Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.1.4 Lecture 34 on 17 May 2026
Full Transcript (Not Corrected)
Opening Invocation
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
OM PŪRṆAMADAḤ PŪRṆAMIDAM PŪRṆĀT PŪRṆAMUDACYATE PŪRṆASYA PŪRṆAMĀDĀYA PŪRṆAMEVA VAŚIṢYATE OM ŚĀNTI ŚĀNTI ŚĀNTIH
OM That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.
OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.
Invocation (Śānti Pāṭha)
Om pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate |
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate ||
Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||
That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone. Om. Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.
The Great Discussion in the Gurukula
There was a great discussion in a sacred Gurukula, the students. Real seekers of Brahman have started a discussion. What is Brahman? What did our Ācārya teach us, and how can we implement and progress and realise that I am Brahman?
Review of the Last Class: Duties of a Householder
So in our last class, with regard to that, in the 17th mantra (last mantra in the fourth section), we were discussing about that: What are the duties of a householder? That is to say, who is a householder? Anybody who thinks “I am the body and mind” – he is a householder. Such a person’s desires will be confined only to the satisfaction of the body, of the mind, and at best he wants to have higher happiness by going to higher lokas called svargalokas. Varieties, degrees of happiness, is described there of such the six higher lokas according to Hindu division.
The Fourteen Lokas
Hindus have divided every state of experience anybody can go through into 14 lokas, starting with this earthly world bhūloka. There are upper six lokas; six lokas plus our earth (where we are) that form half of the world, and below us there are seven lokas. Total 14 lokas are there.
The Uniqueness of Earth as Karma Bhūmi
Now the point is: we are very fortunate to live in this earthly world, because this is called karma bhūmi. Other worlds, higher or lower, they are considered as only to exhaust our karma phala – either puṇyam or pāpam. We will be going to those lokas either to experience higher happiness and thereby exhaust our puṇyam, or go down to the lower lokas and exhaust our pāpams. But one has to come back to this earthly world to do sādhanā.
Two Kinds of Desires
So here is a person who is involved, who has also evolved into a human being – not an uncouth, uncultured human being, but has awakened to some higher faculties – and he realised human life is precious. Such a person can cherish two desires. One: “I want to be happy in this world or higher lokas.” But after experiencing for some time again and again through a lot of labour, such a person realises what I want is not temporary, which is ephemeral, which is lasting only for a very short time. “I want permanent happiness.” That is the second category of people, of which the Gītā beautifully describes: out of 1,000,000 people, perhaps one person awakens to the fact that spiritual life, godly life, is the only life worth living.
The Householder with Faith in Scriptures
So there is such a householder, and he thinks “I am the body and mind.” He has faith in the scriptures, and the scriptures describe higher lokas. So he says: “I want to be happy in this world as well as in the higher worlds.” For such a person, the scriptures prescribe certain things, actions to be done according to one’s caste (we say, though it is not a good word actually), and according to one’s stage in life – varṇa dharma and āśrama dharma.
The Five Necessary Items (Pañcatam)
So we presume this person is a good person, and he goes to the teacher, spends several years, learns all about life, comes back, and he has unfulfilled desires pertaining to the body and mind. Such a person performs – he desires: “I want to perform this ritual.” For that the Vedas tell us that you require five things. What are the five things?
First, he himself should be of young age, capable age, capable of undertaking this yajña ritual. He must have his wife. You may be wondering why such a person should require a wife. Because a person imbued with worldly desires, he will be thinking: if I get a woman, a wife, then not a free life. But a duly married wife, then the rightful actions can be discharged, duties can be discharged. So he requires five items. This is called pañcatam. Pañcatam means a group of five.
Discharging Varṇa Dharma and Āśrama Dharma
So through that, he has to discharge his varṇa dharma and āśrama dharma, which have to be discharged through the proper performance of pañca mahāyajñas – five great removals of debts – of which we have discussed in the past and yesterday also.
