CHINU’S NOTES ON THITTIRIYA UPANISAD -4 Listen to shikshavalli in you tube while reading this https://youtube/watch?v=89Wdm4LNHqM We shall take up Section 4 of Chapter 1 next time. HARIH OM Taittiriya Upanishad: Petal 4 CHAPTER 1 – SIKSHA VALLI SECTION 4 – MEDHA SRI KAMA JAPA HOMAU - A TEACHER’S PRAYER This section contains mantras to be used daily as japa and for havan. Here Japa is advised for the development of the intellect in a student. MANTRA 1 yashchandasamrishabho vishvarupah . chandobhyo.adhyamritatsambabhuva . sa mendro medhaya sprinotu . amritasya deva dharano bhuyasam.h . shariram me vicharshanam.h . jihva me madhumattama . karnabhyam bhuri vishruvam.h . brahmanah kosho.asi medhaya pihitah . shrutam me gopaya . avahanti vitanvana .. 1.. May He who is the bull of the Vedic hymns, who assumes all forms, who has sprung from the immortal hymns of the Vedas—may that Indra cheer me with wisdom. O God, may I be the possessor of immortality! May my body be competent; may my tongue be exceedingly sweet; may I hear abundantly with my ears. Thou art the sheath of Brahman, concealed by intelligence. Guard for me what I have learnt. This is a prayer addressed to the Supreme Being soliciting mental power and physical fitness without which knowledge of Brahman is not possible. He who is the bull of Vedic Hymns – This refers to the sacred syllable OM, the symbol and designation of Brahman. The mystic syllable OM is set forth in the Upanishads as the object of profound meditation and the highest spiritual efficacy is attributed to it. It is considered the quintessence of the Vedas. The Bhagavad Gita says that the Lord himself is OM in all the Vedas (7.8 & 9.17), that this monosyllabic Brahman should be uttered by a dying man for attaining the highest destiny (8.13)and that it is the designation of Brahman (17.23). May that Indra cheer me with wisdom – May that supreme Lord cheer me with intellectual vigor i.e. bless me with intelligence and mental power, especially with a resolute memory because the seeker after Brahmavidya must be able to concentrate his thought on a given object and keep it uninterruptedly in the field of attention. The mind should achieve one-pointed attention and be free from its wandering tendencies so that the seeker can concentrate his thought and retain what has been learnt. Hence this prayer right at the start. May I be the possessor of immortality – Amrita in the text means immortality or what confers immortality. Here it stands for the Vedas which are a means to immortality. The Upanishad Mantra further declares the need of strength - physical, moral and spiritual - for realizing our higher destiny. Thou art the sheath of Brahman, concealed by intelligence – OM is the cover or sheath of Brahman suggesting that the Highest reality which is the immediate and innermost Self of man can be objectified for the purpose of worship only through a Pratika or a symbol for which purpose OM is the most appropriate. The prayer contained in this section has two distinct parts. The first part which we have seen above is Japa. They are the Japa mantras meant for silent repetition for as long as one needs. By such Japa mantras, one recognizes Brahman in the altar of worship. The second part of this upasana is a form of homa - a Havan- performed as a physical act of worship of Brahman already recognized in the altar of worship. We may note here that the entire Japa mantra is for gaining intellectual vigor and memory extending deep into the Upanishad knowledge. This is one of the very important forms of worship commonly used in the pursuit of Upanishad knowledge. One usually does this Japa before undertaking a study of any Upanishad, especially before commencing a study of Brahma Sutra mantras. MANTRA 2 kurvana.achiramatmanah . vasa{\m+} si mama gavashcha . annapane cha sarvada . tato me shriyamavaha . lomasham pashubhih saha svaha . a ma yantu brahmacharinah svaha . vi ma.a.ayantu brahmacharinah svaha . pra ma.a.ayantu brahmacharinah svaha . damayantu brahmacharinah svaha . shamayantu brahmacharinah svaha .. 2.. Om. Next bring me, without delay, fortune accompanied by wool and cattle—fortune which always provides me with clothes and cattle, food and drink. Increase them when they have been acquired and preserve them long when increased. Svaha! May brahmacharins come to me variously! Svaha! May brahmacharins come to me!. Svaha! May brahmacharins practise self—control! Svaha! May brahmacharins enjoy peace! Svaha! This prayer is an oblation in the Havan Kund. Every mantra in the Havan ends with the utterance of the word svaha and it is with this mantra one performs the ahuti - the oblation of the offering into the fire in the Havan kund. What happens to the offering then? It becomes ONE with the fire, just as on joining the ocean, the river becomes one with the ocean. In ones spiritual endeavor to uplift oneself by cultivating the necessary mental disposition, this symbolic act of oblation into fire – agni devata - is one of extraordinary significance. The significance is this: The material used for