THE MESSAGE OF THE BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD

Book: Swami Ranganathananda

Review: Satyendra Nath Dwivedi

PART 3

Yajnavalkya Kand (Cont.)

“He said: O Gargi! The knowers of Brahman say this Immutable (Brahman) is
that. It is neither gross nor minute, neither short nor long, neither red colour nor
oiliness, neither shadow nor darkness, neither air nor space, unattached, neither
savor nor odor, without eyes or ears, without the vocal organ or mind, non-
luminous, without the vital force or mouth, not a measure, and without interior or
exterior. It does not eat anything, nor is It eaten by anybody.” [Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad 3.8.8]

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We cannot use a positive language in the context of the Absolute. We can use
only the negative language viz. ‘Neti, Neti’ (not this, not this). How can we
describe that non-dual reality in logical language? It has no differentiating
characteristics by which we can speak of it. There is no second with which we
can compare and study. Therefore, language and thought fails at that level.

“Silence is the name of the ‘Atman’.” If we say anything about the ‘Atman’, it
becomes an object. Atman is never an object. It is the Eternal Subject. No words,
no thought can comprehend It.

“Under the mighty rule of this Immutable, O Gargi, the sun and moon are held in
their positions; under the mighty rule of this Immutable, O Gargi, heaven and
earth maintain their positions; under the mighty rule of this Immutable, O Gargi,
moments, muhurtas, days and nights, fortnights, months, seasons and years are
held in their respective places; under the mighty rule of this Immutable, O Gargi,
some rivers flow eastward from White Mountains, others flowing westward
continue in that direction, and still others keep their respective courses; under
the mighty rule of this Immutable, O Gargi, men praise those that give, the gods
depend on the sacrificer, and the Manes on the independent offerings
(‘Darvihoma’).” [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.8.9]

There is both chaos and order in the universe. By the Imperishable Brahman the
world is set in order. The subtle reality of ‘Brahman’ is found in our day-to-day life
as Cosmic Order. The movements of the sun, the stars and the various galaxies,
the different divisions of time and seasons, the flow of rivers etc. are all governed
by a Cosmic Order. Behind that is this infinite Brahman, the Immutable, from
which the universe has come, which sustains the universe, and which takes back
the universe unto Itself.

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Brahman is infinite and indivisible. It is the nature of Pure Consciousness.
It is in all of us, and therefore we can realize It. We have to try to trace our
origin which is that Pure Consciousness within our body. We have to do it
in this life itself, in this body itself – ‘Ihaiva’ – here itself and just now. This
is the philosophy of the Upanishads – very rational, extremely practical
and highly spiritual.

Continuity and change can go together. This is what India understood through
the concept of ‘Shruti’ and ‘Smriti’.

When men and women become pure, self-restrained and compassionate, they
become ‘Brahmana’. When one develops the ‘Brahmana’ quality, all trust him.
Absolute trust becomes possible because a ‘Brahmana’ is born for the protection
of the treasury of ‘Dharma’. The entire treasury of ‘Dharma’ can be kept in the
hands of such a person, and it will never be corrupted, diluted or destroyed.

Values do not come from outside. They come from a deeper level of the
human personality. That dimension is called the ‘Atman’. God alone is the
centre of all values and that God is centered in us. All values therefore
come from within and not from outside.

If we read our Upanishads and understand our philosophy, our life will
become better. It will be more free from pettiness and dependence, more
compassionate with feeling of oneness with others. The kind of
superstition combined with ritual, which has unfortunately been called
religion in India will change. A real spiritual development will come, and
integration of man will come when this knowledge comes to a larger
number of people.

“This Immutable, O Gargi, is never seen but is the Witness; It is never heard but
is the Hearer; It is never thought but is the Thinker; It is never known but is the
Knower. There is no other witness but This, no other hearer but This, no other
thinker but This, no other knower but This. By this Immutable, O Gargi, is the un-
manifested space pervaded.” [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.8.11]

Knowledge is Brahman’s true nature. It is ‘Jnana-svarupa’. We don’t say

Brahman has knowledge. Brahman is knowledge itself.

