Chandogya Upanishad 5.4.1 Lecture 164 on 14 December 2025
Full Transcript (Not Corrected)
Opening Invocation
ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगदगुरुम पादपद्मे तयो: श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहु :
Om Jananim Saradam devim Ramakrishnam jagadgurum Padapadme tayoh shritva pranamami muhurmuhuh.
ॐ आप्यायन्तु ममाङ्गानि वाक्प्राणश्चक्षुः
श्रोत्रमथो बलमिन्द्रियाणि च सर्वाणि।
सर्वम् ब्रह्मोपनिषदम् माऽहं ब्रह्म
निराकुर्यां मा मा ब्रह्म
निराकरोद निराकरणमस्त्व निराकरणम् मेऽस्तु।
तदात्मनि निरते य उपनिषत्सु धर्मास्ते
मयि सन्तु ते मयि सन्तु।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥
oṃ āpyāyantu mamāṅgāni vākprāṇaścakṣuḥ
śrotramatho balamindriyāṇi ca sarvāṇi.
sarvam brahmopaniṣadam mā’haṃ brahma
nirākuryāṃ mā mā brahma
nirākaroda nirākaraṇamastva nirākaraṇam me’stu.
tadātmani nirate ya upaniṣatsu dharmāste
mayi santu te mayi santu.
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
Translation
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. Om. Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all.
Introduction to Pañcāgni Vidyā
We are studying this most marvelous Pañcāgni Vidyā. Vidyā means upāsanā, contemplation, absolute one-pointed thought—and what we really are, to find out what is our real nature. So that concept whereby we give up, we offer our ignorance unto Brahman, and as a result, we obtain true knowledge, destruction of the ignorance, ajñāna.
Just look at it: whatever is put in a fire—and without fire, there is no ajñāna. But that fire can be physical, mental. So without fire, nothing can be done. So what is that fire? And why we have to offer oblations? And what type of oblations we have to offer into that? All this marvelous concept has been beautifully put in that one śloka, Bhagavad Gītā: "Brahmārpaṇaṃ brahma havi, brahma agnau brahmaṇāhutam, brahma eva tena gantavyam, brahma karma samādhinā."
And this final greatest Brahma yajña, can be slowly achieved through another eleven yajñas which follow this particular statement in the Bhagavad Gītā. They are all byways, and traversing which we finally come to the royal path. So that is the concept of the yajña.
The Nature of Yajña
What is yajña? That I offer myself, and who am I? The limited jīva ātmā, the body-mind complex, is offered by intensely thinking about Brahman. That intense thinking of Brahman is called the fire. And when we fall into that fire, its limitedness, the nature of the individual soul—time, space, and position or object—are completely destroyed. What remains is pure Brahman. That is the concept.
So we have been seeing it is Brahman who became this entire world. Indirectly, that is what is being explained through this Pañcāgni Vidyā. How do we understand it? As I mentioned earlier, that in the ancient days, these yajñas were most prevalent. And these yajñas are of two types: physically, getting up the fire and offering something. This is only a symbolism to understand the deeper significance of what a yajña really is.
So what is it? That whatever I have, O Lord, is given to me by you. So, in gratefulness, I am offering it to you so that may your grace in the form of various blessings come down to me. This is, in short, the worship of the various devatās, avatāras, gurus, etc. Finally, it is only Brahman as manifesting as all the devatās, all the pañcabhūtas, etc.
Involution and Evolution
So the idea is that Brahman had sacrificed himself to become this world, and we are the world. I am the world and I must go back. That coming down from Brahman is called involution. Going back to Brahman is called evolution. And this process of going up and becoming one, that is called a yajña.
Whatever meaning we give to that word yajña, the essence is, I must slowly go back and merge myself in Brahman. And anything that helps me approach nearer to Brahman, which is none other than my own self, that is called a yajña. That is why in Bhagavad Gītā: "Brahma karma samādhinā." When a devotee succeeds in offering everything to Brahman, he himself also is considered as Brahman. Finally, that is called samādhi. Samādhi means continuous knowledge, awareness: I am none other than Brahman. That is called Brahma karma samādhi—samādhi achieved through this attitude and discharging various actions. That is called karma samādhi.
