Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.1.3 Lecture 20 on 29 March 2026
Full Transcript (Not Corrected)
Opening Invocation
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
Transliteration
oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
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.
Context and Recap
We are still in the third section of the first chapter of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. This third section deals especially with Prāṇa Upāsanā, and it has 28 verses. It ends by singing the glories of Prāṇa.
Here is where we have taken up the discussion following the footsteps of Śaṅkarācārya, who was refuting the Pūrva Mīmāṃsaka's view that only that portion of the Veda which involves actions and rituals alone is fit to be called authoritative Veda — the rest being unimportant. That view has been refuted by Śaṅkarācārya, who says that everything the Veda contains is absolutely authoritative. He classified all Vedic statements into four types of vākyas — sentences:
- Vidhi vākyani — injunctions
- Niṣedha vākyani — prohibitions
- Bhūtārthavāda vākyani — statements of fact
- Vedānta vākyani — the highest Mahāvākyas
The Four Types of Vedic Sentences
1. Vidhi — Injunctions: "You Must Do This"
Vidhi means: "Do this. You must do this. You have no choice but to do this if you wish the good of your own self." Here we have to remember a very important point. The authoritativeness of the Veda — Veda Pramāṇa — is only for the people who believe in the Vedas. The Pūrva Mīmāṃsaka believes in the Vedas, but he does not believe in Gods and Goddesses. He believes that only rituals — Karma — can give the result. This is not unlike modern scientists, who say you do not need to bring in God or a creator especially; nature itself is sufficient to explain creation. If you put your hand in boiling water, it will scald the hand — so don't need to believe a God is doing these things .no God need be invoked.
But according to Vedanta, as beautifully explained by Śaṅkarācārya, one must ask: how does this nature really scald? There must be somebody who makes everything possible — one who is manifesting as heat, as the scalding power, as the boiling power, as the cooking power. Everything we call nature is created by Him. And creation means God, or Brahma himself, has become everything.
So this is Vidhi; what to do, whatever that leads to your health, wealth, happiness, and long life — not only in this world but in the other world also. Everything is included in Vidhi; Physical health, mental health, physical efficiency, mental efficiency — everything. That is the meaning of Vidhi.
2. Niṣedha — Prohibitions: "You Must Not Do This"
Naturally, if there is an injunction, there is also a prohibition. You must not do certain things. If you do, it will bring you physical illness and mental illness — which we see in front of our eyes all the time.
Read the newspaper. A newspaper can be very authoritative, just like the Vedas — that is why one might call it the Kaliyuga Veda, the Kaliyuga Bhāgavatam. If you read the newspaper as it needs to be read, then we can become very wise people. Every day, at any time, at any place, people are dying, people are being cheated, wars are going on. A rich person can become poor even from reading the news of Wall Street or stock exchange. Poor people are becoming rich, rich people are becoming poor. Anything can happen to anybody. These are the truths the Vedas are teaching. If you study the newspaper as it needs to be read, with a jñānāñjana — a discerning eye — then we can also get the same knowledge and of course the question comes how we save ourselves? That is where this Vidhi and Nishedha fall under karyapara.[?]
Now a small question arises here: Vidhi — "Do this" — is an injunction, and we can understand it leads to a particular action. But how does a prohibition fall under that category?
Consider: "Do not tell a lie." The verb "do" is there — only it is a negative injunction. do not kill "Do not drink. Do not harm. Do not covet other people's properties." do not, Do not.... These require tremendous effort. Take the instruction, "Concentrate" — Concentrate means what ?you have to put forth all your effort and is it an action or not? what about, do not allow your mind to become restless, to go here and there. That is a most marvellous example of action. How much effort is needed to restrain the mind and control it so that it will not wander here and there.
Therefore, even though Śaṅkarācārya says niṣedha doesn't involve action in the direct sense, it really involves more action than even the positive injunction "do this." So life is nothing but dos and don'ts. That is why the Ten Commandments are five dos and five don'ts. That is exactly what Patañjali Ṛṣi says 4 dos 4 don'ts— Yama and Niyama. And Bhagavān Buddha's Eightfold Path. Life is fully involved in doing and not doing.