The Five Components
So first is himself called yajamāna. Second is wife called patnī. Third is called the son. Fourth is called human wealth: money, animals, servants, and many other objects for the performance of yajña, yāga, etcetera. And he must have control of mind, a deep faith in God, etcetera. So that is called divine wealth. So yajamāna (the performer, sacrificer), his wife, his son, human wealth, and divine wealth. All these five are indispensable if a person wants to properly discharge all the pañca mahāyajñas.
Awakening and Evolution
We presume such a person does it throughout life, throughout many lives, and he slowly awakens, he becomes evolved. Then amṛtatvamicchan. So uttiṣṭhata jāgrata – arise, awake, approach learned ones, sit humbly at their feet and serve them, please them, ask them: “What type of life should I lead?”
tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā |
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṃ jñāninas tattvadarśinaḥ ||
From External Ritual to Upāsanā
So this evolved person says: “I have done physically all those things. Now from external ritual I want to progress into higher action” – that is called upāsanā. So such a person now turns his mind, and the Upaniṣad or the Veda tells us. But the Upaniṣad also tells us that as wrong as a person doesn’t get married, doesn’t get a son or sons, performs all the yajñāḥ yāgāḥ, he cannot evolve. That’s why I mentioned yesterday: the appropriate duties apportioned to one’s own caste and to one’s own stage of life. They are called āśrama dharmas, and due discharge of these dharmas inevitably does certain things. Due performance, proper performance of these duties is called karma yoga.
Karma Yoga and Citta Śuddhi
Karma yoga, in other words, is nothing but getting rid of our debts to these five beings – our ṛṣis, gods (presiding deities), our ancestors, every other human being, and everything in this world; nothing is left out. When we are grateful for our life, for our health, for our happiness, for our fulfilment – for everything, we have to give them back that giving them back what we receive. And this is a continuous process, constant process every second. For example, breathing in: borrowing oxygen from the vaiśvadevatā, and we have to give back what is helpful to other creatures like the trees, etcetera, through the proper giving away of carbon dioxide, etcetera.
So when a person properly discharges the duties, his mind becomes pure. This is called citta śuddhi. Karma – the result of karma yoga – is citta śuddhi.
What Does Citta Śuddhi Do?
What does citta śuddhi do? First of all, it purifies the mind. Secondly, it generates puṇyam. Puṇyam is the ability to squeeze happiness irrespective of any circumstance. Thirdly, mind becomes concentrated. Fourthly, mind gradually expands, identifying itself not only with one’s own family, but with one’s village, one’s state, one’s country, the world in which one is living, later on with every human being, with every non-human being, because the great fact to which even today we have not awakened is that everything depends upon everything in this world. Nothing is redundant. We cannot say “it is useless, let us get rid of it.” God has not created anything that is redundant. Everything helps us in some way or the other.
The Sacred Attitude
So that is called the sacred attitude, holistic attitude in scientific terms – but sacred attitude: looking upon the whole universe in which we are living (that includes our body and mind, sense organs, everything) and that is looking upon everything as manifestation of God, which again and again has been taught to us: sahasraśīrṣāpuruṣaḥ, sahasrākṣaḥ, sahasrapād, etc., in Viṣṇu Sūktam, Nārāyaṇa Sūktam, Puruṣa Sūktam, everywhere. The continuous refrain is: everything is the body of God. Every single part is a body of God. Nothing is actually redundant. That is the most wonderful truth we have to understand.
Turning External Ritual into Inner Ritual (Upāsanā)
So when a person reaches a certain stage of development, he says: “I have had enough of this. Now I want to turn this external ritual into an inner ritual” – and that is called upāsanā. That is much more important. But unless a person really does these external rituals etc., simply sitting and saying “I don’t need to do all those things” – that will not help us. We cannot evolve; for everything, nursery school, elementary school – everything is a necessity. Middle school, high school, then college, university – these are all graduated steps, and we cannot neglect even one step.
The Goal of Life: God Realisation
So these are all called external rituals, and they produce citta śuddhi. Citta śuddhi sharpens our understanding, and finally we understand the goal of life, as Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says, is God realisation.
