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 and Peace Chant
ओम् पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते |
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ||
ओम् शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||
*Om pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṁ pūrṇātpūrṇamudacyate |
pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate ||
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 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 Acharya teach us, and how can we implement and progress and realise that I am Brahman.
## Recap: 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 and degrees of happiness are described there of such the 6 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 6 lokas. 6 lokas plus our earth where we are that form half of the world, and below us there are 6 lokas or 7 lokas. Total 14 lokas are there. 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 Desires of an Evolved Person
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 realized human life is precious. Such a person can cherish two desires.
1. **Temporary happiness:** I want to be happy in this world or higher lokas. But after experiencing for some time again and again through a lot of labor, such a person realizes what I want is not temporary, which is ephemeral, which is lasting for only a very short time.
2. **Permanent happiness:** That is the second category of people, of which the Gita 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.
### Prescriptions for the Householder
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*.
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 5 things.
## The Fivefold Necessities (*pāṅktam*)
What are the 5 things?
1. **The performer himself:** He himself should be of young age, capable age, capable of undertaking this *yajña* ritual.
2. **His wife:** He must have his wife. You may be wondering why such a person should require a wife. Because a person imbued with worldly desires 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.
3. **The son**
4. **Human wealth:** money, animals, servants, and many other objects for the performance of *yajña*, *yāga*, etc.
5. **Divine wealth:** He must have control of mind, a deep faith in God, etc.
This is called *pāṅktam*. *Pāṅktam* means a group of 5. 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* – 5 great removals of debts, of which we have discussed in the past and yesterday also.
So first is himself called *yajamāna*, second is wife called *patnī*, third is the son, fourth is human wealth (money, animals, servants, and many other objects for the performance of *yajña*, *yāga*, etc.), and he must have control of mind, a deep faith in God, etc. – that is called divine wealth. So *yajamāna* (the performer, sacrificer), his wife, his son, human wealth, and divine wealth – all these 5 are indispensable if a person wants to properly discharge all the *pañcamahāyajñas*.
## From Ritual to *Upāsana*
We presume such a person does it throughout life, throughout many lives, and he slowly awakens, he becomes evolved. Then *amṛtatvamicchan*. So:
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत
*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?"
तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया |
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः ||
*Tadviddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā |
Upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninastattvadarśinaḥ |*
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 *upāsana*." Such a person now turns his mind, and the Upanishad or the Veda tells us. But the Upanishad also tells us that as wrong as a person doesn't get married, doesn't get a son or sons, performs all the *yajñāś*, *yāgāś*, 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 one's *āśrama dharmas*, and due discharge of these dharmas inevitably does certain things.
### *Karma Yoga* and *Chitta Śuddhi*
Due performance, proper performance of these duties is called *karma yoga*. *Karma yoga* in other words is nothing but getting rid of our debts to these 5 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 fulfillment for everything, we have to give them back – that giving back what we receive. And this is a continuous process, constant process every second. For example, breathing in, we are borrowing oxygen from the *vaiśvadevatā*, and we have to give back what is helpful to other creatures like the trees, etc., through the proper giving away of carbon dioxide, etc.
So when a person properly discharges the duties, his mind becomes pure. This is called *chitta śuddhi*. The result of *karma yoga* is *chitta śuddhi*.
### What Does *Chitta 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.
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) as manifestation of God, which again and again has been taught to us:
सहस्रशीर्षापुरुषः, सहस्राक्षः, सहस्रपाद्, 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.
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 *upāsana*. 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. So these are all called external rituals, and they produce *chitta śuddhi*. *Chitta śuddhi* sharpens our understanding, and finally we understand the goal of life, as Sri Ramakrishna says, is God realization.
### *Vairāgya* and True Unfulfillment
Now, what does this person feel? "I am married, I have married, I had children, so many births. I have gone to higher lokas, came down, but I still don't feel the sense of fulfillment. 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 performing, having a wife, having children, performing duties – tremendous amount of higher happiness he gets. But at the end he realizes these are all achieved through hard labor 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 *śmaśānavairāgya*, *prasūtivairāgya*, jobless *vairāgya*, *mārkaṭavairāgya*. No, it is because the person has really evolved and says there is a higher goal. Very clearly he can understand.
### Incident: Swami Narendranath and Sri Ramakrishna
There is a beautiful incident. Once Swami Narendranath approached Sri Ramakrishna, "I am very unhappy, so please bless me that I may progress in spiritual life." Sri Ramakrishna, he was testing Narendra. "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." Sri Ramakrishna was of course highly pleased, and Narendra was telling his real experience actually, not simply temporary *vairāgya*.
## *Pañcata Upāsana* (or *Ahangraha Upāsana*)
So what shall this person do? He must discharge the same *pañcamahāyajña* in the form of *upāsana*. 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 *pāṅktam*, a group of five. We have to transcend with the help of these five *kośas*. Every *kośa* – remember – has to be sacralized, 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 is even more God. Everything in this world is there to push me nearer to God. That is how I understand.
So this person, how he ascended… or he's going… We have seen in the *Bhṛguvallī* also practically what *Bhṛgu* had done. So this person wants to do this *upāsana*. This is called *ahangraha upāsana*, *pañcata upāsana*. *Pañcata upāsana* means my own personality containing all the 5 elements, 5 types of wealth – the performer, his wife, his son, and human wealth and divine wealth. This is called *pāṅktam*, 5 types of wealth.
### Internalization of the Five
So:
- **My mind is the myself (*yajamāna*).**
- **My speech is my wife.**
- **My *prāṇa* is my son.**
- **The eye as well as the ear** – that completes the 5 elements.
So he turns these external very things into internal contemplative instruments. And what does he want? I want fulfillment. How are you going to get fulfillment? When I perform this *upāsana*, I will become one with Brahman. That is very briefly what we will discuss. This is called *pañcata upāsana*, and this *pañcata upāsana* is another name. It is called *ahangraha upāsana*.
### What is *Ahangraha Upāsana*?
अहम् ब्रह्म अस्मि, अहम् आत्मा अस्मि, अहम् ईश्वरः अस्मि.
*Aham brahma asmi, aham ātmā asmi, aham īśvaraḥ asmi.*
This feeling, like Sri Ramakrishna: by doing *upāsana* of Hanuman, he felt "I am Hanuman," completely identified. Upon completion of meditation on Radha, he felt "I am not a male, I am a female like Radha. I am Radha, and my only thought is Krishna." So that is called *ahangraha upāsana*.
## The Four *Āśramas* as Stages of Mental Development
So the Devapunshat is telling that especially they say in *Vanaprasthāśrama* means the stage of *vituddhyala*, and incidentally whether it is *Brahmacaryāśrama*, *Gṛhasthāśrama*, *Vanaprasthāśrama*, *Sanyāsāśrama*, 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:
- **Brahmacaryāśrama:** 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*.
- **Gṛhasthāśrama:** When I start practicing *karma yoga*, *bhakti yoga*, *rājayoga*, *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*.
- **Vanaprasthāśrama (detachment from body and mind):** 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 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*.
- **Sanyāsāśrama:** When we succeed and identify ourselves with the divinity within, that is called *Sanyāsāśrama*.
This is how we have to understand really.
## The Upanishadic Teaching on *Ahangraha Upāsana*
So let us briefly discuss what the Upanishad is telling, how this *ahangraha upāsana* had to be done.
मन एव अस्य आत्मा वाक् जाया प्राणः प्रजा।
*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" requires his wife, requires his son, requires human wealth (the instruments, the firewood and the cows, the milk, the curds, etc., and *ṛtvik*, the priests who perform all those things) – that is called *manuṣya vittam* – and certain divine qualities, divine wealth. Only with this will the ritual be really successful.
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 *upāsana*. So he requires these five also, and why he requires these five is also going to be explained.
### The Fivefold Correspondence
So:
- **The mind is the himself.**
- **His speech is his wife.**
- **His vital force or *prāṇa* is like his progeny or son.**
Then there are only three – *manas*, *vāk*, *prāṇa*. What about the other two?
- **The eyes (*cakṣu*) are called the human wealth (*manuṣya vittam*).** Why? *Cakṣuṣā tattvindati* – it is the ‘I’ which discerns everything, which can experience, which is the giver of the greatest knowledge from the 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. And *viveka* (discrimination) in Sri Ramakrishna's words is: 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.
- **The ears (*śrotram*) are called divine wealth (*daiva vittam*).** *Śrotraṁ nahi tat śṛṇoti.* So marvelously, this Upanishad is telling us: our ears are called *daiva vittam*. 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 Sri Ramakrishna, the works of Swamiji, the words of Ramana Maharshi or Upanishads or Bhagavad Gita – we get that knowledge, and that is why the ears are most important.
### The Sacred Role of the Ears and Eyes
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 – only when we reach God can this condition be really fulfilled.
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 this world 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, 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*. That affection, that attachment which does not attach itself to a higher thing – that is called frustration, not higher attachment.
### Understanding *Vairāgya* Correctly
*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. Sri Ramakrishna gives a beautiful example, taking of course from the *śruti*. Sri Ramakrishna's mouth never speaks anything except 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."
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, Sri Ramakrishna says we have to cultivate holy company. 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.
## The Primacy of the Mind
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:
मन एव मनुष्याणां कारणं बन्धमोक्षयोः
*Mana eva manuṣyāṇāṁ kāraṇaṁ 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. 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.
- The whole Gospel is nothing but the thoughts of Sri Ramakrishna.
- The Gospel of Holy Mother is nothing but the understanding in the form of spoken words.
- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.
- The Bhagavad Gita is nothing but the thoughts of Bhagavan Krishna Himself. That is why it is called Bhagavad Gita – directly from the mouth of Bhagavan, these things have emanated.
So the mind is: "I am the mind." Where does the *ahaṅkāra*, ‘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*.
A person whose mind is filled with holy thoughts will speak only holy thoughts, and his deeds will be only holy deeds. 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.
## The Necessity of Speech and Action
Just imagine you go to Sri Ramakrishna and he never talks. Then it is very difficult to understand what Sri Ramakrishna 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.
So through these 5, 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 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.
## The Essence of *Ahangraha Upāsana*
So this *ahangraha upāsana* is to understand that God has given me mind, and this mind is meant for cultivating higher thoughts. And of the higher thoughts, cultivating *ahaṅkāra* – 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.
त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव |
त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव |
त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव |
त्वमेव सर्वम् मम देव देव ||
*Tvameva mātā ca pitā tvameva |
Tvameva bandhuśca sakhā tvameva |
Tvameva vidyā draviṇaṁ tvameva |
Tvameva 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, this *prāṇa* – that means our expressions of our thoughts in the form of concrete actions – follows our thoughts and our speech. For that, the first instrument is the ears (*śruti*). You can also say the Vedic scriptures, and this *śruti* must be verified.
### Verification through *Śruti* and *Dṛṣṭi*
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.
So this is the *upāsana*: My mind – I am the mind. I have to purify, I have to transform my unripe ego into the ripe ego.
## The Path of the Ṛṣis
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 Sri Ramakrishna lived, how Ramana Maharshi lived, how the *ṛṣis* and *munis* lived. As Sri Ramakrishna 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 far away 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*. By definition, a *ṛṣi* is a *mantradṛṣṭā*: ऋषति जानाति इति ऋषिः – one who knows spiritual truth, real truth, he is called a *ṛṣi*. So we must become *ṛṣis*.
For that purpose, God has given us the body. Body consists of 5 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. Open your eyes – *jāgrata*. Not only arise, awake. Why was Sri Ramakrishna 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.
## The Goal of *Pañcata Upāsana*
So this is the essence of this *ahangraha upāsana* which ultimately leads first 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 *upāsana*. Finally, even that instrument through which we are approaching God itself is discarded or it melts finally in the Divine. Then there is, like a river:
नामरूपे विहाय समुद्र भवति
*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*. Thereafter, others can call such a person – he is *Brahman*, but if body-mind is alive, they are called *jīvanmuktis*. This is the essence of this *pañcata upāsana*.
And then a person who realizes this *ahangraha upāsana* – what does he get?
सर्वम् आप्नोति तद् इदम् सर्वम् आप्नोति यः एवम् वेद
*Sarvam āpnoti tad idam sarvam āpnoti yaḥ evam veda*
One who performs this *ahangraha upāsana*, *pañcata upāsana* – *pāṅktam* means mind, speech, *prāṇa*, the eyes, and the ears – what does he get? What does he not get? He gets everything. He gets *Brahman*. *Brahman* means everything. *Tad idam sarvam āpnoti hi yaḥ evam veda* – he who succeeds in performing the *sāhangraha upāsana*, and then only *aham* remains; *graha* falls off automatically.
This is the essence of this *ahangraha upāsana*. With this *ahangraha upāsana*, the 17th mantra is over, and with this the 4th chapter is over.
## Summary and Conclusion
And what is the essence of this? So this is what Swami Vivekananda had come to teach:
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्रव्यवरण निबोधत
*Uttiṣṭhata jāgrata pravyavaraṇa nibodhata*
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*. *Saṁsāra* is called *Brahma cakra*. But if we forget it is *Brahma cakra*, that is what in Hindi they call it *cakkar meṁ paḍ gayā* – "I have fallen into delusion, misunderstanding," etc.
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 *varṇas*. I am afraid to use the 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*? And then Bhagavān created *satyam* and *dharmam*, and to put *satyam* and *dharmam* into practice, Bhagavān has created this *varṇāśramadharmas* 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.
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 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*.
So a *brāhmaṇa* is a spiritual person. Everything is spiritualized. Spiritualizing whole life is called living a *brāhmaṇa's* life. These are marvelous thoughts that the Upanishad wants us to grasp, understand, retain, and ponder over and slowly develop.
We will talk about these things in our next class.
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!