In the Upanishads we can see a highly civilized society. In a civilized assembly,

everyone is free to give his opinion. Others in the assembly are not there to be

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converted to anyone’s views. They are there to hear and understand. If
necessary they would make changes by accepting a particular view. Thus they
are all assembled there to listen and learn. That is a democratic functioning.

The truth is one. The Rig-Veda says: “Truth is one; sages call it by various
names.”

In the Shrimad-Bhagavata, God incarnated as Kapil says:

“As I am the one Self in all, and as I have already made a temple for me in
them, worship Me in all beings by the removal of their felt wants and by
showing respect to those served, with an attitude of friendliness and with
an eye of non-separateness.” [Shrimad-Bhagavata 3.29.27]

This spirit was reflected in Vivekananda’s lecture in Chennai: “Your countrymen

are your gods and goddesses. Go and worship them. Give up these millions of
gods and goddesses. Here are the gods nearest to you, your own countrymen.
Worship them, serve them and remove their difficulties. This is the best form of
worship.”

“Knowledge, Bliss, Brahman, the supreme goal of the distributor of wealth as

well as of him who has realized Brahman and lives in It.”

When that infinite ‘Brahman’ is as it were caught in the various forms, one finds
good, bad and evil in the human as well as animal world.

‘The capacity to realize Brahman’ is the uniqueness of the human beings, says
Shrimad-Bhagavata [11.9.28]. Right from the beginning till the end of the
evolutionary course, It has absolutely no memory of Itself. It discovers Itself only
at the end in the human frame.

Shri Ramakrishna gives us a beautiful concept of ‘Maya’. Maya has two

dimensions: ‘Avidya-Maya’ and ‘Vidya-Maya’. Avidya Maya binds us more and
more in the five elements. We go deeper into the clutches of that network of five
elements through ‘Avidya-Maya’. Through ‘Vidya-Maya’ we slowly free ourselves
from that network. Maya is a fact, a reality within as well as outside us. But we
can choose Vidya-Maya. Then day-by-day we become more free. Finally, at the

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last stage, when the mind is pure enough, we go beyond all Maya through the
grace of the Divine.

Shri Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita [7.14]:

“My Maya is divine, full of gunas and is difficult to cross. Those who take refuge
in Me alone, they cross this Maya”.

“All this is certainly nothing but Brahma.” [Chhandogya Upanishad 3.14.1].

This is the conclusion of the Upanishads.

There are four ‘Mahavakyas’ (great utterances) in the Upanishads:

“This Atman (Self of man) is the Brahman.”

“Brahman is pure Consciousness.”

“That thou art.”

”I am Brahman”.

These utterances contain profound Truth in a few words. Therefore, they are
called great utterances.

The Vedanta teaches: “Brahman is the ultimate Reality, and It is of the

nature of Pure Consciousness. Therefore, this Atman is one with the
Brahman.”

Yajnavalkya – Janaka Dialogues

In fact, the most important element in life is fear. Fear is there throughout every
aspect of human life. But there is a state called fearlessness and the knowledge
of the Brahman is that state where we become truly fearless.

It is true that external knowledge destroys fear, but only partially. Without full
knowledge we don’t become completely fearless. With full knowledge we
become truly fearless.

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The Bhagavad-Gita says:

“Freed from attachment, fear, and anger, absorbed in Me, taking refuse in Me,
purified by the fire of knowledge, many have attained Me.”[Bhagavad-Gita 4.10]

“This Self is that which has been described as ‘Not this, not this’. It is
imperceptible, for It is never perceived; undecaying, for It never decays;
unattached, for It is never attached; unfettered – It never feels pain, and never
suffers injury. You have attained That which is free from fear, O Janaka! said
Yajnavalkya.” [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.2.4]

The three selves appearing in the three states of waking, dream and sleep are:
‘Vaishwanara’, ‘Taijasa’ and ‘Prajna’ respectively. Through the methodology of
the three states we reach the truth. The Atman that exists in all the three states is
called ‘Turiya’, the fourth, but not actually in number. It is so called only in the
context of the three states. Therefore, Atman is called the fourth only in relation
to the three states. Atman is the only reality.