The Story of Gautama and Śvetaketu
So, we know this story. Gautama, the father of Śvetaketu, approached this king who had practiced this Pañcāgni Vidyā, became enlightened. As a result, he became fit to become a teacher to Gautama, a Brāhmaṇa, who taught many things to his son. But he did not know how to approach that Brahman himself.
When the right time came, his son himself acted as a conduit instrument because Gautama would never have known what is this Pañcāgni Vidyā, that such a thing exists, unless his son had approached Pravāhaṇa Jaivali and became confused and inflated and went back and challenged his own father. And his father understood, my knowledge is limited, so we can receive.
Whoever gives us knowledge is called a guru. That's why he is called deśika. In Sanskrit, deśika means he who points out a right direction so that we can reach our destination. So, deśika means a person who guides—GPS: Guru Paramparā System.
So, through his son, he came to know such a higher knowledge exists. And he must have been searching. He approached it humbly, and the king understood it and was ready to give answer.
The Five Questions
What answer was Gautama seeking? The questions King Pravāhaṇa asked Śvetaketu. Five questions were there. And let us just for recollection:
First question: Do you know where created beings go from here? After death, where do we go? Where do I go? Where do you go? Of course, he did not know.
Second question: And do you know how again they return? Because going and returning, going means coming back. Birth means death. Cold means heat. Happiness means unhappiness. They always go together. So one has to return. How long? Until a person frees himself by offering himself into that Brahmāgni. Until that time, he has to come back again and again.
Third question: So there are many paths. All paths are divided into two paths. And they are called by various names. A path of the light, a path of the darkness. So devayāna and also kalpitṛyāna. Śuklayāna, śukla gati. Gati means also destination, a bright destination, a dark destination.
And in Kaṭhopaniṣad, Yamadharmarāja uses two specific words: śreyas and preyas. Every human being at some point of his life, when he becomes awakened, is confronted by two separate paths, each opposed to each other. Going by one path, he never returns again. But going by another path, he always returns.
And that path by which a person doesn't return is called niḥśreyasa. And that path by which a person exhausts his karmaphala and comes back is a marvelous doctrine. Even if a person goes to hell, then he will not be there. There is nothing called eternal hell. So until his prārabdha karma, that is the resultant of his past actions, are exhausted, a person has to go through.
And this going through lower janmas is to learn a lesson. Going to the higher lokas is also to learn a lesson. Both paths are to learn a lesson that these are not our true destinations. These are temporary destinations as we halt when we are ascending mountains, for example, Mount Everest. So on the way, we have to put up some camps. And if we are not able to adjust to that climate at that higher level, then we have to come down, train ourselves until we are capable. So that is exactly what happens in this process of even evolution.
So preyas and śreyas, these are the two paths. That is being said that after the fall of the body, which is called by us as death, each jīva has to go some way and then those two paths, they part ways. By one path, person goes up; by another path, he goes down. That means a person experiences more happiness through one path and experiences more misery, suffering through the other path.
But both the paths again cause the person—that means we are given another opportunity to mend our ways and to become purified and to awaken from this net of mahāmāyā and struggle towards God. That is the real purpose.
So the third question is, where these two paths part? The place where—that means for some time, these paths go together like motorways. One goes in one direction to another city. Another goes in another direction to another city. So both cities travel in foreign country, but ultimately there is a pathless path which is called Brahman. So do you know? No, sir.
Fourth question: Do you know why the other world is not filled up? That is to say, why the infinite is never filled up. Any number of finite things joined together cannot make one infinite. Infinite remains infinite.
That marvelous truth has been so beautifully explained in the peace chant, both for the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad and also Bṛhadāraṇyaka. Pūrṇam idam. That is also infinite and this creation is also infinite. This creation has come from that infinite and it has to go back. That is the law. Every effect must go back to the cause. Every creation must go back to the creator. The creator and created division is called finiteness, is called ignorance, and that must completely disappear.
So, that was the fourth question, that neither this world will be filled up nor the other world will be filled up. And even science proves there are unaccountable number of species are there. Human species also is only one of these species.
And any of these species, let it be mosquitoes, let it be mice, let it be men, if they try to become beyond certain number, nature knows how to bring about balance—how many human beings should be there, how many other species should be there, how many plants should be there, how many animals, how many birds should be there, and how much of so-called non-living should be there. Everything is perfectly balanced.
