eater.This we will get specifically in the Taittiri Upanishad in Pramananda Valli from first to second anuvakas we are going to get them. So that was the essence of the fifth mantra.

What was the essence? One who realizes I am Brahman, every enjoyment is his. Even though we should never attribute like as he enjoys, by being one with everybody he manifests himself as Sat, Chit, Ananda, Swaroopa. Everything that exists is Brahman, everything that knows is pure consciousness, everything that enjoys, even Dukkha is enjoyed. You may wonder, what are you talking about? Does anybody experience suffering? Of course, if we see somebody suffering, that person may not experience joy. But there will be people who dislike that person, who hate that person, who wishes harm to that person. The more this person suffers, the more that person thinks, I am very happy. And there are some blessed souls, even though they do not get anything, but their greatest joy in seeing the other persons unhappy, suffering, in tremendous pain.

Bhatruhari says, there are three types of people in this world, that is, there are people who make other people suffer because they want to get something out of them. They don't want to suffer, but they want to create suffering for other people to gain something. There are some other people who say, I will gain something, you will also gain something, you won't take, I will also suffer, you will also suffer. This is classified by Bhatruhari as the second type of or medium type of person. And there is a third person who says, I want only to get without my suffering, I will create only suffering to the other people. That is the third type of person. But there is somebody, we do not know what to call him. We are unable to find a title for him, even though that person doesn't profit in any way, but still he revels in giving pain and suffering to the other persons. So many people are there in this world, especially nowadays.

Anyway, the essence of the fifth mantra is, Pela is Brahman and all your desires will be fulfilled because you are Atmasvarupa, Chitsvarupa, Anandasvarupa.

Now Prajapati wants to say that he wants to wrap up this one.

तम्वायेतम्द्वाहा अत्माणं अपासति, तस्मात्देशां सर्वेचळलोका आत्ताह, सर्वेचकामाह, सर्वाम्षळलोकानापनुति, सर्वाम्षळकामान.

इजानाति इतिः प्रजापतिः कुवाच प्रजापतिः कुवाच

Now, earlier also we mentioned that whenever there is a dhirupti, that is twice uttered, in this case, इतिःः, thus indeed, प्रजापतिः taught, प्रजापतिः spoke, प्रजापतिः spoke, Twice it is done, प्रजापतिः वाच, प्रजापतिः वाच, to indicate the end of that particular section or particular chapter or the entire book itself. This is a very common practice in Sanskrit language.

So, what is the meaning of this mantra? We just have gone through. This self is worshipped by the gods. This is why all worlds and all desirable things are within their grasp, within the grasp of these realized souls, that is, the devas, etc., who realize that each one, I am Brahman, I am Brahman, etc., one who fully understands this teaching and realizes through sadhana, this self, how with the help of teachers and the scriptures is able to attain whatever worlds and whatever desirable things he wants. This is what Prajapati taught Indra. This is what Prajapati taught Indra.

तम् वा एतम्, तम् means what? Him or it. It means what? Him means what?

