Episode 01 - Brihadhaaranyaka Upanishad.
BRIHADHAARANYAKA UPANISHAD
Brihadhaaranyaka Upanishad, along with Chaandogya Upanishad, comprises the two oldest amongst the Upanishads. It is also amongst the 14 (or 10?) mukhya Upanishads. Brihadhaaranyaka Upanishad is associated with Suklayajur Veda (while Chandogya Upanishad is affiliated to the Saama Veda).
This is the most elaborate of them all, touching on almost every issue relevant to human life and rising to heights of philosophic genius that could be considered as the greatest achievement of the human mind in history and is a veritable research reservoir.
Sri Adi Sankara and Sri Madhvacharya have made baashyams for this Upanishad (as they have both made bhaashyams for each one of the ten mukya Upanishads). Amongst modern day translators/commentators, S.Radhakrishnan, Max Muller, P.Lal, Swamis Nikhilananda, Madhavananda and Krishnananda are worth noting.
The SAnthih mantra of this Upanishad is the same as for Isavaasya Upanishad viz. poorNamadhahpoorNamidham …
This Upanishad is a very large, comprehensive and complex piece of work. It is difficult to consider this work in the confines of a limited discussion. We could look at some of the pithy messages that this Upanishad famously purveys.
ON CREATION:
naiveha kiṁcanOgra AsIt, mṛtyunaivedam Avṛtam AsIt, aśanAyayA, aśanAyA hi mṛtyuḥ; tan manO kuruta AtmanvI syAm iti. sOrcann acarat, tasyArcata. ApojAyanta, arcatE vai me kam abhUd iti; tad evArkasya arkatvam; kaṁ ha vA asmai bhavati, ya evam etad arkasya arkatvaṁ veda.
In the beginning there was nothing whatsoever in the Universe. By (mrtyu) Death, indeed, all this was covered—by hunger, for hunger is, verily, death. "Let Me have a mind," was His desire and He created the mind. Then He moved about, worshipping Himself (arcatEvai). From Him, thus worshipping, water was produced. "Verily, while I was worshipping, water was produced"; that is why the Arka (fire used in the Aswamedham—sacrifice) is so called. Surely, happiness comes to him who knows how the fire came to be called arka.
MESSAGE ON CREATION
AtmaivEdam agra AsIt puruṣavidhaḥ, sOnuvIkṣya nAnyad AtmanOpaśyat, so’ham asmīty agrE vyAharat; tatOhaṁ nAmAbhavat, tasmAd apy etarhy Amantritaḥ; aham ayam ity evAgra uktvA, athAnyan nAma prabrUte yad asya bhavati. ay at pῡrvOsmAt sarvasmAt sarvAn pApmana auṣat, tasmᾱt puruṣah; oṣati ha vai sa tam, yOsmAt pUrvo bubhUṣati, ya evaṁ veda.
The Supreme Being (Athman) was alone. Nothing else existed. The Athman was alone, because the Athman was inclusive of all beings. It was the Athman (Self), as it is the Athman (Self), and it shall be the Athman (Self) of everyone, and of everything. It is the Supreme Being of all beings, Satyasya Satyam, as the Upanisṣhad will tell us. That alone was, and one could not conceive of anything else.
In as much as the Athman is the Absolute, and we (human mind) cannot conceive of a relation of the Athman to space, time and cause, the Upanisṣhad uses the word, puruShavidha, i.e., we have to regard this condition of ultimate causality, the ultimate cause as something equivalent to a Person. An infinite expanse of the highest conceivable to the human mind is assumed as the cause of the manifestation of the world, the Supreme Person, puruShavidha.
SObibhEt, tasmAd ekAkī bibhEti, sa hAyam IkṣAṁ cakre, yan mad anyan nAsti, kaṣmAn nu bibhemIti, tata evAsya bhayaṁ vIyAy viyAya kasmAd hy abheṣyat, dvitIyAd vai bhayaṁ bhavati.
That Supreme Being, the Universal Oneness (One without a second – Alone), began to contemplate Itself in a peculiar manner. This Self-contemplation of the Universal Oneness is the beginning of the Will to create. It felt that It was alone, and willed to be other than Itself. It was dissatisfied with Its aloneness, as it were.
(“Where there is duality, there is fear.” We have fear when there is another next to us. If there is no ‘anotherness’, there is no fear. We are always afraid of someone in front of us, behind us, etc. If there is no one, and we are alone, and are fully aware of that, why should we be afraid of anything? Fear comes from someone other than us. How can we be afraid of our own selves? So, if someone other than us does not exist, how can there be fear? There is fear only where there is duality. Where duality was not, there was no dissatisfaction or fear. Therefore, it was Supreme Satisfaction. That was the Universal ‘I’.)