‘Turiya’ is that state in which there is no consciousness of the internal, nor

the consciousness of the external. It is where the whole universe ceases to
be, ever calm, auspicious and non-dual. That is the Atman that has to be
realized.

The ‘Atman’ in deep sleep is absolutely Itself. There is nothing besides Itself in
that state. There is neither the subject nor the object. The pure Atman alone
exists then. But in deep sleep we don’t realize it, neither on waking do we realize
that in deep sleep we had It. To us deep sleep is nothing but complete darkness.
But philosophically speaking, deep sleep is a profound dimension. Absolutely
nothing exists there except the pure Atman, the pure consciousness.

‘Gaudapada’, Shankaracharya’s grand-teacher, wrote a famous treatise

‘Mandukya Upanishad Karika’, which is the best book on the subject of
investigation into the three states (waking, dream, and deep sleep) and
discovering the changeless One behind the changing many.

Swami Vivekananda used to say, let everyone utter this word ‘freedom’ – ‘I am
free’, ‘I am free’. That is the truth about all of us, only we have to learn what it
means. Self-discipline is the real nature of freedom through which we realize
ourselves as the Self.

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Yajnavalkya blessed Janaka by saying:

“Janaka, you have achieved fearlessness.”

God realization is the realization of fearlessness. That truth is emphasized

again and again in the Vedantic literature.

In the first chapter ‘Agama Prakarana’ of ‘Mandukya Upanishad Karika’,

Gaudapada wrote: “When this jiva, sleeping for ages in that sleep of Maya,
wakes up, it then realizes that infinite, non-dual reality, beginning-less and
dreamless.” [Mandukya Upanishad Karika 1.16]

“The existence of the Self should be established by the removal of the doubts
raised against it; and it should be known as being different from the body, ever
pure, self-effulgent, by nature identical with constant intelligence and superlative
bliss, and beyond duality.”
- Shankaracharya

“When the sun and moon have both set, the fire has gone out, and speech has
stopped, Yajnavalkya, what serves as light for a human being?” “The Self serves
as his light. It is through the light of the Self that he sits, goes out, works and
returns”, “Just so, Yajnavalkya”. [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.3.6]

Body is changing, but there is something changeless within. That is the search all
through the Upanishads. When we wake up from sleep, how do we report our
sleep experience? The classical statement in the Upanishads is ‘Sukham aham
aswapsam, na kinchit avedisham’ “I slept soundly, and I know nothing.”
Everyone’s report is the same. No second thing do we know in that state of deep
sleep. ‘I was all by myself, and extremely happy’. This is how we report our sleep
experience. In which light was this sleep experience taking place? There was
neither the body nor the mind there. Therefore, there exists an extraneous light
other than the body. There is an extraneous light in dream and sleep. It is also
there in waking, but in the waking state it is interfered by other lights, like the sun,
the moon, etc.

There are now many scientists who disprove materialistic and reductionist
approach and say there is an element other than this material system without
which we cannot explain human experience and behaviour. Upanishads
concluded this long back. We have to search for it in the higher dimension of the
human system. There is a profound focus beyond the body, the nervous and the
psychic system. That is the spiritual dimension. From these values come.

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That is the search we had in the Upanishads – the search for the ‘Light of all
lights’ which is God in the true sense of the term.

Discovery of the Permanent and Immutable in the midst of impermanent and

mutable is the greatest achievement of the Upanishads, and it is in that direction
that much of the modern thought is going.

“Which is the Self?” “This infinite entity (Purusha) that is identified with the
intellect and is in the midst of the organs, the (self-effulgent) light within the
heart. Assuming the likeness (of the intellect), it moves between the two worlds;
it thinks, as it were, and shakes, as it were. Being identified with dreams, it
transcends this world – the forms of death (ignorance, etc.).” [Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad 4.3.7]

The Self is that which is identified with the intellect, and through which manifests
in the mind and the sense organs making them all alive and active.

