Part 34
Chapter 6 JnAna and Moksha
6-10 Taittiriya Upanishad Bhrigu Valli – On Bhrigu’s enlightenment
6-10-1 Anuvaka – 1 to 6 Bhrigu requests his father Varuna to teach Brahman. The father says that Brahman is the cause of food, vital forces, mind, eye, ear, and speech, and unto which they resolve. Bhrigu conducts inquiry. That Brahman is the cause of creation means that It is the ultimate substance from which all the products come into existence. There is an important difference between Brahman and other causes. The latter undergo modifications themselves to become the product, e.g., wood becomes furniture. Brahman is not subject to change. It is vivartavAd of creation. All other causes undergo modification and are parinAmi upAdAna cause. Knowing Brahman through inquiry about product is an indirect approach. Here the creation is inquired in reverse order.
Bhrigu does the inquiry. The food is the cause of the physical body through an indirect process. It enters the father’s body. It enters the mother’s body. And from the two bodies a new body is born. The new body is sustained by the food, and it grows. After death, the body is buried or cremated and thus mingles with the earth to convert into fertilizer for the plant kingdom for consumption for the next generation. Thus, we are indirectly the food for the next generation. Since food is the cause of creation, sustenance and resolution, it conforms to the definition of Brahman. Bhrigu therefore concludes that food is Brahman.
Initially, he is satisfied with the conclusion.
On further probing, he finds that food is not the causeless cause, because it is also a product. Different pramAnAs support this: sruti pramAna: the gross matter is a product of the subtle matter; yukti pramAna –the food undergoes changes to become food-sheath. Anything subject to change is a product.
Being unsatisfied, he approaches Varuna again and asks to teach Brahman. Varuna instructs him to know Brahman through tapa. Here tapa stands for inquiry. Bhrigu continues inquiry and finds that cosmic prAna is the cause of individual prAna-maya kosa and concludes that prAna is Brahman because all beings are born from prAna, live by means of prAna and resolve into prAna. PrAna is the sristi-sthiti-laya-kArana of all the beings. Initially he is happy, but by applying the earlier logic, he finds that prAna is also an intermediary cause and not the ultimate cause as it is subject to modification and is a product. Therefore, Bhrigu concludes that prAna is also a product like food.
He goes back to his father who again advises him to continue inquiry. He continues inquiry and concludes in stages that Brahman is mind sheath, intellect sheath, and bliss. In each stage of inquiry, he finds that the sheaths are made of matter and subject to change. He has skipped bliss sheath and directly concludes Brahman as Bliss. In BrahmAnanda valli, Ananda is equated to Atma, i.e., Ananda Atma. In this chapter, Ananda is equated to Brahman. Therefore, Atma = Brahman. Ananda is generally understood as happiness, ecstasy, joy etc representing varieties of experiences. Every experience is finite and impermanent and cannot be said to be the cause of everything.
BrahmAnanda is not experienceable. It is infinite. It is not a part, product or property of the individual. Even though Happiness appears as an adjective, it is an independent entity that pervades the body and makes the body-mind complex, especially the mind, temporarily happy. That Happiness, as an entity, survives even after the fall of the body. The surviving Happiness is not accessible because the medium of expression is not there to manifest.
Bhrigu has found that unlike sheaths made of food, vital forces, mind, intellect, and bliss, the Atma, (the Consciousness) is not an intermediary cause. It is also different from bliss sheath which Bhrigu has skipped. Atma is Ananda swarupa and is the ultimate cause: Brahman is also called Atma, i.e., I, the subject. He concludes “I am Brahman”. Bhrigu is satisfied. The Self does not refer to any of the five sheaths but to Consciousness that is beyond the five sheaths.
This knowledge, previously titled BrahmavidyA, is given two new titles: Bhargavi vidyA- wisdom received by the student Bhrigu and VarunividyA, the wisdom imparted by Varuna. The Upanishad says that like Bhrigu, whoever does inquiry of five sheaths gets this wisdom. Not only he receives the spiritual benefit, but also the worldly benefit. Many people do not understand the value of spiritual benefit. Therefore, the Upanishad tempts people with the worldly benefit also. Even though Bhrigu was a great sage, he chose to learn Brahman from his father Varuna instead of self-study. BrahmavidyA has two types of benefits. Spiritual benefit: he will be psychologically settled and will be completely free of mental disturbances – this is jivanmukta. As in his vision, everything is his own manifestation, he enjoys health, wealth, name and fame.
Contd Part 36