Any imbalance brings immediate disaster. What is a disaster? That which balances the imbalance created mostly by human beings only. Now just think of it. So many human beings, their population is increasing. And what happens? A time will come when it will be impossible for this earth to sustain in wars, famines, flooding, pestilence, earthquakes, volcanoes, and above all, hydrogen bomb, nuclear bomb. Somehow or other, a Divine Mother brings about balance. Balance is the very nature of creation.
And once we are balanced, and that balance has acquired a beautiful name in Sanskrit, it is called samatvaṃ, equanimity. So these are the ideas. This world will never become full by any species. Neither the other world, because it is like travel. So a person goes to another city; maybe a particular season, more number of people go. But as soon as that season is over, again they will go back to their own place. This constant, eternal movement is called, in saṃsāra, is called brahmacakra. Cakra goes on. What is up goes down. What is down goes up. Therefore, that world will not be filled up. And this world also will not be filled up.
Fifth question: And then do you know, my son, a person who ascends to the highest, how he has to come down? How does you know? This fifth question is first taken up by Pravāhaṇa Jaivali to answer.
What is the fifth question? That at the fifth oblation, the liquid oblation—as I explained yesterday, that is the śukla and śoṇita, the semen in the male and the ovum in the female. So they are called oblations. Both are oblations because the offspring contains a combination of both. So, do you know why at the fifth oblation, how that liquid becomes human being? No, indeed, sir.
The Process of Creation
This is the fifth question. And Pravāhaṇa Jaivali now is answering Gautama after finding him an apt fit student fulfilling sādhanā catuṣṭaya sampatti. But he is answering the fifth question first of all. Instead of answering the last, he has started giving the answer to the fifth question. That is to say, that how the fifth oblation has come back. And we have to understand that one.
When we are looking at creation from the other Upaniṣads, Taittirīya Upaniṣad, Chāndogya Upaniṣad, but I will take Taittirīya Upaniṣad. How did the creation come? So first, Brahman—sa, he became the nirguṇa Brahma, the formless aspect, the highest reality, as if he came down and became the saguṇa Brahma. And that saguṇa Brahma, he looked around.
So, "so 'kāmayata," he desired, and desire itself is a downfall or becoming finite, spreading, trying to play līlā. He became the second, as it were. So sṛṣṭi is the second, Brahman is the first. The first Brahman is called nitya and the second is called līlā. Because cause and effect can never be different.
The Pañcabhūtas: The Five Elements
Now, how did we all become? So what happened? "Ātmana ākāśa saṃbhūtaḥa, ākāśād vāyohu, vāyo 'gniḥi, agner āpaḥa, adyaḥa pṛthivī, pṛthivyām oṣadhayaḥa, oṣadibhyo 'nnam, annāt puruṣaḥa." Rasa mayo eṣa puruṣaḥa.
So puruṣa means what? Everything in this universe is coming out of the earth. That is the fifth oblation—fifth pṛthivī. As if it is representing every female, yoṣat. Yoṣit means female. As it were, this fifth oblation. What is the oblation? Rain. And rain comes from its originator, fire. Fire comes from the vāyu. How scientific, how beautiful. And where from the air has come? Because air means movement. Movement can happen only in the space. But it is not lifeless space, but it is the highest manifestation of devatā.
And where from this space has come? Ākāśa has come from ātman. Ātman became space. Space became air. Air became fire. Fire became waters. Waters became earth. And everything that we see in this world is a manifestation of this earth only. A mountain, a manifestation of the earth. Everything that is with life, without life, everything is the outcome of the earth.
Never say something is without life. It means it is manifesting the lowest type of its nature, which is called existence. And when it evolves a little bit further, then it manifests consciousness, cit—first as sat, then as cit, and afterwards only ānanda will come.
Sat-Cit-Ānanda in Daily Life
Look at this statement. In your own life, what happens? You get up, you become conscious, and then you say, oh, I am. But not simple I am. I am hungry. That knowledge is there. Consciousness, awareness. I am, but I am a hungry person. And hunger means it has to be removed. And I require food. And I bring food. Then I become food. I lost food as if I lost some of my individuality and I fill up with food as if I became my own self. That is called eating, digesting, etc. Continuous action is going on.
So that is what is manifestation of prāṇa. So what until intelligent human being, what happens? That what is called struggle for survival. And struggle means there is consciousness, there is intelligence, and there is a gradual development both in the physical as well as mental instrument. But the causal body is eternal. Other things are changing. Causal body is not changing.