“The intellect, being transparent and next to the Self, easily catches the reflection
of the intelligence of the Self. Therefore even wise men happen to identify
themselves with it first; next comes the ‘manas’ which catches the reflection of
the Self through the intellect; then the organs through contact with the manas;
and lastly the body through the organs. Thus, the Self successively illumines with
its own intelligence the entire aggregate of body and organs.”
- Shankaracharya

Dreams have tremendous creative potential to make our lives richer in quality. As
soon as quality comes in, dreams also come into picture. Poetry contains the
dream element and therefore it is poetry. As art contains the dream element,
major scientific discoveries also contain the dream element. It is all based on the
capacity for imagination. Dream shows imagination in full form, and the greatest
discoveries have come from imagination and not from logical waking-state
thinking.

‘Samprasada’ is the word for profound sleep. It is a beautiful Sanskrit word

meaning supreme serenity. The ‘Atman’ is also called ‘Samprasada’. It is a state
of absolute serenity. In that state the Self is beyond all sorrows, beyond all
tension. All tensions of waking state disappear in deep sleep.

The Self is unattached, and therefore, Immortal. The idea of the immortality of
the human soul came at this time in the Upanishads. Man is essentially immortal.
Death belongs to the body and the organs, and not to the ‘Atman’. The
Bhagavad-Gita repeats it in many verses.

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“The immutable Supreme Self, O Arjuna, being without beginning and without
attributes, neither does anything, nor is affected by its results, although It is in the
body.” [Bhagavad-Gita 13.31]

Ignorance decreases and knowledge increases in the waking state when we

meditate on our Divine nature and feel as if we are Divine and one with all. ‘I am
one with all’ is the highest state of knowledge. In ignorance we see many,
everything different from the self. The state of oneness is knowledge, where we
see all as our own.

“Thus the results of knowledge and ignorance are identity with all and identity
with finite things respectively. Through pure knowledge, a man is identified with
all, and through ignorance he is identified with finite things.”
- Shankaracharya

“This is his form – beyond desires, free from evils and fearless. As a man fully
embraced by his beloved wife, does not know anything at all, neither external nor
internal, so does this infinite being (Self), fully embraced by the supreme Self,
not know anything at all, either external or internal. That is his form – in which all
objects of desire have been attained and are but the Self, and which is free from
desire and devoid of grief.” [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.3.21]

How can a man have grief when he has realized the ‘Atman’, says the wonderful
verse in the Isha Upanishad:

“What delusion, what sorrow can there be for that wise man who realizes the
unity of all existence by perceiving all beings as his own Self.” [Isha Upanishad
7]

We work and we get the fruit. We enjoy it. Again we do work, again the fruits
come and again we enjoy. We go on sowing and harvesting repeatedly and the
wheel of birth and death moves on until our seeds of ‘Karma’ are burnt to ashes
through knowledge. Then there is no more sowing and no more harvesting. That
burning is what we do through the knowledge of the ‘Atman’. That burns away
the seeds of ‘Karma’ once for all.

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We create a new body for ourselves by our own ‘Karma-phala’, the results of our
past actions, and this whole universe is the means for the realization of our own
‘Karma-phala’.

Knowledge, work and past experience are the wealth we carry to the next world.
All these are accumulated within us as the ‘Sanskaras’. We carry these with us
and start our new life in a new body with this capital.

The subject of rebirth is a very old teaching in India. We accept it as it is. When
we speak of death, we speak of ‘giving up the body’. I am not the body. I have a
body. Body becomes old and useless, and it is given up. But I remain. That is the
common reference to death in India which is based upon the Upanishads.

Upanishads are not interested in rebirth in itself. Its main end is in making
us realize that we are immortal. We are the infinite Atman, ever free. We
have neither birth nor death. But we are caught up in the elements, in the
organic system of the body; we become limited beings as it were. Then we
transmigrate and have all these ups and downs in life. But when we realize
the truth that we are the eternal Self, one with all, transmigration stops.

The main purpose of the Upanishads is to teach that we are the pure Self,
eternal and ever free. We are one with all. ‘Brahman’ and ‘Atman’ are the
two words coined for that purpose. ‘Atman’ is ‘Brahman’. We are one with
all. The sense of separation is due to ignorance.