oblation represents the Jiva, - the individual who performs the ahuti. The fire - the Agni Devata into which the oblation is made is the visible manifestation of the Invisible Brahman. The material used for oblation, becoming ONE with the fire represents jiva-brahma aikyam - the upliftment of Jiva to reach the state of total identity with Brahman , which is indeed the overriding purpose of life. This is possible only if Jiva is free from aham - ego I. That is why the ahuti is made with the utterance of the svaha mantra. ‘Sv’means ones own. The word ‘sv’ indicates the my notion, or the ego power governing all of ones thought, word and deed. Sva hanam is svaha - the ego power has been destroyed by the grace of the Supreme Power, which means I am released from ego or aham, I am free, the Jiva is free, the material used for oblation representing the Jiva is also free, and hence I am naturally fit for Jiva-Brahma Aikyam. Thus by the utterance of the svaha− mantra, with proper attitude, one consciously uplifts oneself from the ego power, by the grace of Paramatman and projects ones mind and intellect towards the overriding purpose of life, namely gaining identity with Brahman. Any prayer preceding the svaha mantra is not for any trivial pleasure, but it is only for serving as an aid in ones endeavor to uplift oneself to reach that state of identity with Brahman. This is the meaning of the svaha mantra. By repeating this svaha mantra again and again, after each prayer, as the ahuti mantra, as the mantra for oblation unto Agni Devata, one affirms ones deliberate commitment to be free from ego and to Brahma Jnan (Knowledge of Brahman) as ones overriding goal of life. Now let us study the mantra. These mantras are invocations with which oblations are offered into the sacred fire for getting fortune and students. It should be noted that wealth here is considered as an instrument or means of doing spiritual work through which purity of mind is achieved. From this angle, we understand that the teacher is anxious to get large number of students and additional wealth in the form of food and clothing. The teacher’s motive for wealth and students is entirely different from that of today’s Private Coaching Classes. MANTRA 3 yasho jane.asani svaha . shreyan.h vasyaso.asani svaha . tam tva bhaga pravishani svaha . sa ma bhaga pravisha svaha . tasmin tsahasrashakhe nibhagaham tvayi mrije svaha . yatha.a.apah pravata.a.ayanti yatha masa aharjaram.h . evam mam brahmacharinah . dhatarayantu sarvatah svaha . prativesho.asi pra ma bhahi pra ma padyasva .. 3.. May I become famous among men! Svaha! May I become richer than the rich! Svaha! O gracious Lord, may I enter into Thee! Svaha! May Thou, O gracious Lord, enter into me! Svaha! O Lord, I am cleansing my sins in that Self of Thine, which is like a river of a thousand branches. Svaha! O Preserver, as waters flow downward, as the months merge in the year, so may brahmacharins come to me from all directions! Svaha! Thou art a refuge. To me do Thou shine forth. Accept me unto Thyself completely. Famous among men; richer than the rich – These are the terms used not with an eye on self-enlargement but a prayer to be rich and famous for serving others and to spread spiritual knowledge. Fulfillment of earthly or heavenly personal desires cannot be the purpose of the knowledge portion of the Vedas. May I enter into Thee; May Thou, O gracious Lord, enter into me – This is a plea for complete unity between Jiva and Brahman, Thee and Me, the divine and human. River of thousand branches – Just as a river with a huge number of branches benefits the society on a large scale, meditation on OM is the best means of cleansing one’s vast accumulated sins. The prayer concludes with an exhortation that as the metal head of an arrow becomes one with the target, the devotee has to worship OM by regarding himself as one with it. GIST OF THIS SECTION This section brings to the foreground the necessity of intelligence and wealth in that order, for wealth in the hands of a barbarous mind is very dangerous to the society. A prayer is addressed to the Lord represented by the sacred symbol OM seeking tenacious memory, able body, sweet speech, vast erudition, and general fitness to receive the bliss of immortality. Prayers in the form of oblations in the fire are made by the eager teacher to transmit spiritual wisdom to an increasing band of calm, self-controlled disciples. His prayer for copious wealth, food and drink has for its motive only the maintenance of the dependent disciples. The teacher is very keen to share among a multitude of worthy candidates his knowledge “as water flows downwards, as months go to make an year, so may numerous, deserving students come to me”. This section concludes with the sublime appeal by the teacher “ O God, may I enter into thee; may Thou manifest in me and take possession of me; may I be cleansed of all defilement in Thyself having a thousand manifestations”. Simple explanation of the chapter to a laity SECTION - IV 1. He whose form is manifold, who is pre-eminent among