Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 120 on 13 July-2025

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

Oṁ jananīṁ śaradāṁ devīṁ rāmakṛṣṇam jagad-gurum pāda-padmetayōśritvā praṇamāmi-mohurumō

Oṁ āpyāyantu mamāṅgāni vākprāṇaścakṣuḥ śrutra-mathu bala-mindriyāṇi ca

sarvāṇi sarvam brahma upaniṣadam māham brahma nirākuriyām

mā mā brahma nirākarot anirākaraṇam astva nirākaraṇam me astu

tadātmani nirate yau paniṣad su dharma te mai santu te mai santu

Oṁ śānti śānti śānti āre Hāre 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

In our last class we have been discussing the 15th section of the 8th chapter of Chandogya Upanishad wherein two important points have been discussed so what is it that the Guru parampara system is very very important without a teacher of course not any individual teacher but a teacher is one who knows what he is talking about and only one who has advanced or progressed or realized God only he is capable of correctly guiding the teaching the student or the disciple so it is very very important now the teacher will teach but we will have to make it our own if you still remember there was this beautiful incident in the life of Swami Brahmanandaji after the passing away of Sri Ramakrishna Swami Brahmanandaji along with Harimara Swami Turiyananda or sometimes Swami Koka Maharaj he was doing tapasya in Brindavan once Vijayakrishna Goswami he came to meet Swami Brahmanandaji and asked him Maharaj Thakur had given you everything we know that then where is the need to do this superhuman austerity and Brahmanandaji said what you said is very true Sri Ramakrishna has given me everything but we have to make it our own if a king out of affection for his beloved prince presents him a material sum or a horse but the prince has to master how to write, how to control it and how to use it properly then only we can say that he deserves it similarly the first teacher is God himself second teacher are the scriptures third teacher is our teacher, Guru who does and according to the capacity of the disciple he will give and may be the disciple had done very good hearing, shravanam first step then he might have done very good mananam but how does he progress and that is beautifully outlined in this 15th mantra that one must practise according to the scriptures and the scriptures divided every man's life not only Hindu, Hindu, non-Hindu, believer, non-believer non-believer is the most psychologically correct understanding of life.

Everybody has to evolve and everybody evolves only by discharging whatever duties one has to do in one's own station and so Hinduism divides life into four categories the student's life, the mare householder's life the semi-retirement and the fourth complete surrender to God, pure retirement this is called prapatti marga by Ramanuja and he is not only the expounder Ramanuja is the very embodiment of sharanagati and first he practised it then only he had taught it to other people because he knew by experience he got the best benefit Ramakrishna's sadhana started with complete self surrender to the divine mother oh mother, I know nothing, I am a fool you teach me everything including give me that capacity to receive what you are going to give everything you have to give that human body which you have already given you have to give me that power of understanding grahana shakti then smriti shakti, keeping it in memory then samaya spurti shakti remembering it at the right time, at the right place, on the right occasion then yavaharika shakti or upayoga shakti to use it as a practical vedanta and make it our own and finally with the right attitude, motivation called bhavana shakti only when these five powers understand correctly remember it, remember it at the right time no use after writing the exams, coming out of the examination hall a student remembers every single answer that's not going to do any good it must come out at the right time then he must do it, use it to the fullest capacity which Ram Vivekananda used to call practical vedanta and there must be a special attitude I don't want anything in this world I want only God or I want to progress in spiritual life.