So, the first category of Vedas is Vidhi Vakya ,or do this. The second category is Nishedha Vakya or Don't do this
3. Bhūtārthavāda — Statements of Fact
Then there are certain truths that are stated: heaven exists, hell exists, other worlds exist, rebirth exists, God exists, Gods exist. These are called Bhūtārthavāda vākyas.
In what way are they authoritative? Because if we do not know that heaven exists — if we have no knowledge that such a place is most beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable — the desire to go there doesn't arise at all. You don't open your eyes and directly see heaven and hell, rebirth, Gods and Goddesses. First you have to believe 100%. Then you pray: "Let me do what You have asked me to do. Let me refrain from what You have asked me not to do." And as a result, one goes to higher Lokas. That is what we have seen in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad , Sheekska Valli[शीक्षावल्ली]: Satyam vada सत्यं वद । i.e Speak Truth do not speak untruth, Dharmam cara ,धर्मं चर । do not do anything unrighteous. Always do what is righteous. Then of course do not neglect studies, Svādhyāyān mā pramadaḥस्वाध्यायान्मा प्रमदः । ,Svadyaya prvachanabhyam na pramaditavyam[स्वाध्यायप्रवचनाभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् ॥ १ ॥] never neglect study, because the more we study the more we develop the capacity to discern, to discriminate what is right and what is not, what is good , what is not, what should be done and what should not be done and that leads to great benefit , great happiness, great health etc.,Deva pitṛ kāryaabhyāṃ na pramāditavyam देवपितृकार्याभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् ।][— and so on. so, that is what even the statements of facts are called according to Shankaracharya , Bhootha arthavada.
4. Arthavāda — Praises
Then there are arthavādas —means praises. Praise God. We are praising our bosses, our presidents, our prime ministers, all sorts of worthless people. Why not praise God so that He can be gracious to you and bestow good things upon you? These include praises of Gods and Goddesses, and praises of certain rituals: "You do this, you will get great benefit." We are actually doing this in our day-to-day life anyway, naturally and normally.
5. Vedānta Vākyas — The Highest Sentences
The fourth and highest type of Vedic sentences are called Vedānta vākyas. These are the great Mahāvākyas:
- Prajñānam Brahma — Consciousness is Brahman.
- Ayam Ātmā Brahma — This Ātman is Brahman.
- Tat tvam asi — You are That.
- Ahaṃ Brahmāsmi — I am Brahman — which comes in this very Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, in this very first chapter, which we will see later on.
According to Śaṅkarācārya, everything taught by the Veda is truth and is forever good. And of all these things, the Vedānta vākyas — these Mahāvākyas — are the greatest benefactors. They tell us: "You are not a limited body, a limited mind, a limited human being. You are not a mosquito, you are not a dog, you are not an animal. But You are Ātman — pure consciousness."so these are the highest statements .statement of facts
How do they help? By telling us that each soul is potentially divine, we can fix our goal of life. The goal is to manifest our potential divinity by controlling nature — internal as well as external. And how do we go about it? That is what the Vedas tell us: do this through Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Rāja Yoga, Jñāna Yoga — and be free from the wrong notion that "I am not the Ātman" or "I am only a small being." No — "I am everything. "And everything else is totally meaningless. Temples churches etc., are all secondary details but to know this potential divinity that ''I am divine".
What is potential divinity? Not small divinity, not a fraction of divinity, but 100% divinity. But that knowledge is covered up by the ignorance: "I am the body, I am the mind, I am the combination of body and mind, I am an individual." No — you are not an individual in the limited sense. You are a real individual — indivisible.
So Śaṅkarācārya clinches the argument and says: everything in the Veda is a pramāṇa — authoritative. We have to accept it all, not only those things which indicate a ritual. "O Pūrva Mīmāṃsaka, even niṣedha, directly or indirectly, leads to the highest goal, which is liberation. This is the truth."Now this question comes ,what is this the Veda Pramana Bhashya to do these are referred to as Veda Pramana Bhashya not in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad but only in Shankaracharya's commentary. This is one of the seven important Bhashyas of Shankaracharya and by thus commenting he is helping us understand the Upanishad.So what this commentary has got to do with this third section?