MESSAGE ON PSYCHOLOGY:
You are what your desire is
Sa yathᾱkᾱmo bhavati, tat kratur bhavati, yat kratur bhavati, tat karma kurute, yat karma kurute, tat abhisampadyate:
Whatever is your deepest desire will decide the nature of your determination, of the way to act.' The deepest longing of the soul, the desire of the mind or the urges of one's personal nature will influence the will, the volition. The will is nothing but the exoteric function of the desire within. 'As the desire is, so the will is; as the will is, so is the action. And as is the action, so is the consequence, or the result thereof.' Everything seems to be in our hands. Our weal and woe, our future, our destiny is actually operated upon by the deepest mechanism that is inside us. The switchboard of the cosmos, as it were, seems to be inside our own hearts. 'Whatever one feels, that one thinks; whatever one thinks, that one speaks; whatever one speaks, that one does; whatever one does, that one reaps.' You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your DESTINY.
MESSAGE OF ETHICS
The Supreme Being’s instruction to Devas Manushyaas and Asuras
trayAḥ prajApatyAḥ prAjapatau pitari brahma-caryam Uṣuḥ, devA manuṣyA asurAḥ, uṣitvA brahmacaryaṁ devA Ucuh; bravītu no bhavAn iti; tebhyo haitad akṣaram uvAca; da iti, vyajñAsiṣṭA iti; vyajñAsiṣma iti hocuḥ, dAmyata, iti na Attheti, aum iti hovAca, vyajñAsiṣṭeti
atha hainam manuṣyA ῡcuh: bravītu no bhavAn iti; tebhyo haitad evAkṣaram uvAca; da iti; vyajñAsiṣṭA iti, vyajñAsiṣma iti hocuḥ, datta iti na Attheti; aum iti hovAca vyajñAsiṣṭeti.
atha hainam asurA ῡcuḥ, bravītu no bhavAn iti; tebhyo haitad evAkṣaram uvAca; da iti, vyajñAsiṣṭᾱ iti, vyajñAsiṣma iti hocuḥ, dayadhvam iti na Attheti, aum iti hovAca vyajñAsiṣṭeti.
tad etad evaiṣA daivī vAg anuvadati stanayitnuḥda-da, da, iti, damyata, datta, dayadhvam iti. tad etat trayaṁ śikṣet, damam, dAnam, dayAm iti.
On one occasion devas, manuShyas and asuras all observed brahmacharya, Tapasya and austerity, with a view to approaching the Brahmam and gaining knowledge from Him. Then they went to Lord Brahma, the Creator Himself, and asked: "Give us instruction." Who went? Three groups. One group of the celestials (devas) - the gods, residents of Indra-loka, who enjoy all sorts of pleasures, second group - men from the earth, and the third group - asuras - the demons, extremely cruel in their nature. To the devas He said, "I give you instruction. Listen! dha" He said just that one word, "dha". "Do you understand what I say?" "Yes, we understand." "Very good! So, follow this instruction." Then he looked at the human beings, "Do you want instruction from me?" "Yes!" "dha," he said again. "Do you follow what I say?" "Yes, we understand." "Very good! Now go and follow this instruction." Then the asuras were called and he said "dha" to them also, and the asuras, like the others, said, "Yes, we have understood what it is." "Go and follow this instruction." To all the three groups He told the same thing, but the meaning was taken differently by the different groups. "dha, dha, dha" he said. That is all He said.
The celestials, the people in svarga, are blessed to be revelling in pleasures of sense. They are fond of enjoyment. There is no aging there. There is no sweating, no toiling, no hunger, no thirst, no drowsiness and no pains such as what humans have in this world. It is all pleasure and pleasure, honey and milk flowing everywhere in the svarga. They are addicted to too much enjoyment. So the instruction to those people was dha -' dhAmyata'. In Sanskrit dAmyata means, restrain yourself, moderate yourself. dAmyata comes from the word dham, to restrain. Subdue your senses. Do not over-indulge in the enjoyment of the senses. That was 'dha' to the celestials. KAma is to be controlled by self-restraint.
Human beings are greedy. They want to grab everything. Hoarding is their basic nature. "I want a lot of money"; "I have got to have a lot of land and property"; "I want all the wealth for myself"; "I do not want to give anything to anybody". This is the attitude of the humans. So, to them 'dha' meant dhatta– 'give ..give in charity'. Do not keep with you more than what you need. Do not take what you would not give. Do not appropriate what does not belong to you. All these are implied in the statement – be charitable. Charitable not only in material giving but also in disposition, in feeling, in understanding and in feeling the feelings of others. So, to the human beings this was the instruction – dhatta - give, because they are not prepared to give. They always want to keep. Greed is to be check-mated by charity.
