Chapter 6 JnAna and Moksha
6-9 Taittiriya Upanishad BrahmAnanda Valli
6-9-2 AnuvAka 1(Pt 2) and AnuvAka 2 to 4
Upanishad describes Brahman as the source of creation which is the Tatastha (distant) lakshna of Brahman. Everything in the creation is born out of Brahman. Five elements, namely, space, air, fire, water, earth are born in that order. Plants and herbs are born from earth, food is born from plants and herbs, and from food, living being is born. The idea is that a human being is born from Brahman and to emphasize the idea, the teacher points out the different parts of the physical body, namely, head, right side in south, left side in north, middle portion is the body, and the portion below the waist as tail. The gross body is born of Brahman. A person is inclined to take gross body as Brahman. It is an interim position because gross body is finite and is discarded later. The Upanishad teaches discrimination of five-sheaths to understand formless Brahman. The gross body is food-sheath (Annamaya Kosa), made of food.
There are two benefits for one who meditates on gross body as Brahman. SakAma meditation ensures that the person gets plenty of food. NishkAma meditation purifies the mind so as to climb the spiritual ladder. Annamaya Upasana helps in diluting attachment to body, an obstacle to Self-knowledge. Stronger the identification with the body, the stronger is the ego, and greater is the fear of death.
Different from the gross body, there is another body inside made up of vital forces and is called prAna-maya Kosa. It is subtler than food-sheath and pervades it and assumes the shape of food sheath. Annamaya is gross and tangible; it is the anatomy of the body. PrAnamaya is the physiological system that is subtler than the body. The Upanishad says that prAnamaya kosa is the Self implying thereby that food-sheath is non-Self. It resides within the anna-maya kosa. Anna-maya is the container (deha) and prana-maya is the content(dehi). Anna-maya, the solid physical body has its own shape. Prana-maya being the physiological function (energy), does not have its own shape. It takes the shape of the physical body. So long as prAna remains within the body, it will have this shape. After death, prana-maya takes the shape of the next body. Thus, its shape is determined by anna-maya. Its functions are not tangible.
There are five prAnAs depending on their functions. (Main) Prana is the head- breathing, Vyana (right side)-circulation, Apana (left side)- excretion, Samana (space)-digestion, and Udana-reverse mechanism. Prithivi Devata is the lower part of the body that acts as its support. Prithivi retains prAna (air) within the body through its gravitational force. All gods, human beings and animals depend on prAna for their lives. The prAna-maya sheath is Atma. The prAnAs in an individual are not different from cosmic prAnAs. By meditating Brahman on the cosmic prAna, one enjoys full span of life. Selfless Upasana on prAna as Brahman purifies and expands the mind. Identification with prAna-maya weakens attachment with gross body.
Different from and interior to pAana sheath is mind-sheath (mano-maya kosa). The Upanishad says that Atma is something other than prana-maya. Atma is mano-maya kosa, the new hero and prAna-maya is relegated as AnatmA. Once prAna-maya is Anatma, it is a product and does not exist separately from mind sheath and is therefore resolved in mind-sheath. This understanding is called pravilapanam – dissolution of mithya vastu in the satya vastu. Simultaneously there is resolution of cosmic prAna into cosmic mind.
The mind-sheath is subtle and does not have a shape of its own. Only the physical body has a shape. PrAna-maya takes the shape of anna-maya, the physical body and therefore, mano-maya, the content of prana-maya also takes the shape of the physical body. Anna-maya is of the shape of the human body since birth, whereas prAna-maya and mano-maya have borrowed shapes.
Mind-sheath has the human shape. Yajurveda is its head, the Rigveda the right side, the Samaveda is the left side, the teaching is the body, the hymns of Atharva and Angirasa are the tail, the foundation. The total mind is called Hiranyagarbha. Hiranyagarbha is all pervading like the space and has all the prAnas as the sporting ground. By meditating Hiranyagarbha on individual mind, the meditator gets two-fold benefits. With sakAma upAsana, he becomes one with Hiranyagarbha and enjoys the power of Hiranyagarbha. He is the lord of all the minds, of speech, eyes, ears, and intellects. He is all peace and prosperity and eternal and will not have any fear at all, because the world of Hiranyagarbha has the maximum security. Nishkama-Upasana gives threefold benefits: purification, concentration, and expansion of mind. The mind is more refined to know AtmA.