The Three Abhyāroha Mantras
Overview
Now, the third section of this first chapter — which is nothing but Prāṇa Upāsanā, contemplating upon Prāṇa as Hiraṇyagarbha, as Cosmic Prāṇa, as Īśvara — First of all I become Hiranyagarbha , then all these stories , all the glories of Prana are enumerated .So Purva Mimamsakas classify all these things as Arthavada ie., only stories and that they are not really meaningful, non-factual and useless. Shankaracharya says, they are all very useful. Everything in the Veda is useful. Because whatever a mother does to her child is useful. Even her anger and punishment is a gift. That is what Holy Mother says that misery, suffering, unhappiness is a gift of God because they help us awake, help us struggle, get out of any limitation. As we progress, we see, even less limitation is also a limitation, until we become totally free. That is what Swami Vivekananda so marvelously expounds in his Jnana Yoga lectures, that every atom is struggling to be free and there is no limit to that freedom. Complete limitless freedom is what every atom, every individual, because we nothing but, whether living or non-living, only a combination of these atoms. Some have become the Body , some have become the mind and everything else has become the whole universe .So this debate in the context of the Prana Upasana , of this First Chapter , Third Section, is over. Now there are two things we have to deal with. This third section has twenty-eight Mantras. And the last mantra consists of three famous prayers called the Abhyāroha Mantras. We are already aware of it.And many times we discussed also, What are these mantras? The unconscious prayer, for twenty-four hours , from birth to death, the life is a struggle only to attain to these three desires expressed in the form of three prayers
.ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय[oṃ asato mā sadgamaya,]
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय,[tamaso mā jyotirgamaya]
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय[mṛtyormā amṛtaṃ gamaya]
These are called Abhyaroha Mantras
Āroha means climbing. Abhyāroha means climbing from a lower step to a higher step, and this also has three steps. Of course it is not mentioned like that by the commentators .What is the very first mantra? It says: "Let me be. Let me not become non-existent. that means Let me not die. Let me live forever." Because the first law of life is not to die, but to be alive.
And when I am assured I am going to be alive, then we will have to find out: what for am I alive? I want to gain knowledge. Knowledge of what? How can I be happy? What things can make me happy? How can I fulfil my desires so that I can be happy? That knowledge — how to be happy — is the second prayer: Tamaso mā jyotirgamaya.we will discuss very briefly later on . And the last prayer is: "Let me always be having unbroken happiness."
All three things require pure consciousness. I am conscious, I am alive. I am conscious, I have knowledge. I am conscious that I am not unhappy, but very happy — unbroken, infinite happiness. Satyam, Jñānam, Anantam Brahma. Satyam equates to Sat. Jñānam equates to Cit. Anantam equates to unbroken happiness, technically called Ānanda.Now very briefly
The First Prayer: Asato Mā Sadgamaya
Asat is explained as death, or life lived in ignorance, with lower tendencies continuously manifesting. That which leads to limitation is called Asat. So Sat is immortality — the highest state — reached through right understanding and disciplined life. That is why: Satyam vada, Dharmam cara, Svādhyāyān mā pramadaḥ, Mātṛ pitṛ kārya abhyāṃ na pramāditavyam — and so on.
This first prayer asks each one of us: "Lead me from the false and perishable to the true and the immortal."
The Second Prayer: Tamaso Mā Jyotirgamaya
Tamas means darkness. Darkness means ignorance. Ignorance means the veiling power that makes us think that we are in bondage. According to Advaita, we are not in bondage — we are only thinking we are. for eg., you had nice food and fall asleep on a comfortable mattress and you dream that you have gone somewhere and an animal attacks you,or you have fallen down or a car hits you, and you think: "I am hit!" But then you wake up: "Oh! It was all just imagination."
This is the view of Advaita:that Māyā has no binding power over pure consciousness, but it can veil for some time. we will not discuss it in great detail,but We all think that we are individuals. That thinking — "I am the individual" — is called Avidyā.i.e., I am not really bound. I am not the individual. I am the universal. That knowledge is lacking at this moment, like a dreamer who feels devastated — "I lost all my family, all my possessions, bank balance i am on the streets I lost my job, people are ready to kill me" retc.,— and then wakes up.