The Sense of Unfulfillment and Vairāgya
Now, what does this person feel? “I am married, I have married, I have had children, so many births. I have gone to higher lokas, came down, but I still don’t feel the sense of fulfilment. I still feel dissatisfaction, tremendous dissatisfaction. I am not a happy person.” But don’t say every unhappy person is an evolved person. No. This person was very happy for performing, having a wife, having children, performing duties – tremendous amount of higher happiness he gets. But at the end he realises these are all achieved through hard labour and they are all ephemeral. Every happiness has to be re-earned, because nothing will be permanent. Such a person awakens and says: “I feel unfulfilled.” That is called vairāgya, dispassion – not because of śmaśānavairāgya, prasūtivairāgya, jobless vairāgya, mārkaṭavairāgya. No, it is because the person really evolved says there is a higher goal.
The Incident of Svāmī Narendranātha and Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa
Very clearly he can understand. There is a beautiful incident. Once Svāmī Narendranātha approached Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa: “I am very unhappy, so please bless me that I may progress in spiritual life.” Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, he was testing Narendranātha: “Why do you have to complete your college education?” Then he said: “I wish I forget whatever I have learned so far. I thought that was the goal earlier. Now I understand, by your grace, these are the very things that are great obstructions for my future life. I wish I could forget everything and restart my life.” Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was of course highly pleased, and Narendranātha was telling his real experience actually, not simply temporary vairāgya.
Pañcamahāyajña in the Form of Upāsanā
So what shall this person do? He must discharge the same pañcamahāyajña in the form of upāsanā. And I also interpret it in this way. Since we have been studying Taittirīya Upaniṣad, we are familiar with the pañcakośas. So we can say pañcatam – a group of five. We have to transcend with the help of these five kośas. Every kośa, remember, has to be sacralised, looked upon with sacredness, as manifestation of God. Body is God, mind is God, external world is God, somebody who is friendly is God, somebody who is inimical – even more of God. Everything in this world is there to push me nearer to God. That is how I understand.
The Ascension in Bhṛguvallī
So this person – how he ascended or he is going – we have seen in the Bhṛguvallī also practically what Bhṛgu had done. So this person wants to do this upāsanā. This is called ahaṃgraha upāsanā, pañcata upāsanā.
Meaning of Pañcata Upāsanā
Pañcata upāsanā means my own personality containing all the five elements, five types of wealth – the person who is the performer, his wife, his son, and human wealth and divine wealth. This is called pañcatam – five types of wealth.
Internal Contemplative Instruments
So my mind is the myself (yajamāna), etc. We will see this. My speech is my wife, and my prāṇa is my son, etc. We will see the eye as well as the ear that completes the five elements. So he turns these external very things into internal contemplative instruments.
What Does He Want? Fulfilment
And what does he want? “I want fulfilment.” How are you going to get fulfilment? When I perform this upāsanā, I will become one with Brahman. And that, very briefly, we will discuss this. This is called pañcata upāsanā, and this pañcata upāsanā is another name. It is called ahaṃgraha upāsanā.
What is Ahaṃgraha?
What is ahaṃgraha? Ahaṃ brahma asmi, ahaṃ ātmā asmi, ahaṃ īśvaraḥ asmi. This feeling – like Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, by doing upāsanā of Hanumān, felt “I am Hanumān” – completely identified. Upon completion of meditation on Rādhā, he felt “I am not a male, I am a female like Rādhā. I am Rādhā, and my only thought is Kṛṣṇa.” So that is called ahaṃgraha upāsanā.
The Four Āśramas as Stages of Mental Development
So the Upaniṣad is telling that especially they say in Vanaprasthāśrama – means the stage of vituddhrayal – and incidentally whether it is Brahmacaryāśrama, Gṛhasthāśrama, Vanaprasthāśrama, Sannyāsāśrama, they are all stages in mental development, nothing to do with age, even though age can help us. We have to crystal-clearly keep this point in mind:
- When I know what is life and what is the goal of life and how to reach my goal of life, I have completed my Brahmacaryāśrama.