the sacred hymns of the Veda-s, and who has sprung up from the sacred hymns which are immortal-that Indra (Omkara) may fill me with intellectual vigour. O Lord, may I become the possessor of the immortal revelations. May my body become able and active, my speech sweet and agreeable to the utmost. May I listen abundantly with my ears. Thou art the sheath of Brahman. May you preserve my learning. … This section opens with a declaration of a mantra to be used by the students for daily repetition, a practice technically called japa. To keep the mind actively engaged in the repetition of a sacred hymn invoking divine ideas or ideals, which provides an infinite possibility for contemplation and intellectual flights, is japa. Here the japa advised is for the development of the intellect in a student. To all serious students, there cannot be a greater ambition than that they should be able to shine in their class among others. In ancient days, the success of a student mainly depended upon his retentive capacity, since education started with memorising the Vedik texts. Without an acute memory-power (medha-sakti), no student in those days could come up well in his education. Here we have, therefore, a mantra for chanting, which, when pursued properly with the necessary mental co-operation, can strengthen and purify the memory-power in the student. In this japa, the student is addressing Indra, and Sri Sankaracarya in his commentary interprets rightly that Indra here means Omkara, Etymologically, the word Indra is derived from a root meaning, ‘to illuminate’ (indhayati-iti-Indrah). The Om-symbol, indicating the Conscious Principle in man, is the illuminator of all the faculties in him including his own intellect. The mantra as it reads is an invocation to Omkara for a clearer consciousness or awareness in the student. ‘He whose form is manifold’:- The Awareness of Consciousness which is the Supreme Reality, is the infinite substratum for all the finite names and forms which constitute the world as we perceive it. The waves and ripples, the bubbles and foam, the whirls and the dips that disturb the surface of the ocean are all, when analysed, found to be nothing but the manifold forms of the same ocean. The rings, the bangles, and the innumerable varieties of ornaments, thin and thick, short and long, though different in shape, size and name, are all the manifold forms of the one and the same substance: gold. Similarly, the One Infinite Divine Life-spark expresses Itself through the endless forms and names that constitute the entire living world of beings and therefore, the Truth as expressed by its symbol Om is said to have manifold forms. ‘Who is pre-eminent among the hymns of Veda-s’:- Herein we have yet another clause qualifying the Om-symbol. The Infinite and the Immortal Truth, which is One without-a-second, all-pervading and perfect as indicated by the symbol Om, is the one common theme that is dealt with in the Hymns in the Veda-s. Even in the Mantra-portion of the Veda-s, the exclamations of the Aryans at the beauty of nature were but adorations of the Infinite; when the Hindu-s, in the Brahmana-portion, entered into a scheme of ritualism, there too they invoked the same Truth, manifested for special purposes as Indra, Varuna, etc. Again, in the Upanisad-s, when the great Rsi-s exploded in ecstasy and expressed their thrilling experiences of the ‘end’ and declared the path leading towards It, they again, with every mantra, indicated the same Infinite Noumenon which, from behind the pluralistic world, lends Its vitality to nature. Therefore, the appellation given here is perfectly justified. ‘Who has sprung up from the hymns’:- This intellectual recognition of the all-pervading Reality is gained through a study of the Veda-s and, thereafter, to a seeker, the same Veda prescribes the means by which he can pursue his pilgrimage towards this Self-discovery, and again the same Veda exhaustively deals with the methods of removing obstacles on the path of the seeker. Therefore, it is but a beautiful way of expression to declare the Truth symbolized by Om as having ‘sprung up from the hymns.’ Addressing this Om, the name of the Infinite, the student desires that he must be filled with intellectual vigour so that he may be able to understand, at least bring within his intellectual appreciation, the deep significances of the immortal revelations expounded in the Veda-text. Not only is it sufficient that he is provided with a wonderful intellect capable of grasping and retaining the silent import of the pregnant Vedik words, but also that the Aryan student is not satisfied without acquiring a healthy life in his body, and a sweet and agreeable way of expression in his speech. No student in the Vedik period seems to have ever mis-appropriated knowledge with an intention to hoard. His charity is so divine and the theme of his study so inspiring that he feels himself fulfilled only when he has disseminated the knowledge, he has acquired from his teacher, far and wide. Therefore, his request or demand is not only that