And to the asuras (the demons), who are very cruel by nature, who always insult, injure and harm other people: hard-hearted people. They eat, swallow, destroy and demolish everything. The instruction 'dha' for them meant dayadhvam – be merciful. Do not be cruel and hard-hearted. Anger is to be check-mated by mercy.
So, these three letters dha, dha, dha instructed three types of individuals in three different ways. All instructions were conveyed by a single word only; a single syllable, but the meaning was conveyed properly to the individual groups concerned. Wear the cap that fits –
These are the three great injunctions given by Prajāpati, the Creator, to the three types of people. If this instruction can be followed in its spirit, then the desire, greed and anger of the personality can be sublimated by self-restraint, charity and mercy respectively.
This instruction, which was communicated to the Devas, ManushyAs and Asuras – gods, men and demons – by the single letter dha repeated three times, meaning dAmyata, datta, dayadhvam – be self-controlled, be charitable and be compassionate, is applicable to all mankind. This is like a thunder of teaching. Sthanayitnuh - A 'roaring sound'. This message of Prajāpati is not merely an ancient one; it is an eternal one. This is what the Upaniṣhad tries to make out because it was not intended for only a particular time in creation, but is a teaching for everyone for all times.
EvaiṣA daivī vAg anuvadati stanayitnuḥda – da, da, iti, damyata, datta, dayadhvam iti. tad etat trayaṁ śikṣet, dhamam, dhAnam, dhayAm iti:
'This is a Divine teaching, a supernatural message.' Daivivaganuvadati:
'Like a thunder coming from the clouds in the sky.' Like the thunder clap you hear during the monsoon, this thunderclap of a message comes from God Himself, as it were, in the form of a single syllable 'dha' repeated thrice. In fact, all instruction is comprehended in this teaching. That is why so much importance has been given to it in the Upaniṣhad.
(There is an element of dhaiveekam, an element of maanushyam and an element of Asuram in each human being; the ratios would differ and depending on the ratios the personality of that being would be defined. Like in the case of the three Gunas (saathvikam, raajasam and thaamasam) when the individual becomes conscious, after deliberation and conscious practice, of the way he is made and the way he wishes to be, saadhana would bring about the balance he desires. Therefore, all the three messages of the Almighty – Daamyatam, Dattam and Dayadhvam – would apply to each one of us.
T.S.Eliot’s landmark work “The Waste Land” ends with the reiteration of the three cardinal virtues from this Upanishad: 'Daamyata' (restraint), 'Datta' (charity) and 'Dayadhvam' (compassion) followed by the blessing 'Shantih shantih shantih', that Eliot himself translated as "the peace that passeth understanding.")
MESSAGE ON LIFE AFTER DEATH
tad yathA tṛṇajalAyukA, tṛṇasyAntaṁ gatvA, anyam Akramam Akramya, AtmAnam upasaṁharati, evam evAyam AtmA, idaṁ śarIraṁ nihatya, avidAṁ gamayitvA, anyam Akramam Akramya, AtmAnam upasaṁharati
This is the famous quote from this Upanishad on how a jeeva, even as it is about to leave its present physical body on completion of its present life, prepares for the next destination. This is compared to the activity of a caterpillar or a leech when it moves from one leaf to another or from one spot to another on the same leaf. What it does is, it thrusts its hind part forward and then projects its fore part forward. Then it fixes the fore part on the leaf and withdraws the hind part, bringing it forward. Then again it projects its fore part. Like that, it goes on moving. It will not lift the hind part unless the fore part is fixed.
Likewise –
tad yathA tṛṇajalAyukA, tṛṇasyAntaṁ gatvA, anyam Akramam Akramya, AtmAnam upasaṁharati, evam evAyam AtmA
The old body is not left unless proper arrangement is already made elsewhere. When you go on a journey, you do not go suddenly. You find out where you are going and what arrangements have to be made there for your stay by correspondence and enquiries, etc. Likewise, even without you consciously thinking of the destination, forces of nature begin to work for you. They work spontaneously, and that preparation that is being made to receive you in another realm is the foot that one has kept there already before he or she lifted the other foot from this world. It is not a physical foot that you have placed, but a feeler which has connected you with the future realm through the subtle world. This shows the interconnectedness of all things in this universe. We are not cast into the winds by forces, of which, we have no knowledge. Everything is connected with us, and all the forces of nature keep an eye over us. Exactly in the manner in which it is necessary for us to have experiences in the future life, in that particular manner alone do the forces of nature work.