- When I start practising karma yoga, bhakti yoga, rāja yoga, jñāna yoga – whether it is Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, whatever ism – I experiment taking that path which is suitable, which gives me greater joy either through bhakti or jñāna, whatever, and I start progressing. That is called Gṛhasthāśrama.
- In the end, when my mind matures, I don’t want anything else in this world. I want to disidentify myself from this body and mind. The world is nothing but our own body and mind, and everyday we experience it through this what is called suṣupti avasthā, and how much peace of mind – that is called ānandam – we get. So this is what is beautifully being outlined here. So detachment from body and mind is called Vanaprasthāśrama.
- When we succeed, identify ourselves with the divinity within – that is called Sannyāsāśrama.
This is how we have to understand, really.
How Ahaṃgraha Upāsanā is to be Done
So let us briefly discuss what the Upaniṣad is telling – how this ahaṃgraha upāsanā had to be done.
Mind as the Ātmā, Speech as Wife, Prāṇa as Son
Mana eva asya ātmā, vāk jāyā, prāṇaḥ prajā.
Please keep in mind that these fivefold objects necessary to complete any ritual, we have to keep in mind. The person who has decided, determined “I want to perform this ritual” – he requires his wife, requires his son, requires human wealth (the instruments, the firewood and the cows, the milk, the Kurds, etcetera), and Ṛtvik (the priests who perform all those things) – that is called manuṣya mitham – and certain divine qualities, divine wealth. Only with this will the ritual be really successful.
Turning Externalities into Internal Activity
So now the Ṛṣi wants to convey: having reached this higher stage of life, the person now turns all externalities into internal activity which is called upāsanā. So he requires these five also, and why he requires these five – that is also going to be explained.
So the mind is the himself. His speech is his wife, and his vital force or prāṇa is like his progeny or son. Then there are only three: manas, vāk, prāṇa. What about the other two?
Eyes as Human Wealth (Manuṣyavittam)
Cakṣū – manuṣya mitham, so the eyes are called the human wealth. Why? Cakṣuṣā tattvindati. So it is the ‘I’ which discerns everything, which can experience, which is the giver of the greatest knowledge from outside world; then from the inside world, inner ‘I’ which is called discrimination, the intelligence that can discriminate our experiences and come to the right conclusion.
Viveka in Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s Words
And viveka – discrimination – in Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s words: everything is temporary; God alone is permanent. And so everything has to be gradually given up. Given up means not throwing out, but to develop: “I have no relationship with this external world. I have no relationship, no attachment to this body. No attachment to the mind.” This is called withdrawal. This is called Vanaprasthāśrama, really speaking.
So this knowledge through the ‘I’ gives us the knowledge. How does it give? Let us proceed to the next one.
Ears as Divine Wealth (Daivavittam)
Śrotram daivam. Śrotraṃ nahi tat śrṛṇoti. So marvellously, this Upaniṣad is telling us: our ears are called daivivittam. And second, this is ‘I’ is the manuṣyavittam (human wealth), and the śrotram is called divine wealth.
Why Are the Ears Divine?
So why are the ears? Because when a person hears about God, about the highest life – that is called śruti. That is why Vedas are called śrutis. Through hearing only – either when we read the Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, the works of Svāmijī, the vāks of Ramana Maharṣi, or Upaniṣads or Bhagavad Gītā – we get that knowledge, and that’s why the ears are most important.
And when the same ears are used in worldly life, we remember Madhu and Kaitabha. So we desire: everybody loves me to hear, everybody appreciates me, they love me. Nothing can be further from truth. Nobody loves us. We have seen that in this very first chapter, that excepting one’s own ātman, nobody loves anything else. If anything is loved, it is not loved for the sake of that object. A wife is not loved for the sake of the wife. Son is not loved for the sake of the son. Wealth is not loved for the sake of wealth. Body is not loved for the sake of the body. The different sense organs are not loved for their sake, but for the sake of the ātman, because ātman is of the nature of ānanda. We love ānanda. We come from ānanda. We live because of ānanda, or we live in the hope of getting ānanda. If I am not happy right now – even if I am happy right now – that I am in such a higher type of happiness, degree of happiness, higher qualitative happiness and for a long time, as long as it is possible – and only when we reach God, this condition can be really fulfilled.