he should become highly efficient in learning the Veda-s, but also that he must have the physical abilities for continuous exertion in carrying out open propaganda with all the missionary zeal to spread the vital Truth and scatter the pearls of wisdom that form the very substance of his culture. How different from what we understand today is the real declaration of our own sacred books! Here we are now trying to understand the words of a japa-mantra advised by the Rsi-s for those students who are slightly dull, in order that they may become more efficient in their intellect. The great masters of the Upanisad-s are not satisfied if their students are highly intellectual but weak and emaciated. Today, on the other hand, walk into any university hall, and we can surely point out the first-class student; for, he will invariably be a pale walking corpse which refuses to die, perhaps because it has not the vitality even to pack up its life and depart in peace! In the same university, the sportsman who is well-built and beaming with health is invariably marked out for a lucky third class or, preferably, a sure failure! This state of affairs is certainly because of a very painful mal-adjustment in our educational system. This mantra by its suggestiveness gives us the hope that there can be a better system wherein physical health and intellectual accomplishments can go hand in hand, and the vision of the educationists in any country should be to bring about this consummate happiness. Just as a man of resounding knowledge, a genius of his age, is no more useful either to himself or to the society, but becomes only a liability if he be in a nursing home or an asylum; so too, a man with knowledge and health, again, is a living threat to his society, and will being ultimately a blot upon the fair face to the sacred culture, if he has not a sweet tongue to express his ideas in an attractive way. An individual becomes really a pest on the generation if he has not got the tolerance to give a patient hearing to others, and does not try to digest and assimilate the best in them. Fanaticism and intolerance are the cankers that eat up the best blossom in any period of history. Not only that such a fanatic individual will be always unhappy in himself, but his mission will always end in marching his generation into a chaotic state of mutual hatred and general unpleasantness. The mantra is rounded up with an assertion that Om is ‘the sheath of Brahman.’ When we are invoking a power and requesting it to bless us with certain special strength or ability, we must know whether the invoked power has got the ability to fulfil our demand. Here it is said that Om is the very ‘container’ for the Supreme. The ‘sheath’ is invoked just as we do in our daily life when we actually mean the contained: ‘Bring the ink-pot,’ ‘Pass on to me the cigarette case,’ etc. In all such instances the request is not a direct demand merely for the bottle or for the case, but it is a demand for the ink in the bottle or the cigarettes in the case. The mantra here says that the Om-symbol is the sheath of Brahman and, therefore, invoking Om is invoking the Supreme. This mantra is repeated with extreme concentration regularly by the students who desire a more efficient memory and heightened intellectual capacity. In the very scheme of the different upasana-s narrated in the textbook, the Rsi declares how an individual should plan out his great career in order to live fully the entire implication of the inimitable Sanatana Dharma. When an intellect has fully developed, and the individual has acquired sweet speech and a mental readiness to receive new idea on every occasion, such an individual alone, bubbling in his health, is fit to pursue the ‘ritual for wealth’ which is to be prescribed now. 2. O Lord, afterwards let prosperity be mine, consisting in hairy animals along with cattle. May fortune produce for me without delay and for all time, bringing continuously and in ever multiplying proportions, food and drink, cloth and cattle. All along, may celibate students, thirsty to know, come to me. Svaha! May they come to me from distant places and from all directions. May the students, anxious to gain the knowledge of Brahman, control their senses. May the students, anxious to live the knowledge of Brahman, be peaceful. Svaha!!! Earlier, we were told a mantra to be used in japa by which the discriminative intelligence and the retentive capacity of the student increases in greater proportions. Not only that he becomes intelligent, but we also saw that the meaning of the mantra provides the student with certain mental visions, physical strength and spiritual values. According to the Sastra, from the very order in which these upasana-s are laid, it is quite evident that such an individual alone is fit to claim prosperity and fortune. Here we have the prescription for a sacred ritualism which is performed by those who desire wealth. Wealth in the hands of unprepared intellects and uncultured hearts is not only suicidal to themselves, but is a threat to the very