So this prayer asks: "Lead me, O Lord, from ignorance to knowledge, from inner darkness to spiritual illumination."
The Third Prayer: Mṛtyor Mā Amṛtaṃ Gamaya
Mṛtyor mā — from death Ma means mam. Amṛtaṃ gamaya — lead me to immortality. Mṛtyor represents the whole state of limitation, bondage, and corruption. Amṛtam is freedom from death — participation in the deathless reality. What does it mean? It means: thinking that "I am not happy, I am miserable, I am suffering" — that is equated to death. Freedom from this thinking— "I am not suffering, I am Ānanda Svarūpa" — that is called liberation.
Therefore this final third prayer directly asks us to be led from mortality to immortality, or from suffering to unbroken happiness.
Svāmi Mādhavānandaji, who translated this entire Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad along with the commentary of Śaṅkarācārya adding notes from many other commentators, says here: the first prayer asks us to move from wrong orientation to right means. The second moves from ignorance to illumination — ajñāna to jñāna. The third says: "Let me realise that I am Ānanda Svarūpa, and that is my true nature."
So with this, the third section ends. But there are wonderful names given to Prana. Prana is very glorious
The Special Names and Glories of Prāṇa
Pūrva Mīmāṃsakas and Arthavāda
Before discussing the glorious names given to Prāṇa, And Prana is very glorious and anyone who worships this Prana through a particular Chanting /eulogy called Udgitha . Ud means loud , Githa means chanting.Udgitha means loudly chanting with 100% faith that this will lead me from selfishness to unselfishness , from limitedness to unlimitedness, from the individuality to universality which will help me gradually to shed my identitity with the limited graduallyto the unlimitedy that is with all.That is called Hiranyagarbha , Virat .Through the remaining hymns the chanter of the Udgitha he can secure food. Food here means desired results; anything, I want to be happy. Here we have to be aware , every desire has only one value judgement , what is that, for e.g.,I want to eat very tasty food . For what purpose? I want to be happy ,Iwant to acquire the latest gadget .For what purpose? to make my life happy. I want to have a wonderful house. For what purpose? I want to be more happy . I want very agreeable companionship.Why? I dont want to be lonely , I want to be very happy. So, everything leads to happiness . I want to know that I am of the nature of unbroken bliss, AnandaSvarupa, I am Ananda Svarupa . But to experience this , the first thing is,I have to be alive, I have to be, I have to exist .But Existence itself will not do . Suppose there is a person, he is alive , he is existing but unconscious ,A person is sleeping, another example and another person who knows he loves a sweet and brings it when he is asleep and pushes it into his open mouth when he is asleep or when he is snoring, we dont know, will it make the person happy or unhappy?It will only make the person very unhappy.Everything has to be done in the right way and we have to be fully conscious. I am , I am conscious that I love this sweet and am experiencing this sweet and experiencing the happiness through the experience of experiencing the sweet. For everything consciousness should be there. These three factors are beautifully expressed as sat chit and ananda and these are the unconconscious , very natural prayers that stem from the depths of the unconscious of every creature, from the amoeba , let me not die , let me live, let me know that is called knowledge , Chit and let me be happy. Let me progress ,let me evolve .Some speccial names are given to Prana saying these are the glories of the prana . .have a word on the Pūrva Mīmāṃsakas: they would dismiss all these stories and glories of Prāṇa as arthavāda — mere stories, non-factual, and useless. Śaṅkarācārya says they are all very useful. Everything in the Veda is useful, because whatever a mother does to her child is useful — even her anger, even her punishment, is a gift. That is what Holy Mother says: misery, suffering, unhappiness is a gift of God, because they help us awake, they help us struggle to get out of limitation. As we progress, we see that even less limitation is still a limitation — until we become totally free.
That is what Svāmi Vivekānanda so marvellously expounds in his Jñāna Yoga lectures: every atom is struggling to be free, and there should be no limit put to that freedom — complete, limitless freedom is what every atom, every individual, seeks. Because we are nothing but a combination — the living and the non-living are nothing but combinations of atoms. Some have become body, some have become mind, and everything else has become the whole universe.