“The self is identified with desire alone. What it desires, it resolves; what it
resolves, it works out; and what it works out, it attains.” [Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad 4.4.5]

The human being is specially gifted with ‘Viveka-shakti’. It is the capacity to think
whether a thing is right or wrong, whether it would do good to all or only to
oneself and to refrain from doing anything that would harm others.

“Who is without desires, who is free from desires, the objects of whose desires
have been attained, and to whom all objects of desire are but the Self – his
organs do not depart. Being but ‘Brahman’, he is merged in the ‘Brahman’.”
[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.6]

Desire is the root of transmigratory existence. Desire is a feeling of something

insufficient inside. That makes us go out of our self thinking: “I want this, I want

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that, I want that too.” I am not feeling full here, I feel empty as it were. This
emptiness takes the form of a desire for something out in the objective world.
Then we become lost in the world of objects.

When we have desires, we reincarnate, and when we have none, there is no

rebirth.

For a man of realization, all desires dissolve in this very life.

“All his desires are dissolved here itself.” [Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.2]

Liberation consists in our identity with all. We are one with all. There is only one
Self in all. The veil of ignorance covering our true nature completely vanishes
with the dawn of ‘Self Knowledge’, and we attain liberation thereby.

“When all the desires that dwell in his heart (mind) are gone, then he, having
been mortal, becomes immortal and attains ‘Brahman’ in this very body.”
[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.7]

In India, both Vedanta and Buddhism spoke of ‘Sanatana Dharma’. This Dharma
is not created by any human being. It is just a scientific truth rediscovered again
and again. It is out of this concept that the blessing of harmony, cooperation and
respect for religions has come to India.

“Into blinding darkness (ignorance) enter those who worship ignorance. Into
greater darkness, as it were, than that enter those who are devoted to
knowledge.” [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.10]

This verse also appears in the Isha Upanishad, which further offers a solution:

“Try to understand both ‘Vidya’, the world of spiritual knowledge, and ‘Avidya’,
the objective world of ignorance, together. Destroying death through ‘Avidya’, by
concentrating on this objective world of ignorance (by improving the social and
economic conditions of humankind); through ‘Vidya’, through spiritual knowledge,
attain immortality.” [Isha Upanishad 11]

The Atman is the focus of all values. It is because of the Atman we seek
values in life.

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The Shrimad-Bhagavata says:

“This is the intelligence of the intelligent person, this is the wisdom of the wise
person, that he discovers that immortal truth through what is mortal and untrue.”
[Shrimad-Bhagavata 11.29.22]

“Through the mind alone It has to be realized. There is no difference whatever in

It. He goes from death to death, who sees difference, as it were, in It.”
[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.19]

The human mind has to be trained to go beyond the many to One. The idea of
many is obvious because our senses reveal it very easily. But a deeper thinking
is needed to find the One behind the many.

“That great, birth-less Self is un-decaying, immortal, un-dying, fearless and

infinite. Brahman is indeed fearless. He who knows It as such certainly becomes
the fearless Brahman.” [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.25]

The teaching of the Upanishads is: “In every one of us there is that infinite
‘Atman’. Atman is one and never a multiple. It is as much in you as in me,
and it cannot be divided.”

There is a short story at the end of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, where in

father Prajapati taught one word ‘Da’, which his sons gods, men and asuras
interpreted as ‘Dama’ (self-restraint), ‘Dana’ (give) and ‘Daya’ (compassion)
respectively. Shankaracharya comments on this: “There are no gods or asuras
other than men. Those among men, who are wanting in self-control, but are
otherwise endowed with many good qualities, are the gods. Those who are
particularly greedy are men,; while those who are cruel and given to injuring
others are the asuras. Hence this teaching interpreted by each based on their
own weakness. The Smriti says:

“Lust, anger and greed are the three gateways to hell, and therefore one should
renounce them. [Bhagavad-Gita 16.21]

Review: Satyendra Nath Dwivedi

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