stability of the society. In fact, in the word of ours today, our political and economic problems can all be traced to the lack of character in the rich men. Materialism in our scientific world has created such an appeal wherein the good-at-heart and the pure-of-intellect have little scope to gain wealth, while the unscrupulous and the dishonest can easily court fortune. When such a heartless head comes by wealth, he becomes a miniature Nero setting fire to his society in order that he may enjoy his song in his won licentious freedom! The gun-powder kings cannot suffer for long their dull market and, therefore, they plan to bring about wars at every short interval! In all relationships between the landlord and the tenant, the employer and the employee, there is a growing dis-contentment because, in the scheme of things available today, the unprepared individuals can, and do, come by great fortunes. The Vedik teachers have, therefore, indicated that desire for wealth can be a blessing only when the individual has been educated to entertain the noble qualities of head and heart, and the enduring values of the spirit. In this portion it is said: ‘O’ Lord, afterwards’ – meaning, after having blessed me with full discrimination, good health, the spirit of tolerance and an irresistible impatience to serve others – ‘confer on them good fortune.’ Without these qualifications, wealth becomes as dangerous a weapon as a loaded pistol in the hands of an innocent child-a positive threat to itself and probably to others around it. The fortune demanded is typical of the times; wealth was in those days, measured in terms of cattle and sheep. Wool was essential because of the climatic conditions of the North and, in those days, when jungles were full of trees, and not, as they are today, a mere story of an historical tradition – when the Himalaya-s was not rendered bald by a caterpillar generation of profit-hunting governments and gain-mad contractors-wool was, perhaps, a necessity of life. Wealth was demanded not as a fulfillment in itself, but because they recognized that riches can be justified and enjoyed only by the mission that it fulfils. If wealth were to be idle, and one knows only to enjoy it as a dispenser of confidence and assurance of having a high bank balance, one knows not how to milk one’s wealth to yield a greater joy unto oneself. Here the teacher is giving the right turn of mind to the growing disciples so that they may, when they are fit, desire for immense wealth for a great and noble cause, namely, for running universities where students are served and looked after. The rich are the trustees of the illiterate and the needy. To say that Hinduism recognizes no missionary zeal is to misread our sacred books. We may justify the statement inasmuch as Hinduism, the perfect science of peace and love, universal in its outlook, has for itself the goal of human evolution and, therefore, has no ugly proselytisation viewpoint in itself. So, compared with the mischief of such foreign institutions which are today making unhappy gashes on the national integrity and the cultural heritage of this sacred land, we may say that Hinduism is not missionary at all. But the sacred zeal with which the Rsi-s took upon themselves the noble cause in the spread of their culture was nothing less than the zeal, with which Saint Paul came to the East. Every student was charged with the divine duty of spreading the Hindu culture, in his own lifetime, among his own people and the foreigners who might reach them seeking it. The ambition of each student has been thus moulded by the teachers at the very time of their early initiation. They invoked the Lord through their rituals and both the teacher and the taught demanded together that students of intelligence and self-control, of moral and ethical purity, of emotional stamina and psychological stability, should constantly reach them from all directions, from far and near. This healthy spirit of propagation got itself choked in the poisonous atmosphere of secularism and the criminal monopoly of knowledge that was practiced by some erring generation somewhere in the near past. That suicidal policy has today brought the Hindu-s where they are, and their scripture has become a laughing stock of the whole world! Here we are discussing the very sacred book itself in which it is so clearly put that the goal and ambition of every student was to be that he would be able, in his lifetime, to get ample chances to train and perfect the next generation to carry on the torch of knowledge, trim and bright, as he himself got it from his own teacher. Vedanta being not only a theory of perfect life, but also being a technique of perfect living, the Hindu culture can be imparted efficiently and successfully only to those who are willing and ready to live these values. This is indicated by the demand of the worshipper that the students of Brahma-Vidya, who reach the halls of study, must have ample self-control in their outward life and calmness in their inward living. 