Dūr-Nāmatvam — He Who Keeps Evil at a Distance
What is the first name ?The first very name given there Door namatvam .So, if you dont understand sanskrit language, do not pronounce it as durnamatvam. Durnamatvam has the opposite meaning.Namatvam means well known well known. Dur means a bad person, has a bad quality. But Dūr means "long distance." Nāmatvam means well-known. So what does this Prāṇa do? It is so great that it will not allow any narrowness or limitation to come near it.
We have seen this in the story we reviewed briefly: every sense organ wanted to sing the Udgītha, because the Devas — people with good qualities — wanted to counter the Asuras.the two children of prajapatis The good people, who are very few, wanted to counter the bad people, who are in great number — as we can see at any given time in any age.
Dūr means: that which destroys death. Death means limitation. Death means ignorance. Death means suffering. If one can shed selfishness — that is, if one can become more and more unselfish — what is unselfishness? As explained earlier, giving up identification with limitedness is called unselfishness. I am not only thinking about myself. I am not thinking only about my family. I am thinking about my village, I am thinking about my state, I am thinking about my country, I am thinking about the welfare of the entire universe — and not only that, the welfare of both the living and the non-living. Even the distant ice caps in the northern hemisphere contribute to the right weather. If we harm them, the ice melts and what happens all sorts of disasters happen. How much weather influences the human mind — even today psychologists have not fully explored this — because everything affects us.
We have seen that every sense organ is also called a Deva. Deva means consisting of, made up of, light. What does light do? It destroys darkness. What does it mean? It means jñāna — it reveals, it grants us knowledge. As soon as light is put on, you see how many things are in the room, outside the house, when you look up, when you look down, through a telescope, through a microscope — how many things go unnoticed by us — but then this knowledge comes.
The speciality here is that this is the manifestation of Prāṇa through every living creature — and not only living creatures. Prāṇa manifests in the form of the very existence itself. Does a rock, a piece of mountain, have Prāṇa? Of course it has Prāṇa. What about Prāṇa in a dead body? Of course there is Prāṇa there too — Prāṇa is there in the form of very existence itself. But for Prāṇa to manifest, it requires certain instruments.
Consider electricity: electricity is everywhere, and it flows through wires. Imagine a wire is broken — electricity is not coming to manifest as a tubelight, or the TV is not going on. the wireless connection is not coming on. Then What is the way? You join the appropriate connection between the wires, and immediately Prāṇa becomes manifest — not that it was not there before, but it was not able to manifest; now it can. But take a piece of wood and try to connect two wires through it — it will not work, because that is not the proper instrument for allowing electricity to flow unobstructed. It requires a special type of wire — usually copper.
Even a dead body does not have the instrument — that is why we dispose of it and get a proper instrument. Death of the body is not the death of anything . Not only that — great scientists have found out that the non-living is becoming living, and the living is also becoming non-living. There is a live fish, and it is eaten by a bigger fish. That eaten fish must lose its life. It mus become a dead body whether in the mouth , outside the mouth inside the stomach it becomes one with the eater, and then it comes out alive — in a new form. So a living thing becomes dead, and a dead thing again comes back to life. Our division — permanently dividing the non-living as non-living, and the living as living — is a false concept. Continuous exchange is taking place between the living and the non-living.
That which makes everything alive, that which grants knowledge and makes us capable of obtaining knowledge, that which helps the mind experience the positive feeling called happiness — all of this is because of this Prāṇa. That is why Prāṇa receives the name Dūr — that which destroys death, Death means imitation, ignorance, and suffering far away.
So that deity called Prāṇa — later called Hiraṇyagarbha — having removed the evil and death of these Devatās — the Devas, here meaning the sense organs — helped them overcome death. That is to say, it helped them to not remain selfish, but become unselfish. That is called contemplation on Hiraṇyagarbha. Hiraṇyagarbha means: "I am everything." So I don't eat only for this body — I eat for everybody. I share everything with everybody.