Scriptural Knowledge and Satpuruṣa Association
So therefore all this knowledge comes to us from studying the scriptures, from coming in association with satpuruṣas (great people), etc., by hearing the scriptures, etc. That is why the ears are called divine wealth, and with the help of the divine wealth, our eyes must examine: is the scripture speaking the truth? So when we see that which has birth is continuously changing, ending in that final change called death – everything is ephemeral excepting pure consciousness – and that observation with the eye of discrimination, and if the discrimination is proper, then slowly (may take many lives) dispassion comes. Passion turns into dispassion. Dispassion means passion turned towards God. That is called dispassion – not śmaśānavairāgya.
Vairāgya as Higher Happiness, Not Frustration
That affection, that attachment which does not attach itself to a higher thing – that is called frustration, not higher attachment. Vairāgya should never be understood in a negative manner. Vairāgya means: “This is a lower happiness, but I am in search of higher happiness, and when I get higher happiness, lower happiness becomes natural, automatic.”
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s Example
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa gives a beautiful example, taking of course from the śruti. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s mouth never speaks anything except in scriptures, even though he said “I have not read much; I have heard much, and my mind retains in memory everything that I had heard.”
Turning Inward
So this person turns inward. Inward means Godward. So that is called vairāgyam, and that which after discrimination doesn’t make us turn towards God – there is a great defect in that discrimination. It is frustration. I would call it frustration. And a frustrated person is not a happy person, and nobody wants to cultivate the company of a frustrated person. On the other hand, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says we have to cultivate holy company.
Who is a Holy Man?
Who is a holy man? I defined earlier – you will have to exercise your mind to remember – but one characteristic: by whose presence – in whose presence we become terribly happy without any objects to give us happiness. The mere sannidhya (presence) is enough to make our mind go up, and the more it goes up, the more happiness we feel. The higher a person progresses, the greater would be his happiness, the longer would be his happiness. This is how we have to judge.
Mind as the Yajamāna
So the whole world – “am I the body-mind?” That is a thought in our mind. That is why this yajamāna is called mind. That is why it is said: mana eva manuṣyāṇāṃ kāraṇaṃ bandhamokṣayoḥ – mind alone is the root cause of both happiness as well as liberation, as well as happiness and unhappiness, good and evil – everything. Mind is everything.
Thoughts and Holy Company
And what our mind thinks – they are called thoughts. If they are holy thoughts, pure thoughts, spiritual thoughts, then that is called real progress. And if a person’s mind is filled with these thoughts, then what he speaks is nothing but his thoughts.
Examples of Holy Scriptures as Thoughts of Avatāras
The whole Gospel is nothing but the thoughts of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. The Gospel of Holy Mother is nothing but the understanding in the form of spoken words – is the Gospel of Holy Mother. The Complete Works of Svāmī Vivekānanda, the Bhagavad Gītā – is nothing but the thoughts of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa Himself. That is why it is called Bhagavad Gītā – directly from the mouth of Bhagavān, these things have emanated.
Mind as Ātman and the Role of Ahaṃkāra
So the mind: “I am the mind.” Where does the ahaṃkāra, “I”, reside? In the mind. Therefore it is considered ātman – means myself, my real self. And then if my mind is pure, then I am a spiritual person. If it is impure, that is called “I am a worldly person” – I am identified with anātman. And then a person whose mind is filled with holy thoughts, he will speak only holy thoughts, and his deeds will be only holy deeds.
Prāṇa as the Power to Translate Thoughts into Actions
And that is why, to perform holy deeds, a person requires energy, and that energy is called prāṇa, and that prāṇa represents that power to translate our thoughts, our speech into real actions. Just imagine you go to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and he never talks – then it is very difficult to understand what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa really wants to convey. Fortunate few are those people whom he touched and awakened their kuṇḍalinī. That is a different issue. But usually if a person is keeping quiet, we will not know what this person is, because speech betrays a person’s personality.