So life is divided according to Vedas or Upanishads into four stages and how one should really conduct one's life according to each stage of life that is outlined in the second part of this 15th section only one mantra that is the second part third part is if really a person had led the life then he is going to surrender completely that was the teaching that we have been given in the Bhagavad Gita by Bhagavan Sri Krishna at sarva dharman parityajya before one can really surrender oneself to God one must strive to the best of one's capacity only then he will come to know every effort is short of reaching the goal but the final result of every effort is to come to know effort is useless it is God's grace alone that can give me what I really need and require and desire and that is outlined in the second part and if I have done my best that sharanagati bhava will come and he will realize his own true nature and then he will say there would be no more rebirth for him and the repetition is to indicate that not only this 15th section or 8th chapter is over the entire Chandogya Upanishad also has come to an end now we will briefly discuss these are very important points Brahma taught this knowledge of the self to Prajapati, his own offspring or he is also called this Prajapati is also called Kashyapa and Prajapati to Manu and Manu to his children or disciples the word Manu is a very beautiful word we are all human beings in Sanskrit they are called Manavaha those who are born of Manu they are called Manavas Manu, so Manavaha, Putraha, Manavaha so this Guru parampara system where from this teaching is starting because only God has that knowledge because there was no creation and as soon as creation comes he passes on that knowledge to the first born who is called Brahma. Brahma not Brahman Brahma or Brahman teaches this knowledge passes on that knowledge to Brahma and being the first born he is one of the purest of the people therefore the moment the words reached his ears immediately he understood or even to say Tantra classifies all the receivers or students into three categories for some people you have to shout in their ears that is the lowest type for the second person the teacher has to touch them but for the first class students a thought arises in the teacher's mind and that thought without any distortion is received by the student this is also called Shambhavi Diksha so Mantra Diksha, Sparshya Diksha Shambhavi Diksha and Brahma being such a pure person he received this by Sankalpa Deva by mere wish.

Of course as the creation started coming becoming grosser and grosser people's capacity to understand also becomes lesser and lesser so they have to use that is why it is called Shruti Hindu scriptures are divided into two categories Shruti and Smruti and when a person receives directly from the mouth of the teacher through the ears of the students enters into the heart of the student that is called Shruti Shruti means what is heard because in those days writing material is not there and then the teacher also explains it at some point of time not to the first class students but to the second and third class students and then until they understand he goes on explaining and to make what the teacher makes the students understand should be remembered for that purpose they have developed a particular technique it is called mnemonics the skill or the trick of remembering so the whole teaching will be condensed into just a few short words that is called sutra but only a person who had got that entire teaching and this is only for remembrance it is just like we put what is called reminders so you have to buy certain certain things but just that reminder what the teacher had taught completely and in those days people's brains were not cluttered with lot of things so they had plenty of time and they had plenty of one-pointedness very few distractions and therefore they were able to grasp Sri Ramakrishna it was said ek sandhanugrahi once he hears anything he will remember it for life what things? don't think that everything Sri Ramakrishna hears he remembers what is essential he will never forget oh yesterday I saw you buying some vegetables or some grass that there is no need for Sri Ramakrishna to remember it only what is scriptural teaching spiritual teachings that he will remember who taught that also he will remember when we study the gospel clearly we can understand so he quotes I heard it from such and such a person like that he quotes so he gives the due credit where it is due so this Guru parampara system is very essential what does it do?

First of all the teaching comes completely unadulterated just as the very first created being Brahma received it exactly in the same way without even one full stop comma, colon, semicolon without missing them it will come that is why our Vedas there are a few people who memorize the Vedas by listening there are only few people but it is marvellous and it is through such people they are infiltrated and the Vedas are coming down that is why they are in the pristine purity so many people also memorize the Koran or the Old Testament, New Testament there are a few people blessed with a good memory but the point is the question can arise if somebody doesn't have Guru parampara is it possible? Ramakrishna's first sadhana intense yearning was there no teacher was there directly he surrendered himself to the Divine Mother and the Divine Mother had taught him everything personally do this first do this second this is what it means, everything but such kind of people who are so pure so one should not mistake there are so many madcaps so God revealed to me and so I am going to tell this to other people also convert them, genuinely they believe it because a madcap genuinely believes he is not a madcap only fake madcaps know that they are not madcaps so perfect sincerity is there in the madcaps there is no hypocrisy there bringing back Ramakrishna update that is for people who are longing but do not have a proper teacher or guidance or book available whole hearted sincere prayer complete surrender to the Divine will also the teaching will come directly in the form of intuition but Swami Sharda and the warrants every one of us are not fit to think that intuition, no because we are accustomed to practice hypocrisy deception, what we think what we speak and what we do are running in three opposite directions so very important that is the first point then ok here is a brahmachari or student he lived 10 12, 15, 24 so it does not matter like Swetha Ketu he was there for 12 years and then he came home and then when his father asked did you learn this one we have seen that in this very Chandogya Upanishad arrogantly replied that no I have not learned this one because my teacher did not teach and why did he not teach because he was ignorant of it so proud he was but later on he became repentant and then he knew that every teacher is not a realized soul but his father was a realized soul so he surrendered himself not my father but my teacher, father also I am not teaching to my son I am teaching to a student who is worthy of receiving this highest teaching like teaching Janaka and certifying etc so having learned then what does this mantra in this 15 section says the second part that is the prescription of the what is called Ashrama Dharma how one had to live in life Acharya Kula Acharya Kula.