That is how Kṛṣṇa could eat one grain of food and completely remove all the hunger of Durvāsas and his disciples. How?He became identified with the smallest creature, and for the smallest creature that one grain was more than sufficient to fill its stomach. Then it belched with happiness: "I am very happy, my hunger is gone!" — and Kṛṣṇa, through that form of the smallest creature, had identified himself with the whole Jagat. That is why he is called Jagannātha Puri Jagannatha— Lord of the Universe. As soon as he became identified with Durvāsas and the others, the same satisfaction happened.
The same thing occurred in the life of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. One day, when they were travelling back to Dakṣiṇeśvar from Calcutta, many devotees were there in a boat, and they were all hungry. They got a small pot of sweets and gave it to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, thinking he would take his portion and distribute the rest. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa knew better — this food was not sufficient to satiate even one single person completely. So he ate up the whole thing. The devotees were wondering how one person could so selfishly swallow everything. But then perhaps Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa belched with satisfaction — and everybody also belched with satisfaction. Their hunger disappeared for sometime . This is how what is called complete identity with everybody works.
The same thing happened when he prayed to the Divine Mother — because of the pressure of his disciples at Kāśīpur. The Mother showed him: "Now you are identified with everybody. You are identified with Me. I am identified with everybody, because everything is My creation." As soon as this realisation came, immediately everybody became completely satisfied.
The same happened with Holy Mother. Once a large number of devotees came from Calcutta. The cook came in fright and said, "We don't have enough food." Holy Mother quietly went there, and prepared the food. A small amount of food was there — but when she distributed it, everybody became completely filled,their stomachs were filled completely satisfied, extraordinarily happy. "Such meals we have never had in our lives," they said. And still something was left over.
What happened to Jesus when he distributed five loaves to hundreds of people who gathered there — most of them probably fishermen, hard-working labourers — and everybody was satisfied, with loaves and fish still left over? It is because he identified himself with everybody. This is the special characteristic of Prāṇa — not as individual Prāṇa, but as the collective Prāṇa, as Hiraṇyagarbha.
Bhartṛttvam — The Supporter of All
So Prāṇa gets another name: Bhartṛttvam — "one who supports all." It is the food that we consume, it isdigested by Prāṇa in the form of Agni, and then distributed by the five functions of Prāṇa — Prāṇa, Apāna, Udāna, Samāna, Vyāna — to all the different parts of the body as required. For example, if somebody has to run, the legs require extra strength, and in that situation Prāṇa distributes more energy to save the person from difficulty, deprivation, or death. so that he can escape as much as possible. So Prāṇa as Hiraṇyagarbha is called Bhartṛttvam — the capacity to support everybody. Prāṇa is the foundation for everything.
There is a small story in this context: Prāṇa stored all the food — the accumulated energy through the process of digestion — and then the sense organs felt hungry, and no food was left for them. So they all became distressed; they could not function — the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, the tongue, and the skin. So they went to Prāṇa, stood in a row, lamented, and begged: "Share your food with me." Prāṇa said: "Of course, whatever I have accumulated is for all of you. I will give it to you.All .sit around me." So when all the senses sat around Prāṇa, it brought and gave the food — which is energy — and then all the senses became energetic and started functioning as usual.
That is why, whenever an orthodox Brāhmaṇa sits before eating food — everything is ready in the plate — he takes a little bit and utters some mantras. Some of you must be familiar with this: Prāṇāya svāhā, Apānāya svāhā, Udānāya svāhā, Samānāya svāhā, Vyānāya svāhā — "I salute the Prāṇa who is functioning in my body in the form of these five specific activities, and thus sustaining me."
Samāna — He Who Regards All Equally
Then Prāṇa is called Samāna. Samāna means it has no selfishness — it looks upon everybody as its own self. Prana is the essence of the limbs. Prana is called samana because whether it is a mosquito, an amoeba, a Brāhmaṇa, an elephant, a horse, or a cow — Prāṇa sustains everybody with an equal eye, like a mother distributing food to all her children without the least bit of selfishness. That is why it is called Samāna.
