[(Part – 38 (chAn 5)]
10. brihadAraNyaka Upanishad
The Upanishadic teachings are like a medicine administered to a sick patient. They help him/her to bounce back to her normal health. The Sanskrit word for “health” is “swasthata” (स्वस्थत). “swasthata” is derived from “stha” to be and “swa” in one’s normal state. Our normal healthy position gets affected, if and when we are invaded by foreign elements including alien “thoughts.” Thus far nine experts (Upanishads) have already treated us to rid us of the illness called “ignorance.” Now comes the final Specialist, brihadAraNyaka inquiring if we have come back to our normal health.
We take it for granted that we are limited to or confined within our body-mind. That itself is our illness. It is called “ignorance.” We are not actually confined or limited to any finite form. Time and space are within me. In other words, there is no moment when we are not and there is no place where we are not present because our true nature is “Knowing.” Our intrinsic nature is pure Knowingness (the Knowing ability) that has no form. As ‘Knowingness,’ we are formless, unbounded and all-pervasive. We are birthless and deathless. We are never “the known.” We are ever the Knower. We are eternal, immutable and indivisible.
Therefore, even the occurrence of the thoughts that say ‘I am a finite individual,’ ‘there is a world out there different from me,’ and ‘there is a Creator Lord separate from me’ is a symptom of our ‘disease’!
We suffer from sorrow and misery as a result of such conceptualizations which are alien to us. We will inevitably go through the cycles of birth and death indefinitely as a consequence of those thoughts.
Our true nature will shine once these foreign thoughts cease. We will then remain as the all-pervading brahman, the largest without any in-group, out-group or internal differences. This is the true and pure nature of our ‘swasthata’ – Health. The Upanishadic name for that is “bhUma ” or “brihat” which means the colossal, the infinite.
We have not been living as per our true nature. We have been sick, overtaken by “ignorance.” We have been living as a finite individual (jIva). We posit a world (jagat) external to us. We conceive that a powerful Creator Lord (Ishwara) is in control of the world. They are all our fancy imaginations due to our illness. When we see all the three, namely, the jIva-jagat-and Ishwara, to be non-different from ourselves, we will shine as our true healthy Self, the Infinite Consciousness, as the chAnodgya Upanishad tells us:
स्वेन रूपेणाभिनिष्पद्यत एष आत्मेति — 8.3.4, chAndogya upa.
Meaning: (Once we) become merged in our own true form, (then we are) the Self.
We ourselves have to know and feel the state of our health. A pure mind and identity with brahman certainly indicate perfect health. A purified mind would be free from the defects like ‘veiling’ and ‘projecting.’ Veiling refers to the inability to notice the Truth (because the Truth gets effectively ‘veiled’ from the mind) and projecting refers to notice something other than what exists (the mind ‘projects’ forms that are non-existent).
The veiling is caused by tamas and projecting by rajas. A purified mind becomes sattvic after getting rid of tamas and rajas. A sattvic mind is a prerequisite for the rise of the True Self-knowledge. Bagavad-Gita says:
सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं — 14.17, BG.
Meaning: From sattva arises true Knowledge.
So far three Great Vedantic Sentences, the cryptic one-liners that efficiently capture the core teaching of the Upanishads have been imparted to us. They are:
- This Self (Atman) is brahman” (अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म – ayamAtmA brahma) – 1.2, mANDUkya;
- The Absolute Knowledge is brahman” (प्रज्ञानम् ब्रह्म – prjnAnam brahman) – 3.3, aitareya;
- You are That” (तत् त्वम् असि – tat tvam asi) – 6.8.7, chAndogya.
The 4th one, “I am brahman” (अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि – aham brahma asmi)– gets introduced in the brihadAraNyaka (at its mantra 1.4.10).
The Supreme Self is Pure Consciousness (Knowing). Its powers lay in a latent form. When It uses its powers for the manifestation of a world through creation, sustenance and dissolution, It will be known as Ishwara. It is attributeless (nirguNa) as the Supreme Self. It attains certain dimensionalities (saguNatva) as Ishwara.
Beingness is a power. It is called sat-shakti. Consciousness is also a power. It is the cit-shakti. They are what the Self IS.
We can think of the Supreme Self to be a magician. As long as the magic stays latent, It is the Self. When the magic gets exhibited, It will be Ishwara. It is like a musician having all the knowledge and talent of her music staying latent within her when s/he is not displaying it. But when she gives a performance, the music comes out and the power of her music gets exhibited.
Unlike the instructional statement (the 3rd Great Statement above), “You are That,” “I am brahman” taught by the brihadAraNyaka Upanishad is a direct experiential statement. When full health is experienced, the thought that ‘I am an individual’ would not arise. We can then say realizationally, “I am brahman.”
Shankara says in the sUtra bhAShya,
तस्मात् अहं ब्रह्मास्मीत्येतदवसाना एव सर्वे विधयः सर्वाणि चेतराणि प्रमाणानि । न ह्यहेयानुपादेयाद्वैतात्मावगतौ सत्याम् , निर्विषयाण्यप्रमातृकाणि च प्रमाणानि भवितुमर्हन्तीति । — Shanakara at 1.1.4, BSB.
Meaning: All the injunctions as well as all the other means of knowledge have their validity till the realization, “I am brahman“. For once the non-dual Self, that is neither acceptable nor rejectable, is realized, there can be no possibility of the persistence of the means of Knowledge that become bereft of their objects and subjects. (Translations: Swami Gambhirananda. The Swami adds: The means of knowledge are valid so long as the final illumination does not occur).
Once the im-mediate direct experiential understanding that “I am brahman” takes place, there remains no need to pursue any instructions or ritualistic and other procedures. If the understanding has not been thorough, the treatment for the ‘ill-health’ has to continue. Hence with a deep sense of responsibility that the Upanishad asks if mental purity has been obtained and whether the understanding of “I am brahman” has stabilized. If these two requirements are fulfilled, the seeker has to be able to say with firm conviction, “I am brahman.” There remains nothing further for the teacher then to speak.
On the realization of the Self, one sees brahman everywhere, in the front, behind, on the right and left as well as above and below. It is not that I see a world and, only after an intellectual analysis and derivation that I deduce it to be brahman. One must be able to realize “All That IS is brahman.”
It is not that I realize brahman only under some special conditions or states like samAdhi. It would mean that I am the usual worldly man when I am out of samAdhi. Every moment feels like meditation. It is a lifelong meditation. The meditator, the meditation and the meditated will all be One. I must be able to notice my own Self – Atma-swarUpa (my form) – in everything and everywhere.
(To Continue … Part – 40 (brih 2))