Kula means here from the Gurukula or Acharya Kula Adithya, having mastered Adithya means having mastered Vedam, first how to pronounce, second how to understand even two vowels join and when two words join and then learning various types of upasanas or contemplations and then having bowed down to him in gratefulness and that does not end there a student has to remember whole life that he is grateful to receive from his revered teacher whatever he taught how do we know because there is a tradition in India and especially in South India that when a student bows down to an elderly sadhu or sanyasi he tells my gotra is this I have been taught this and then he remembers I am so grateful to have received this knowledge my guru is so and so etc. So he is acknowledging and Sri Ramakrishna acknowledges this is what Nangta or Totapuri had taught me this is what Bhairavi Brahmani had taught me this is what Govinda Singh had taught me so they are very grateful whatever good things they received they were very grateful to acknowledge that one so having taken leave and guru blesses him blesses the student and that process is called Samavartanam there is a special type of ritual one has to perform having reached home that is returning from the teacher's place after of course mastering at least some amount of the Veda Yatha Hidhanam as prescribed in the scriptures what one should do guruho karmaati seshena whatever one has to do to show the gratitude a student has to do it and seshena and obtaining his blessings abhi samavrutya kutumbhe so having returned home and then kutumbhe kutumbhe means family he must become a family man he must become a householder then what he should do he must find out a clean place an appropriate place for what? remember in the eleventh section of the Taittiriya Upanishad first chapter sikshavale maa pramadaha avapitra karya abhyam na pramadaha all those things are included in this swadhyaya we have also seen swadhyaya means study of the scriptures with reverence oh mother a scripture is called a mother most loving mother teaching her children what is good for them even if it is painful so it is telling shastra janani and second meaning of swadhyaya studying how much did I understand? did I understand correctly? and if I understood correctly am I putting it to practical usage or not? am I progressing in spiritual life?

That was what Swami Brahmanand used to tell every aspirant at night before going to bed spend a few minutes analysing how he or she had spent the whole day, how much the contemplation on God how much worldly thoughts what worries one had whether one did not trust God even though praying, having doubts about it, all this self analysis and if anybody can do this kind of self analysis such a person, I can guarantee you will not suffer from any mental problems even though we think we don't have mental problems, we have plenty of mental problems the only positive point is to have mental problems we should have a mind that is guaranteed so swadhyayam adhiyanaha that means whatever he learned he can study more he can also master more because there are so many things what a person learns from the gurukula may not be everything and then what does he do? dharmikaan pidadhat that whatever practical vedanta, whatever righteous actions he has to do and we have explored them in the eleventh section of the first chapter of the taittiriya upanishad beautiful chapter we have to revise it many times and until this dharmikaan pidadhat this is the beauty of the grihastha ashrama householders like but very briefly put then comes the third when the children have grown up if there are children and teaching them whatever one knew how to study how to behave everything that he learned of course the sons also will be and even many times the daughters also they go to gurukula and then they learn equally along with the brothers and sisters the teacher has no objection later on corruption came into Hinduism and they stopped girls that they are not fit for this kind of thing that was the beginning of the downfall of India according to Swami Vivekananda the downfall of India came for two reasons neglecting the women neglecting the masses even labeling them as untouchables and mistreating them in the worst possible way like the slaves were mistreated by the white people until this time lead an ideal householder life so many details the student must have learned from the guru and then the third ashram when the children grow up and in those days remember one is not burdened whole life with overwork and with anxiety most of the time if he is a brahmana he will either teach or he will do worship etc so very few options were there what we call the trade the blacksmith's children they learn blacksmith goldsmith's children about goldsmithing etc etc carpenter's children learn carpentry blacksmith's children learn blacksmith so like that they learned there was no competition so each one will get married settle down and where there may be a village there is no blacksmith goldsmith or a barber or whatever it is they go there and then what they get is more than sufficient they were completely satiated occasionally they also prepare on festival day something and that was an idyllic golden age.

But all the whole history passes through according to Hinduism Satya Yuga Treta Yuga then Vapara Yuga and finally we are in the Kali Yuga and they say it is only the beginning and if this is the beginning we don't know what would be the middle and much less what would be the end of it so Kutumbhe Shuchav Deshe Swadhyayamadhiyaanaha Vidadhat so perform all the duties as you have learned how to do them including Swadhyaya and lead it means an ideal householder's life then it is time to retire enter into Vanaprasthashyama so what is it Atmani Sarvendriyaani Sampratisthaapya until end of Grihasthashyama all the sensors guns are going out either for work or for enjoyment cook nice things smell nice things taste nice things touch nice things etc etc but as prescribed within the limitations of the scriptural commandments but now is the time to slowly withdraw from external activities because by this time the body also is not that capable of performing everything so therefore whatever a person has been doing externally physically should never be should now be done internally Manashika we say it there is in Puja system the third part of the Puja is called Manashika Puja establish the chosen deity inside the heart and then meditate upon him and then go on giving whatever we are offering physically externally imagine and imagine the best flowers and the best food and best of everything because we need not skimp what we are giving mentally as the best flowers everything the best food and the best environment the best clothes the best water everything the bestest we can give so that is most marvellous system any amount of time we can do it and I have mentioned the story in South India there was a king who was a great devotee of Shiva he decided to construct one of the biggest temples because he was a king he had the money and then he did it and the temple was complete and a day was fixed so this king was a real devotee of Lord Shiva and he prayed Lord Shiva you must be present on that opening day because for you only I have constructed it and you come and sit there and receive all the adoration of the devotees and you bless them and we will all be blessed and we will do our best to serve you so this is the particular time you will have to come even when we are doing puja especially special puja we have to find out the exact tithi exact timing when the sandhya worship has to be done and the astrologers are there the almanacs are there to give us the right time so between this time and this time so the astami will start and the navami will start at this time and before navami the ninth day starts during that time is called sandhi puja one has to finish it it could be 45 minutes or 25 minutes within that time one has to finish so at particular times whatever one has to do but mentally you can do any amount of time so a day was fixed just like rani raspani fixed only this sranayatra day of jagannatha sacred to vishnavas she fixed the date because she was establishing shakti divine mother and this auspicious day is most auspicious to vishnu but then we should not see that shakti is different vishnu is different shiva is different god is only one every auspicious day is good for any aspect of god but that is not the thing any day is good day for worshipping the divine lord and the day one doesn't worship god that is the worst day inauspicious day the day one worships god that is the most auspicious day beautiful songs are there practically in every language especially in kanada that the day one doesn't remember god is the worst day inauspicious day the day one remembers god is the most auspicious day etc

Anyway coming back so manasika puja so the king requested lord shiva and lord shiva said oh king you will have to fix some other date i cannot come at that time and the king asked what is the problem lord and they really it is a good question because shiva is not an individual if he can go somewhere he can't be here and if he is here he can't go anywhere he can give a billion billion billion trillion trillion i don't know after that what comes million whatever million any number of places any number of whatever time all the time he can be present but this is to illustrate the greatness of a devotee so then he said where are you going on at that particular time said don't you know next village to your capital there is one of my greatest devotees and he is building a temple so just a few minutes before he invited me to come that particular time and i have accepted at this particular time was very auspicious he knew better than anybody only thing is like arjuna coming and sitting by the side of krishna he got the first opportunity and shiva accepted as if he can't be present in both places the king was surprised he never heard anybody was building a temple so he rushed immediately to that next village and shiva this time remembered to mention the name of that brahmana also unlike divine mother even in the 19th century forgot to mention where rama krishna was living she could have informed byaravi brahmani where address telephone number and email address everything she could have given but you know gods and goddesses don't have that common sense anyway so this king rushed and he asked where he searched such a brahmana so there was a small hut and he was living there and he went and asked he looked around there was no temple at all then he asked that brahmana sir are you building a temple he said yes i have completed it and i invited lord shiva to come where is that temple then brahmana opened his heart and said i have built it here oh just we imagined how long did it take half a second one millionth of a second no the day i heard a clock tree like you i became the labourer i imagined i was digging the land i was making the bricks i was carrying the bricks one by one like anybody else like your messengers i have worked and i just completed it a few seconds before your temple was complete then i requested lord shiva and then he graciously accepted to be present at that shubhamuhurta auspicious time the essence of the story is so bhagavan is bhava priya ha he loves devote is devotion whether it is external or internal in fact that doesn't make any difference so manasika puja has to be done that in previous times used to call upasanas so that is what is said in this what is called idatat atmani within oneself sarva indriyaani sampratisthapya so he must completely establish control all his sense organs that is the real purpose of this what is called Vanaprastha ashrama or vriddha ashrama.

What about the sanyasi ashrama and that is coming now ahimsan sarva bhootani anyatra tirthe pyaha this sentence indicates to us how this man was progressing as if a man returned home whatever he learned he put into practice whatever was appropriate for the householder's life he practiced it and then when the right time came he was fit to like a lower class student studies very diligently and then writes the exams passes brilliantly and joyfully enters into the upper class and that diligent hard work in the in the lower class is the analogy here living beautifully in the householder's life only then the mind becomes pure enough to retire then it will not be restless it will not go here and there by the time the person has developed tremendous faith in god and he is more important he is deriving tremendous joy because whole life he was progressing towards the god who is of the nature of ananda so ekagrata is there chitta shuddhi is there chitta vaisalya is there and varchu is being accumulated more importantly the mumukshutva is also increasing then he enters this Vanaprastha ashrama and whatever he has been doing now he sits and he practices the contemplation upasanas and as we have seen in the previous chapters slowly like narada he progresses through all those things and then he enters he becomes fit to enter into the fourth stage called sanyasa sanyasa is what we should call complete self surrender sarva dharmaan parityajya oh lord no man can reach you unless you are graciously reveal yourself this is one constant refrain from sriram krishna the great master nobody can see god without his grace but all our efforts would be i really want to see you because i love i cannot live without you to develop bhakti that would be the ultimate result of practicing all these things so the most important thing is ahimsan sarvabhutani himsa means injury ahimsa means non injury sarvabhutani this is the one supreme vow of every sanyasi or sanyasini that let no creature be frightened of me let me not be frightened of any from any creature let me not be frightened and what is this state this state is called equating oneself or seeing god so that is what is being said in the bhagavad gita we have discussed so many times what did we discuss vidya abhinaya sampanne pramhane gavi hastini suni chaiva shvapakecha panditaha samadarshina pandita means a realized soul what do they become samadarshi equal sighted what does it mean they say atma upamye na sarvatra samam pashyati yo arjuna sukham va yidhi va dhukham same yukta tamaha yogi so like i am present i am means what brahma god is present everywhere a brahmana a chandala a dog an eater of dog and a elephant and a cow that is a few examples sarvatra samadarshina so that should be the then where is the question of him when i come to know that i am only manifesting not as individual ego but as brahman i am brahman only then that vision opens up so everything is me nothing but me what a marvelous meanings are there even the recitation of these things are highly purifying even if we do not understand them they create a beautiful atmosphere so ahim san that is the most important verb of a sannyasin so abhayam sarva bhoote bhyo and then i will not be frightened of anybody because i cannot be frightened of myself so whether i look at others or whether others look at me nobody can frighten me because nobody can injure me nobody can kill me so a person who thinks i am going to be the killer or i am going to be the killed both of them do not know the truth because the atman cannot be can neither kill nor be killed because there is no second one who can kill so the fire cannot burn the waters cannot wet the wind cannot dry no weapon can cut into pieces because it is like akasha as we have been discussing so like the infinite space you take a knife and try to cut it three characteristics is all pervading it is indivisible it is completely unattached so that is the description of the atman.