ब्रम्हन् वा एतम् वा तम्, thus about this आत्मन् or ब्रम्हन्

or उत्तम पुरुश, so having known through teachers, etc., they were gods. आत्मानं उपासते, that is they come to know about the आत्मन्, just as Prajapati had announced at the very beginning of the seventh section we have seen that एतम् आत्मानं अनुविध्या, he declared anybody who realizes the आत्मन्, so these devas and demons also heard it, so आत्मानं उपासते. Now what happened to Virochana? He misunderstood, he only got the first lesson after 32 years which did not help him to understand. He went back and taught. What did he teach? That is Virochana Upanishad, that is the secret vidya, this body, the materialistic philosophy, the chair work of philosophy, that this body is the आत्मान्, so feed it, decorate it, cater to all the five sense organs and keep it as long as possible and if the body dies, decorate it with beautiful flowers and fragrant pests etc., etc., because this body is the आत्मान्. Now what did Indra do? He did exactly the same thing but here Indra became a realized soul after this fourth time, after five years of further practicing a deep spiritual discipline, staying with the guru, so step by step as we have seen, he had been taught that you are not the body, you are not the mind, you are not the causal body, you are not the waking state, you are not the, you means here, the आत्मान् is not the physical body, the आत्मान् is not the dream body or dream world and the आत्मान् is not the causal body and causal world, you are completely separate, the आत्मान् is completely separate and the word that आत्मान्, because once a person denies his identity with waking, dream and deep sleep, what remains? Only one thing remains, call it तुरियम्, call it आत्मा, call it ब्रह्म्, don't call by any other name, only that एकम् सत्, only that one pure existence, pure consciousness and pure bliss alone exists, so he understood, what did he do? Of course we do not know, the pancha doesn't tell, so he has gone back, remember he had, the devas chose his representative Indra, because he was the most fit person and he came, he observed self-discipline for 101 years and then he became enlightened, then he went back, so the leader knows, he went and taught some of the devas, not every deva, but some of the devas, he taught them that तुरियम् that तत्वमसि, so he must have practiced, he must have taught them through stages, just like his guru had taught, so that is what we have to understand, so then they became very, some of them at least, I don't know all of them, probably not, because if everybody becomes realized soul, there would be no deva loka, so just like on this earth, वनुष्याणाम् सहस् रेशू, so a few people must have been curious and we know in the Kena Upanishad, the Agni, Vayu, etc., only very few people came to know that divine being called the Yaksha, later on she revealed herself as what is called Uma, Uma means the divine mother Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and then they became enlightened, so Indra, greatest student, he became the leader of the devas and Agni became prominent, Vayu became prominent, so if Upanishad doesn't mention any other devas, but maybe a few devatas must have been enlightened, so here एतम् देवाह, that means there are some very purified devas and after getting the teaching from Indra, after being taught by Indra, Indra was taught by Prajapati, Prajapati was taught by Brahma, we will come to see later on, so this person Indra, he became, he realized I am the Atman, he passed that knowledge to those who are ready, even the greatest god cannot give this teaching unless the receiver is also very competent and capable of receiving, so only knowledge becomes fruitful when both the teacher and the student on the part of the teacher, he should be capable of giving, on the part of the student he should be capable of receiving, only when both these meet then successfully the teaching will be transmitted from the upper to the lower, this is called parampara, guru parampara, that also we will see a little bit later on, so तम् वायेतम् आत्मानम् after hearing everything that transpired between Prajapati and Indra and he must have told his autobiography and then they became, they also practiced and then आत्मानम् उपासते, they became eager, they became filled with yearning that we wanted to only realize Brahman, आत्मानम् उपासते means what, we not we want to worship atman but we want to realize the atman, we want to become one with atman, तस्मात् तेशाम्, therefore the Upanishads says we have to derive the meaning तस्मात् means what, they did this spiritual practice and they reached the same state that Indra has reached, that means they came to know I am atman, I am atman, every deva, every spiritual aspirant and then what was mentioned earlier तेशाम्, what did they get शर्वेज लोकाः आत्ता, the Sanskrit word आत्ता means प्राप्ता, attained, obtained शर्वेज लोकाः,

so whatever desires, as Prajapati declared whatever lokas, whatever objects, everything becomes present to them but this is only figurative as I told many times, a jivanmukta really doesn't need anything because why, because only a person who knows definitely I don't have this object, only such a person desires to have that object, not only that, I don't have this object but I feel very unhappy if I don't get that object, I will die but I will try to obtain that object, I feel lack of this object, I cannot sleep because of that, such a person only desires but what desire could be there for these jivanmuktas because they have already come down and is a beautiful idea which we will see in this eighth chapter itself later on, so what was the result of this atman realization, brahman realization, शर्वेज लोकाः, whatever loka they desire, आत्ता, प्राप्ता, as if is already obtained, only the moment the desire arises it is fulfilled, शर्वेज कामा, not only loka, every desire is fulfilled instantaneously, fulfilled means what, if I want to eat a sweet I have to, first of all I know the sweet is an object separate from me, not like that, so I am that object which I am desiring, that is the right meaning, शर्वेज कामा, and then again he repeats शर्वाम्ष लोका, so that word loka are the words as when used earlier, शर्वेज लोका, आत्ता, प्राप्ता, आत्ता, again शर्वाम्ष लोका आपनोति, शर्वाम्ष कामा, where to add that one, आपनोति, so there is no object, no desire which remains unfulfilled, and therefore they are called पूर्न कामा, in the Taittari Upanishad when we get to the 8th anuvaka in the Brahmananda Valli, which is called अनन्दमी माम्ष, so he becomes what is called attainer of everything, so पूर्न कामा हा, or अकामा हा, he has, अकामा means he has no desire, why doesn't he have any desire, because he is पूर्न कामा हा, there is no object which is separate from him, which needs to be desired, he knows, I am everything, सर्वं अहं एवा, and then what does Prajapati say, यह तम आत्मानम् तनु विध्य विजानाति, so whoever realizes that he is not the body, he is not the mind, he is not the causal body, then what remains, तम आत्मानम्, that pure Atman, प्रम्हन, अनुविध्य, अनुविध्य means by knowing, or having obtained the knowledge, then practices spiritual disciplines, विजानाति, he comes to know, what does he come to know, that I am that Atman, that realization comes, इतिहा प्रजापति पुवाच, प्रजापति पुवाच, प्रजापति closing this 12th section of this 8th chapter of the Chandukya Upanishad, what I declared earlier, that he who realizes the Atman, he obtains all worlds, he obtains all desires, there will be nothing which remains unobtainable by him, so that is what he said, so this is the meaning of this one, सर्वे चकामाहा आता, every type of desire, desire is always for pleasure only, very interesting, so a person desires, I want to harm that person, why does this person want to harm that person, because he gets pleasure from it, the other person may suffer, but this person thinks mistakenly of course, that by giving pain, suffering to the other person, he will be happy even though others may suffer, but he is completely ignorant of the, what is called कर्मफल, that कर्मफल follows whatever a person does, the result will come in a terrible form, both good and bad, happiness and suffering, both, so therefore anybody can acquire this Purnatma,