3. May I become successful among the people. Svaha! May I become superior among the rich. Svaha! O Lord of prosperity, may I enter into Thee. Svaha! Mayst Thou enter into me. In that Self of Thine with a thousand branches. O Lord, may I purify myself from all my sins. Svaha! As water flows downwards, as months fly into years, so too, O creator, may students of Brahma-vidya come to me from everywhere. Svaha! Thou art the refuge! Beam upon me! Come to me!! Continuing the ritual, the mantra-s reveal more and more the nobility of intentions and the purity of ambitions entertained by the upasaka. The worshipper wants to become famous among men in his knowledge and his living because, in India, a philosopher never attracts any attention unless he lives up to the ideal of his philosophy. Thus, the renown meant here is not merely a popularity of a passing fame. This demand for fame is not for any self-aggrandisement or selfish gains, but it is to assure that the best types of students will be constantly reaching him from all directions, and thus the upasaka will gain in the days to come a greater field for his missionary activities. This prayer that he should become famous for great fortunes, should give us the implication meant in ‘May I become superior among the rich,’ meaning, let me not only be a mere mule carrying the weight of gold, but an intelligent master of fortune who is able to bless the world with the riches that have come to me through the grace of the Lord. In so doing, he becomes, in fact, superior to those who are wealthier than himself. Wealth in itself is no mark of nobility or glory to man. It becomes so only when he comes to serve the society, and thereby himself, with his wealth. Therefore, when a true Hindu acquires wealth to spend it in maintaining seekers during their stay with him, indeed, the wealth is spent in the right direction, and the culture of the land maintained and preserved thereby. In order to become thus pure in living, the individual must gain a clean and divine heart, and the method by which one can purify oneself and keep that bright shine in the inner world is now discussed. Sin is that which covers the true effulgence of the soul. In our Sastra-s sin is not considered as some positive blemish, but only as a mistake in judgement; it is not the commission of an injustice, but an omission of the right. Thus our scriptures forbid us from hating the sinner, but insist that we must hate the sins. This positive philosophy is the meaning of all scriptures in the world. ‘Every saint has a past; every sinner a future. The moment we correct our thinking and redress the mistake in the evaluations of things in the world, we know how to redeem ourselves from the sins and walk the path of virtue. But, the difficulty felt by practitioners is that they are not completely independent of the reactions of their past mistakes. Every action and every thought leaves its impression upon the mental world, and every following thought and action has a tendency to repeat itself. Thus, having made one mis-judgement, the flow of thoughts thereafter has an irresistible tendency and an irrespressible urge to flow in the same direction, pushing the injustice more and more into positive criminalities and low animalisms. The only way we can redeem ourselves from our mistakes is to correct our way of thinking and rewrite the entire pattern of thoughts in ourselves. This erasing of the wrong patterns and rewriting the unhealthy lines of thinking are both accomplished by the same divine process, which is prescribed in the sacred textbooks. The method advised is the constant and repeated chanting and japa of the sacred mantra of Pranava, known as Omkara. We have already seen how Om is the most excellent essence in all the Veda-s, and since it represents the Supreme Consciousness, it manifests itself into its manifold forms. This is indicated here in the term ‘into a thousand branches.’ In our introductory talks, we had brought out the idea that the Aryan Master, soaked with the beauty of their native land-a wonderland of nature’s exquisite excesses-were so moulded in their sentiments and emotions that they could not but think in metre and rhyme. Even their sublest philosophy is honeyed with poetry; even objective sciences like medicine, astronomy, etc., have been given out by them in majestic verses which often rise to the beauties of pure poetry in their style, diction, music and flow. This being the case, we find here in the mantra two brilliant flashes when the upasaka requests the Lord to lead on to him students from far and near, ‘As water gushes downwards’ is a smile that can compete only with the dynamic picture brought before us by ‘as months flow into and merge with years.’ In their expressiveness, grandeur and charm they can stand a favourable comparison with the best in any literature. The rest is clear. iti chaturtho.anuvakah .. End of Section 4 - Chapter 1 We shall take up Section 5 of Chapter 1 next time.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 05:37:18 +0000
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