You can't say causal body was a baby, causal body was an adult. No, because all time, space and causation are transcended at the level of the cause. So the causal body is called ajñāna, ignorance. So that causal body is permanent, eternal. It is not produced. It simply is.
Then what happens? It is like what is called Eiffel Tower. So there is a wheel going on, ferris wheel. So the seats will be permanent. That is called the causal body. But the passengers come and go. Some are getting in, some are getting out. As soon as it stops, some are taken in, some are kicked out. This process is going on. But the wheel, which is called brahmacakra, goes on and on and on.
The Five Fires
Now what am I talking about? Instead of going into that mantram, in the fourth section, what am I talking about? I am talking about five fires are mentioned.
What is the first fire? Ākāśa.
What is the second fire? Vāyu.
What is the third fire? Agni.
What is the fourth fire? Waters, jala.
What is the last fire? Earth.
And what is all this? You, me, living, non-living? It is nothing but manifestation of earth.
The Wax Garden: Understanding Unity
Just like Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says, somebody created a wax garden. So the earth in the wax garden, the waters that we see in the wax garden, and the gardener whom we see in the wax garden, and the number of varieties of plants, trees, birds that we see, everything is made up of only this wax. Wax idam satyam. "Sad eva saumya idam agra āsīt." That sat. In this instance, this illustration, wax means sat, existence.
That existence always comes with cit and ānanda. Sat cit ānanda. You can't separate. They are not three. They are one in three, three in one. One cannot live without the another. And this sat cit ānanda alone has been expressed as satyaṃ, jñānam, anantam. Anantam and ānandam. Because bliss is eternal. Bliss is infinite.
What we experience, sukha, is a smallest, finite, infinitesimal expression of that ānanda. Experiential ānanda is called sukha duḥkha. As I mentioned, less sukha is duḥkha, less duḥkha is sukha. But that which is infinite, when we realize I am that infinite, I don't have ānanda. I become my own self. I become ānanda svarūpa. Ānandaḥa—I am not experiencing ānanda. I am ānanda.
The Mystery of Birth
So, five fires. We can compare these five fires, which now Pravāhaṇa is going to explain. Keep this picture in mind, pañcabhūtas. Then the fifth question: Do you know how a baby is born? That is, birth of anything in this world. How is it born? Baby is only what is called a representation, an example. That's all. How is a baby born?
Or here it is said that do you know how this human being is born? That was the last question. If you still remember, do you know at the fifth oblation, that is called the liquid oblations, come to be designated as man. Here man doesn't mean human being, means everything living, non-living. But for our purpose, we take it as a baby.
Where from the baby is coming? A male and female become united and the result will be after nine months or so, a baby. No. Everything in this world, every baby, every offspring, living or non-living, is coming from the highest.
So ātman becomes space, space again manifests, becomes more gross. Descending means grosser. So that which is infinite seems to become finite, gross, changeable, and so the descendant comes. The last is called the earth. Earth is called annam, and everything in this world is called annam. Even a rock is annam. What is called metal, a loha—all metals, including gold, silver, everything is food only. Āyurvedic physicians, they make it. The same thing, pañcabhūtas.
So in everything, every baby, everything has pañcabhūtas in it, either manifest or non-manifest. Such a profound truth we have to contemplate and then we have to have faith in it. What is the purpose? Slowly ascent. So first birth, how did it happen? How did God become? So every Upaniṣad theme, it tells us, Brahman desired to become the creation. So he first became space. We know the krama, how it happens.
The Vastness of Creation
This was the question, the fifth question. Do you know how that at the fifth oblation, that everything that we call the creation, that we can experience, we are experiencing, whether it be this, our particular earth, or it is the solar system or galaxy system, known or unknown—this that which goes beyond imagination. How many galaxies are there? Nobody can tell. No scientists can tell. How many other worlds are there? Nobody can tell. How many creatures on the other worlds are there? Nobody can tell. We are swimming in thick darkness and we are priding ourselves, destroying ourselves in so many ways.
So, this is the question, fifth question. How do we come to be here? But remember, I am a human being. How did you become human being? What were you before? Many birds? A monkey. How did I become a monkey? So, I was there as an animal, lowest animal, or I was there as a bird. I was there as a plant kingdom. In fact, all these things are happening all the time, only invisible.