The Five: Ears as Source of Knowledge
So through these five: the ears which give us the knowledge of the scriptures – incidentally that also gives us the worldly knowledge: how to create bombs, how to destroy, how to rob a bank or other human beings, how to kill – all these things are the outcomes.
A Great American General’s Statement
A great American general once made a statement: wars are born out of the thoughts of people who are warmongers. So peace also should spring only from the minds of people whose nature is peace and who want peace. This is a beautiful teaching we have to understand.
Purpose of Ahaṃgraha Upāsanā
So this ahaṃgraha upāsanā is to understand that God has given me mind, and this mind is meant for cultivating higher thoughts, and of the higher thoughts, cultivating ahaṃkāra – that is, “I am a servant of God, I am a friend of God, I am the parent of God, I am a child of God, I am the beloved, I am the lover of God.” All these things must come only from lower to higher mind in spiritual progress, and accordingly the thoughts also will come.
The Prayer of Surrender
tvam eva mātā ca pitā tvam eva |
tvam eva bandhuś ca sakhā tvam eva |
tvam eva vidyā draviṇaṃ tvam eva |
tvam eva sarvam mama deva deva ||
If this sentence teaching did not come from the mouth of people, we would never have understood this. That is why the mind must be pure; then speech will follow the mind like a wife follows her husband, and like the obedient, loving child follows the footsteps of his father – especially so.
Prāṇa, Śruti, and Verification
This prāṇa means that our expressions of our thoughts in the form of concrete actions follow our thoughts and our speech. And for that, the first instrument is the ears – śruti. You can also say the Vedic scriptures. And this śruti must be verified. The śruti says everything is ephemeral. Is it true? How do we know? Exercise your eyes. See everyday how many people are dying, how many are being born, how many behave so cruelly, how many are robbed, how many people are doing good in this world. If anybody thinks there are no good people, there are no people who are well-wishers of this world and sacrificing their life for others, we will be terribly, terribly mistaken. Just as there are evil people – I think even more good people are available in this world.
The Essence of Upāsanā
So this is the upāsanā: “My mind – I am the mind. I have to purify, I have to transform my unripe ego into the ripe ego.” And for that I have to perform, I have to hear the spiritual advice (how to live the life), and I must verify how I should live, how my Guru is living. How Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa lived, how Ramana Maharṣi lived, how the ṛṣis and munīs lived.
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa on the Ṛṣis
As Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says about the ṛṣis: when somebody remarked and passed a bad remark, he said: “Never say such a thing. Early morning these people used to get up – even though they were householders – go away far from home, spend whole day in deep thinking, forgetting the world, thinking only of the ātman, and come back in the evening, satisfy their hunger with roots and fruits, and take a few hours of rest – and that is why they became the ṛṣi.”
Definition of Ṛṣi
By definition, a ṛṣi is a mantradraṣṭā. Ṛṣati jānāti iti ṛṣiḥ – one who knows spiritual truth, real truth, he is called a ṛṣi. So we must become ṛṣis.
Direction of the Sense Organs
For that purpose, God has given us the body. Body consists of five sense organs. They can be directed, misdirected, they can be ill-directed, they can be well-directed – and that direction should come after hearing the scriptures, after cultivating holy company, we come to know about it, and then we must verify whether the scripture is telling the truth.
Jāgrat – Open Your Eyes
Open your eyes – jāgrat. Not only arise, awake. Why was Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa so happy, even though he possessed so little from the worldly point of view? Why so many swamis are so happy, so satisfied, so pleased with themselves, with their simple life? They must be getting some happiness from somewhere devoid of all these external objects, which we are convinced without them we cannot be happy. We should understand: we cannot be happy with them. Whatever tends to give us happiness also tends to give us its opposite effect, and maybe in greater degree.
Essence of Ahaṃgraha Upāsanā
So this is the essence of this ahaṃgraha upāsanā, which ultimately leads – first it leads from withdrawal, which means what is called detachment, non-identification – neti neti – from the external world, from the body, from the mind, etc. And this available pure mind is now directed towards God. That is called upāsanā. Finally, even that instrument through which we are approaching God itself is discarded, or it melts finally in the Divine.