This is the greatest thing that Prajapati declares, he never said that only Hindus will get it or Muslims only will go to paradise, no, the Upanishad here says that is through Prajapati, any student, in any yoga, any age, whether one is in one of the four ashramas, he may be Brahmachari, he may be a student, he may be a householder, he may be a retired person in a secluded place called Vanaprastha, he may be a sanyasin, a renounce, renouncer, whether he is a Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra, whether one is a Hindu or Christian or Muslim, whether one is a believer, a non-believer, they will attain Brahman, therefore any blessed person, anyone who is prepared to lead a sincere spiritual life, one who puts forth effort can learn this and manifest their inherent divinity, in fact life is meant only for that, therefore one who gains this knowledge, he knows I am Brahman, so what does the spiritual aspirant come to know, he knows I am Brahman, Atmanat Turya, I am Uttamapurusha and then what does he gain, Sarvamsya Lokan, Sarvamsya Kaaman, this was exactly the teaching of Sri Ramakrishna propagated by Swami Vivekananda, any yoga, any religion, any effort, whether it is a person is capable of worshipping only an image, cannot but if he is sincere, he will get Mukti, like Shiva declared that anybody who dies in Varanasi, whether he is a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, whether he is a saint or sinner, whether he is a charitable person or a cheater, whether he is a believer, non-believer, whether he is a human being, non-human being, even an ant, a Jeeva is a Shiva, every Jeeva is Shiva, everything is Shiva in the eyes of Shiva, so he said whoever gives up out of my infinite compassion, I give them liberation, that is what he said, with this the sixth mantra is over, with this the twelfth section is over and this is the most important teaching in this twelfth section. What did Prajapati do?

He declared that whoever realises Atman, oneself as Atman, oneself as Brahman, oneself as Uttam Purusha,he will be forever in unbroken bliss, he will not be subject to change which means death, he will not be subjected to any type of ignorance, he is pure consciousness and pure bliss, he becomes Satyam Manam Anantam Brahma or Sat Chit Ananda, no rule is made, that is what Bhagavad Gita, Bhagawan Sri Krishna declares, anybody who is born in any caste, any ashrama, only condition that they will have to follow their particular rules, duties and avoid certain things, do certain things, vidhi and nishaidha and that would be the greatest worship and through that worship anybody can attain Bhagawan and then become Mukta Purusha, Jivan Mukta or Videha Mukta, it doesn't matter really, so that is the essence of the twelfth section. Now we enter into the thirteenth section and there is only one mantra in this and this is a mantra for meditation or repetition and it is also said this mantra should be earnestly prayed by every sadhaka especially towards the end of one's life just before death but it doesn't mean only before death, we have to go and pray, oh lord let me remember you at the last moment, remember he goes on telling, praying here Krishna let me go on remembering you oh Krishna by entering into the cage of your lotus feet that means I will never live, I will live only in your lotus feet that means I will remember forever your lotus feet, let me do it, then right now just this very second, why because when the time comes for giving up the prana, prana leaves me then the throat and as a result the mind also may not remember you, it is not sure, I may remember but I may not remember also, so let me remember and I am remembering, I am praying to you that even if I forget, you don't forget that I took shelter in your lotus feet, so this thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth, another three sections are there, these three sections are called kila khandas, kila khanda, khanda means section, kila means word assorted, so a section which deals with assorted topics, so there may be some sadhanas, there may be some disciplines, there may be some ways of duties, something to prevent etc, which we will see here, so we will read the first mantra, here also there is only one mantra from the dark I would like to travel to the light, to the variegated, from the variegated or from the multiplicity I like to come to the dark, how shaking of evil as a horse shakes all dust from its hair by shaking itself, so that is one, second example freezing myself from the body as the moon freezes itself from the mouth of rahu, I fulfill all ends and obtain the uncreated world of brahma, very undecipherable, peculiar words, but if you look at the dictionary you may not find the meaning, but then great acharyas commentators have shown us the way.