In this connection, a funny example is given: Sāmana is Sāmagāna — the chanting of that portion of the Ṛgveda which is called the Sāmaveda, with intonations called udātta, anudātta, and svarita. For chanting, one requires a beautiful voice and beautiful power — that is the difference between a feeble-voiced person and a great commander who can roar like a lion. When a lion roars, how many animals fall dead of heart attack, because that roar itself creates tremendous fear — and fear is a kind of death.
Aṅgirasa — The Essence of All Limbs
Prāṇa is called by another name: Aṅgirasa — the essence of all the limbs. The eye is able to see because of Prāṇa. The nostril is able to smell because of Prāṇa. That is why it is called Aṅgirasa — aṅgānāṃ rasaḥ — the very essence, the supporter of every limb. And rasaḥ also means the joy that each organ gets — all because of Prāṇa.
Bṛhaspati — The Lord of All Knowledge
Then Prāṇa — the universal Prāṇa called Hiraṇyagarbha — is called Bṛhaspati, because all knowledge is obtained through him. He is the Lord. Hiraṇyagarbha is manifesting in the form of the Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda, and Atharvaveda. That is why sometimes Brahmā the creator is represented as having four faces — each face representing one of the four Vedas.
So Prāṇa is Hiraṇyagarbha, and Hiraṇyagarbha is the foundation of the entire universe, like clay manifesting in the form of all earthen things/pots. This universe is called the world of meaning — artha prapañca — and all meaning is to be found in the Vedas, which give us that knowledge. That is why Hiraṇyagarbha is called the manifestation of all four Vedas.
The Fruit of Prāṇa Upāsanā
Whoever does upāsanā of Prāṇa — not as individual Prāṇa, but as universal Prāṇa, as Hiraṇyagarbha, as Īśvara — becomes Īśvara. Everybody's happiness becomes his happiness. And then what about everybody's unhappiness? Because if Īśvara is everything, there is nothing called "this person is happy, that person is unhappy." Both become unreal — mithyā. And in knowledge, both become dissolved: "I am only acting as a happy person. I am only acting as an unhappy person." Both activities — acting in every role — ultimately bring the greatest happiness.
Like every actor or actress: whether he plays a rich person, a mafia leader, a president, a humble servant, or a chauffeur — when they act well, the judges say, "Beautifully acted! We could not think you were anybody else." That joy of identifying oneself fully with every role is total. That is why when the future Svāmi Turyānandaji came to Kāśīpur, Rāmakṛṣṇa said, "Look how much I am suffering," and he replied, "No sir, I see you swimming in the ocean of bliss." And Rāmakṛṣṇa smiled and immediately approved and said, "This rascal has found me out."
Conclusion: The Essence of Prāṇa Upāsanā
So the third section of the first chapter of this Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad tells us about Prāṇa Upāsanā.
We are alive. I am able to speak. I am able to think. I am able to express through proper words etc., — all because of Prāṇa. You are able to hear, able to understand, able to grasp it, keep it in memory, and use it to advance yourself in life. Whether you are listening to a lecture, reading a book, or deeply contemplating — it is all because of Prāṇa. Without Prāṇa, we cannot be called prāṇīs — we become dead śavas.
This is the glory of Prāṇa Upāsanā. But what is Prāṇa Upāsanā? Thinking that "I am not this particular individual. I am not man or woman. I am Īśvara. I am Hiraṇyagarbha. I am Virāṭ. I am everything." Seeing God in everything — that is the topic of the very first mantra of the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad, and this is the essence of Prāṇa Upāsanā.
Every upāsanā works in this way. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, contemplating on Hanumān, became Rāma. Contemplating on Rādhā, he became Kṛṣṇa. Rāma-darśana — through the medium of Hanumān, he became Rāma. Through the medium of Rādhā, he became Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. Through the medium of the cross, Saint Francis of Assisi became Jesus Christ — his very body was transformed. This is the process of upāsanā, and this is a marvellous upāsanā.
From the fourth section onwards, we are going to enter into the profound Vedāntic sentences — Ātmety upāsīta — it is called Puruṣa-Vidha Brāhmaṇa. And later on in that very section comes Ahaṃ Brahmāsmi. These are the marvellous things we will see in our next class.
Closing Prayer
Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum
Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh
May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti.
Jai Ramakrishna!