That is why the scientists' mind-boggling conclusion that our vision should be a holistic vision, not holy vision. Holy means a vision which is full of holes. No, holistic. Everything is one substance, universal substance, by whatever name you call it. But some people call it God, Brahma. That's all.
The Nature of Loka
So, keep this background that all the pañcas—what is the first fire? Ākāśa. What is the second fire? Tata ākāśa is called dyuloka, or herein it is called asau, that world. And I told you yesterday, these are things we have to keep in mind. Loka means that which is state of our mind.
When I am extremely happy, I am in Brahmaloka. That means when I am in the deep sleep state, in which loka I am? Brahmaloka, because no duality is known. But slowly I come down. So whatever our state of the mind, that is called state of consciousness, and that state of consciousness is called loka.
So the highest loka, we are talking about Brahma loka. Herein, for the purpose of understanding, we have to equate it with ākāśa loka. Ākāśa is not the modern scientist's lifeless space. No, it is the highest manifestation of consciousness, and the higher the consciousness, the higher is the ānanda. The higher the consciousness, the lower is the division.
In Brahmaloka, everything is seen in that highest light. As Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had seen, first time when he came to Vārāṇasī, he was seeing only a golden Kāśī. Everything is golden. Just you have to contemplate on it. What is that golden? Are there no wicked people? At that state, if Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa looked at, let us say, Mathur Babu and his friends, he would have looked at them, upon them, a Śiva—manifestation of Śivas, talking, sporting, doing līlā.
But when his mind came down, the same thing: Mother, where have you brought? Even here, they are only talking about worldly things. That is the worldly vision. But earlier it was the spiritual vision.
The First Mantra: Chāndogya Upaniṣad 5.4
So, with this background, let us explore the very first mantra in this fourth section of the fifth chapter of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad:
"Asau vai loko gautama agniḥi, tasya āditya eva samit, raśmayo dhūmo, ahaḥa arciḥi, candramā aṅgārāḥa, nakṣatrāṇi visphuliṅgāḥa."
Understanding the Physical Yajña
So just imagine that you get up a fire to do some yajña, and then you have to offer something. Usually, clarified ghee—that is called ghī, clarified butter, melted butter, called ghī—and because that quickly catches fire and it is considered very sacred, very pure. Or if you want, take a kerosene or petrol, petrol. So you have to pour petrol.
And there is a small fire, and you pour petrol and you move it here and there, put, and then what happens? Suddenly it leaps up. There will be smoke and there would be so many embers, there will be sparks and there will be light and heat. All these are the resultant of lighting of the fire and stroking it with firewood and pouring, aiding, helping the fire become brighter and brighter.
So most wonderful thing is, is his turn into a contemplation called yajña. And in physical yajña, this is what every day they do. And if you have attended any of our Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's birthday pūjā, Holy Mother, Swāmījī, etc., Makālī, etc., many people, many our āśramas invariably they do some homa. That homa is a modern yajña.
And there also, we draw some lines symbolically. And then we arrange the faggots, samit, and then dry samit, and then put some camphor, etc., so that it can catch fire immediately. And then you will see some side effects. There will be sparks, there will be smoke, there will be light, there will be heat, and there will be some places, embers will be there. So this is the picture given.
The Agnihotra Tradition
On what basis is this picture given to us? On the basis of Agnihotra. Every Brāhmaṇa was supposed to do Agnihotra irrespective of whichever Veda he belongs. So he keeps that sacred fire and he preserves it. And many people preserve that, that original fire, which is hundreds centuries back, that was collected and it is not allowed to go out.
So slowly they put it in a windless place and go on feeding it. And then every now and then they pay attention so that it won't go out in a small way. And from there, they take out and that is called Āhavanīya. That is, they fetch from that and lit another bigger fire into which they pour oblations.
And the orthodox person who is doing it, so when he marries, yajña has to be done with that. And when he gives up his body and his last burning of the body is done with that special fire, which is the original fire. This is marvelous concepts.
The Mental Yajña
But this is a physical phenomena. And we don't dwell on this physical phenomena. Convert your whole life into a yajña. That is what Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says. You convert your life into a yajña. If you do not do that, you will be bound. So what is the meaning? That which binds us is non-performance of yajña. And that which liberates us is called a yajña.
As I mentioned, physical yajña, only few people can do. Everybody can do mental yajña. And these are called contemplations. These are called mental yajñas. So this pañcāgni is not a physical affair. They are taken only as illustrations.