so these are the four successive stages and like stages you cannot simply say i will from the first step i will jump into the fourth step sometimes we can see that that as soon as a student returns samavartana or even there itself he can join the gurukula as a naistika brahmachari or as a sanyasin spend the whole life and possibly there or he can come home and decide not to marry and either live at home as a naistika brahmachari or construct a separate small dwelling place and then live there as either naistika brahmachari or a sanyasin whatever it doesn't really matter the brightest example we can see nagamahasaya even though he was a householder he there can be very few monks sanyasins who can be equal to that nagamahasaya that real anasi ahimsan yes look one day he had a hut and the pillars were made up of old wood and the pillars were infested with these white ants thousands of them and then one day he went out they were eating that wood and one devotee came he thought he will be doing lot of good service to nagamahasaya and then he gathered all of them by even beating that pillar and then went to the forest and then dumped the whole thing there he was very happy I did a great service to nagamahasaya and when nagamahasaya entered he was terribly pained what have you done for generations together they are living in this place and they were very sure nobody is going to deprive them of their ancestral home and in one second you have deprived them of their ancestral home of course nagamahasaya knew out of good intentionally he had done but where have you thrown them and he ran there picked up with his hands again brought again put them there and said I give you my word from now onwards nobody is going to make you homeless one has to be astonished and remain speechless when we hear this kind of incidents from so many saints not only this saint saint Francis he inspired lot of people so there was a saint and he was suffering from what is called kusturoga or leprosy and some worms were eating up his fingers one day worm had fallen because there was nothing to hold on to immediately the saint felt so painful so he took out that worm and placed it again where it was before and took care of it so that it will not fall again as much as possible because that is called sarvatra brahmadarshana.

so this middle part of this fifteenth section mantra it graphically describes though in brief the four ashramas four ashramas means four stages of gradual development from a lower stage to a higher stage this is how a person grows and then he wants to the third part of it sa means any person kalvevam vartayan if he follows this beautiful scheme of the four stages of life vartayan yavad ayusham so long as breath remains life remains in that body what happens at the end at the fall of the body brahma lokam avishampadyate he attains that brahma loka here brahma loka is not the fourteenth highest loka of enjoyment here it means liberation or brahman's loka or oneness experience of oneness with brahman avishampadyate means absolutely there is no doubt about it avishampadyate means attains avishampadyate means completely attains but this attainment is not a physical attainment not even a mental attainment but it is to realize that i was thinking i was not brahman and through these practices i obtained the grace of god now i know by real nature is that aham brahma asmi guru can only tell tat tvam asi but through all these practices now the student the sishya, disciple he progresses and knows for oneself aham brahma asmi and then what is the result nachapunaravartate nachapunaravartate he doesn't return as i said this repetition is meant for what purpose for the purpose of letting us know now this 15th chapter section is not only over but the 8th chapter is not only over but the whole chandogya upanishad is also completely over iti chandogya upanishad bhashiye ashtamo adhyayaha samaptaha there are one or two pasanas i would like samagra vidya i would like to take up them in our next class because they are so beautiful illustrating what we discussed so far.

Om jananim sharadam devim ramakrishnanam jagadgurum padapadmetayosritva pranamami moharmoho may ramakrishna holy mother and swami vekananda bless us all with bhattai jay ramakrishna