River Merging into the Ocean
Then there is, like a river: nāmarūpe vihāya samudra bhavati. Every river that merges in the ocean loses its name, form, taste, colour, everything, and thereafter it is known only as the ocean. So this jīva completely gives up jīva bhāva and becomes merged in Brahman. Thereafterwards, others can call such a person – he is Brahman, but if body-mind is alive, they are called jīvanmuktiḥ. This is the essence of this pañcata upāsanā.
The Result of Realising Ahaṃgraha Upāsanā
And then a person who realises this ahaṃgraha upāsanā – what does he get? Sarvam āpnoti tad idam sarvam āpnoti ya evam veda. One who performs this ahaṃgraha upāsanā, pañcata upāsanā – pañcata means mind, speech, prāṇa, the eyes and the ears – what does he get? What does not he get? He gets everything. He gets Brahman. Brahman means everything. Tad idam sarvam āpnoti hi ya evam veda – he who succeeds in performing the ahaṃgraha upāsanā, and then only aham remains; graha falls off automatically.
Conclusion of the 17th Mantra and 4th Chapter
This is the essence of this ahaṃgraha upāsanā. With this ahaṃgraha upāsanā, the 17th mantra is over, and with this the 4th chapter is over.
Essence of This Teaching
And what is the essence of this? So this is what Svāmī Vivekānanda had come to teach: uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata.
Review of the First Chapter
So, in this first chapter we have seen how this sṛṣṭi has started. That is the līlā of Brahman – brahma līlā. It is also called brahma cakra. Saṃsāra is called brahma cakra. But if we forget it is brahma cakra – that is what in Hindi they call it chakkar meṃ paḍ gayā: “I have fallen into delusion, misunderstanding, etc.”
The Process of Creation
So after Bhagavān first created, started the sṛṣṭi: first subtle pañcabhūtas, then gross pañcabhūtas, then creation of the gods, then creation of the human beings. Then he divided everybody into these four castes, varṇas. I am afraid to use that word “caste” because that is inevitably associated with birth, which is an absolute anomaly. It should not be understood. It is only through quality – guṇa – which guṇa is dominant: sattva, rajas, or tamas?
Creation of Satyam, Dharmam, and Varṇāśrama Dharmas
And then Bhagavān created satyam and dharmam, and to put the satyam and dharmam into practice, Bhagavān has created this varṇāśrama dharmas in the form of “do this” and “do not do that.” So for every stage of varṇa, for every stage of life, there are certain duties appropriate for that stage of life, and the discharge of those appropriate dharmas helps us evolve further.
Evolution Through Varṇas
In both varṇa – a śūdra becomes a vaiśya, vaiśya becomes a kṣatriya, kṣatriya becomes a brāhmaṇa – and I will also tell you in the next class. So a person develops so gradually. Intelligence – that development of intelligence ends in the rebirth as vaiśya, that is: “I want to earn more and more, I want to know more and more.” Who can become a successful businessman? Only an intelligent person. And then to protect what one earns, one requires strength – for that I must develop tremendous strength, not only to earn but to enjoy and to protect – yoga and kṣema. And then after some time, “I must make everything external into the internal” – that is called to become a brāhmaṇa.
What is a Brāhmaṇa?
So a brāhmaṇa is a spiritual person. Everything is spiritualised. Spiritualising whole life is called living a brāhmaṇa’s life. These are marvellous thoughts that the Upaniṣad wants us to grasp, understand, retain, and ponder over and slowly develop.
Concluding Remarks
We will talk about these things in our next class.
Mangala Caraṇa (Benediction)
Om jananī aṃśaradam devī rāmakṛṣṇam jagatpuram |
pādapadme dhyohasṛtvā praṇamāmi mohaṃ moho ||
May Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Holy Mother, and Svāmī Vivekānanda bless us all with bhakti. Jai Rāmakṛṣṇa.
Closing Prayer
ॐ जननीं शारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् ।पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः
Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh
May Rāmakṛṣṇa, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekānanda bless us all with Bhakti.
Jai Rāmakṛṣṇa!