The Cosmic Process of Give and Take
As I said earlier, we can compare this. How ātman slowly became grossified—means himself is manifesting in a grosser form and that manifestation is called this creation. Everything in the creation, living, non-living. Not only that, everything is exchanging everything.
There is nothing called, I live my life separately. I am breathing in, I am breathing out. I am taking in water, I am giving water. I am taking food, I am also giving up the food. I am taking in the heat, I am also giving the heat back. And by moving, I am taking, and then when I move from one space, point of space, to another point of space, that is called, again, giving back the space.
Just for our understanding, you are sitting in a chair, so you are using that space. And then after some time, you get up so that somebody else can take. That is called giving up. So this give and take is a natural process. And if we do not do it, then death will come.
And that is what Swāmī Vivekānanda said: You have gone down because you have kept your treasure like a dog in the manger, neither using yourself nor giving it to others. And yet you slowly, if you close all the doors and windows of your house, you will suffocate of the fresh oxygen and you will be consumed by the poison created by yourself.
It is exactly what happens when we do not give. When we do not give, we can't also take out. One simple example, that if a person knows something and he doesn't give to anybody, that knowledge becomes locked up within him. And so long as it is locked up, he cannot receive fresh knowledge. But give it freely and then there would be space created where you can receive higher, fresher, better knowledge. This is the process going on.
We are taking in all the discoveries that are done by our ancestors, scientists, etc., music scientists, musicians, even if a cook had discovered some special type of dish. And then we are taking it. But there are people who think about it. We are building up upon it. So we must give back, not only taken, and then we create something and we freely give it to others, not copyrighted, and then fresh ideas will come.
You speak out your understanding to others, then fresh ideas will come, better ideas will come, deeper knowledge will come. And if we don't do it, we get suffocated and die in the poison. It creates not giving, means not taking, and neither giving nor taking is called poison, that is called death, either slow or fast death.
The Celestial Fire: Heaven as the First Agni
So, now Pravāhaṇa Jaivali is telling that if a person had done, as an example, very good work, he goes to the highest world. Highest world means highest experience of happiness, longest experience of happiness, unobstructed experience of happiness. That is named as "asau vai lokaḥa"—that highest world, "he Gautama agniḥi"—that should become a first fire for performing this Agnihotra, spiritual Agnihotra ritual.
"Tasya āditya eva samit." There, what illumines that world, āditya. Āditya means here, enlightened consciousness. But physically speaking, if there is no sun, there would be no life. No sun, no life. No space, no life. No air, no life. No fire, no life. No water, no life. And no earth, no food, no life. This is the stark truth.
So, where the sun itself is illumining—here we have to take it symbolically as cidāgni. And then the certain by-products will come. Samit—the āditya, sun becomes the fuel. Without fuel, fire cannot be kept up.
So raśmayaḥa, the light that flows from the āditya is comparable to the small bits of curls of smoke that comes out. "Ahaḥa arciḥi." Ahaḥa means daytime here. So arci means flame. Flame, what is a flame? Light. What is light? That which gives us knowledge. And so that Sūrya Bhagavān, he gives light. And with the help of the light, we are able to transact our day-to-day affairs.
Then after some time, the day will come to an end, but the light will not come to an end. And that light is called candramā. And then "aṅgārāḥa nakṣatrāṇi visphuliṅgāḥa." This moon is compared to that embers. Embers means that the fire is there, but it is not giving any light. Just the embers are there. Fire is there. We can see that one.
And then when you look up at night, then you see the moon, you see the stars, and those stars are called visphuliṅga—sparks. Wherever there is fire, however, whatever you put, there is nothing called fire without the sparks. And that sparks, as it were, is what is called the stars.
Even scientifically speaking, you will see those things only when there is sun and it is the king of the stars. And because of him, so many creation and destruction and sustenance for some time, everything is going on. What a mind-boggling stretch of imagination.
Conclusion
And so, what is the point? We are coming from that God. And how this has to be applied to the pañcabhūtas, you can make the exercise your own, but we will talk about it in a smaller, a little more detail in our next class.
Closing Prayer
ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगदगुरुम पादपद्मे तयो: श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहु :
Om Jananim Saradam devim Ramakrishnam jagadgurum Padapadme tayoh shritva pranamami muhurmuhuh.
May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna!