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.
Introduction: 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.
So in our last class, with regard to that, in the 17th mantra, the last mantra in the fourth section, we were discussing about 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 six higher lokas according to Hindu division. 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 form half of the world, and below us there are six lokas, or seven lokas are there. 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, 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 to the lower lokas and exhaust our pāpams, but one has to come back to this earthly world to do sādhanā.
The Two 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 realizes human life is precious. Such a person can cherish two desires:
- 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 only for a very short time. I want permanent happiness.
- That is the second category of people, of which the Gita beautifully describes: out of a million people, perhaps one person awakens to the fact that spiritual life, godly life, is the only life worth living.
The Householder and the Fivefold Requirement (Pāṅktam)
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 (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, and such a person desires: "I want to perform this ritual." For that, the Vedas tell us that you require five things. What are the five things?
- He himself should be in young age, capable of undertaking this yajña ritual.
- He must have his
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!