That the mind-sheath is AtmA is an interim proposition because there is intellect-sheath interior to and different from the mind-sheath. It too has human shape. Faith is its head. Right understanding is the right side. Truthfulness is the left side. Concentration is the central part. Hiranyagarbha is the lower part which is the support. Once intellect-sheath is understood as AtmA, mind-sheath becomes non-AtmA and is resolved in Intellect sheath. Simultaneously there is resolution of cosmic mind into cosmic-intellect.
Intelligence sets the sacrifice in motion. It sets in motion all obligatory duties. Intellect sheath is the doer of both Vedic and other karmAs. He who knows Brahman as intellect sheath and does not neglect his duties attains all desires. All the gods worship intellect as Brahman They meditate upon him as Hiranyagarbha, the first born. The ego is diluted by visualizing cosmic Hiranyagarbha. If a person practices sakAma upAsanA till death, the earned punyAs take him to Brahm-Loka having better material benefits. The sense pleasures are superior and so are the sense organs and the environment. With nishkAma upAsanA, one gains purity, focus and expansion of the mind to make mind fit to inquire further on the path of knowledge.
It is found that intellect is also a product and non-Self. Interior to and subtler than Intellect sheath is bliss sheath which is considered as Atma. Intellect sheath is relegated to the status of non-Self. Bliss-sheath has human shape. Its head is priya, which means happiness or pleasure. The righthand side is moda which means hilarity, the lefthand side is pramoda, the highest happiness, bliss is the body, and Brahman is puchcham. Literal meaning of puchcham is tail. But secondary meaning is support.
In BSB 1.1.19 there is discussion about the word puchham used in AnuvAka 5. Purva paksha says it means anand-maya. In other words, anand-maya is Brahman. This is refuted by siddhAnta by taking recourse to secondary meaning. The purpose is not to imply that Brahman is a limb, but to show that the Bliss, that Brahman is, is like a tail. It serves the purpose of a stabilizing or supporting tail. The purpose is to show is that Brahman is the lone source of all human joys. It aligns with subsequent mantra where Brahman is stated to be cause of creation. How can, limited anand-maya be the cause of creation? Furthermore, Brahman is known in two aspects-one as possessed of the limiting adjunct constituted by the diversities of the universe which is a modification of name and form, and the other devoid of all conditioning factors and opposed to the earlier.
Now the Upanishad says that bliss sheath is the experiential pleasure and is not AtmA. Ananda without any limitation is AtmA. Ananda means there is no “Maya” added to that. In Sanskrit grammar, the suffix -Maya indicates fluctuations or modifications. Ananda-maya is graded, fluctuating and experiential pleasure whereas AtmA is Ananda, that is non – graded, non- fluctuating, non-arriving and non-departing. Once Ananda is AtmA, Ananda-maya-kosa constituted of priya., moda, and pramoda is AnAtmA. All the experiential pleasures are time-bound and finite. Atmananda is non – experiential. It is to be understood and claimed as I, the Ananda AtmA. It is same as BrahmAnanda. Discrimination of five sheaths has revealed that Brahman.
Brahman is of the nature of bliss. There is no sheath interior to bliss-sheath. There is a doubt if bliss-sheath is Brahman. Shankaracharya in his commentary on the Upanishad clarifies that bliss-sheath is not Brahman. The word used is Anand-maya. Maya means modification or subject to change. Brahman is beyond any modification. Furthermore, if bliss-sheath is taken as Brahman, it will not be consistent with the statement that Brahman is the support of bliss-sheath.
Surprisingly, in BSB 1.1.12 to 1.1.19 relating to the Topic 6: The Blissful one, Shankaracharya takes U-turn and says that Blissful one means Brahman. He gives many reasons. One reason is that Maya also means abundance. However, after BSB 1.1.19, Shankaracharya makes a correction and reverts to his view in the commentary on the Taittriya 1.2.5. That is to say, blissful one or bliss-sheath is not Brahman.
Contd Part 32