Sri Ramakrishna also has shown us the way, beautiful mantra this one, it is a prayer as I said but this is a state to say that after having very deep faith in the scriptures I know I do not understand, but I have faith, what is the faith? Swamiji, Sri Ramakrishna told that the goal of life is God realization, Swami Vivekananda said each soul is potentially divine, I may not understand, I understand a little bit definitely, I understand that I am bound, I understand I am limited, this nobody can deny and what is my wish? I want to be free from all limitations and why am I having that desire? Because deep in the in my unconscious mind I am, my unconscious mind is aware, I am aware that I am that purnatma, I come from brahma and therefore I am brahma, I know that, but I do not realize it, my unconscious knows it, so I want to have come from there, I want to go back, if you remember Girishchandra Ghosh had written of Buddha charitra and echoing Buddha's deep agony and Buddha was supposed to have heard a marvelous song sung by Devas to awaken him, Where am I going? I do not understand anything of this, I don't know where from I have come, I don't know where I am going, as if somebody forcefully closed my eyes and pushing me with force without my knowing to some destination, I want peace, that means I don't want this travel, I want to know where from I have come, I want to be with my father, with my mother in my own house, so this is the idea here and a beautiful idea, we will just explore this one, so means from the dark, what does it mean?

This is a prayer to the Lord by every sincere upasaka and we see this type of prayer just for us to remind, there was a saguna brahma upasaka and he understood, he is knocking at the door of Brahman, but he was not able to open the door, so in the Isavasya Upanishad, I think it is the 16th or 15th mantra, what does he say? Sadhaka prewholeheartedly, he was not even able to get up, his physical condition was he was lying down, so he says, so the Lord, the truth that is your real nature is hidden by maya, and this maya is shining, that's why hiranya garbha is maya, hiranya means gold, so the door to the truth has been closed, and that door is shining like burnished gold, but I want to come face to face with truth, with Brahman, because Brahman is called Satyam, as we have seen in the Taittiri Upanishad, but that face of the Satyam is covered with what? This maya means duality, means multiplicity, so I am unable to get rid of the idea of this duality, this multiplicity, but then out of your grace, your own grace, so that door, that maya, you open the door, you remove the door, there should be no door, so that I can see you directly, means what? I am a worshiper of truth, I am a follower of dharma, I am a seeker of truth, and I worked whole life only to get to the destination called Satyam, and that is called dharma, I lived a dharmic life, righteous life, for the sake of seeing, earlier I might have worked for the sake of enjoying things, dharma brings punyam, punyam brings happiness, and I might have desired, now I understand, no more I desire, I want you, just like a baby who is absorbed in the dolls, playing, as soon as he feels hungry, he kicks the whole lot and then runs to mother, I want none other than mother, ma, jai, I want only ma, so this is a, this is also a prayer, what is shamath shabalam prapadya, an ecstatic experience of desire, expressing the soul's transition to the supreme and back, in Sriram Krishna's words, beautiful teaching, tallying with this mantra, what does Sriram Krishna say? First you reach the roof, then you come down, you realize that the staircase, all the floors, everything is made up of the same material, and later on he says, from nitya, a person who has reached that highest nitya, he will come to the leela, from the leela to nitya, and again nitya to leela, this is the play of his Jeevan Mukta, that's why divine mother commanded him, Sriram Krishna wanted to live forever in that state, which is stayed only in Brahman, but then the mother said, no, you have to live at the greatest Brahman Gnani, so she says, remain in bhava mukha, what is bhava mukha? Sriram Krishna himself has explained, it is the doorway, like a room is there and there is a door is there and there is a door sill is there, you sit there, a person sits there, what is the benefit? He can look inside, he can look outside, so a person who remains in between the eternal and the what we call multiplicity, the one and the many, the unity and the diversity, and he can know, he will not be caught, he will not be bound, why? Because he knows I am Brahman, because he is seeing inside the house, I am the Nityam, and he sees outside, I am also the multiplicity, and I come, everything is me only, this is what he said, the prayer, but this person must have first reached, must have reached, then only the prayer comes, that from the eternal to the multiplicity, from the one to the many, from the many to the one, this would be my sport throughout my life, so there are beautiful thoughts actually, we will talk about them in our next class.

Om Jananim Sharadam Devim, Ramakrishnam Jagad Gurum, Pada Padme Tayo Sritva, Pranamaami Mohur Muhu hu,

May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.