The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - 2.4.6,7,8,9. continued. Swami Krishnananda.

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Monday, June 13, 2022. 20:30.

Chapter- II :

FOURTH BRAHMANA : 

THE CONVERSATION OF YAJNAVALKYA AND MAITREYI ON THE ABSOLUTE SELF : 6,7,8,9. continued

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6.brahma tam parādād yo'nyatrātmano brahma veda. kṣatraṁ tam parādād yo'nyatrātmanaḥ  kṣatraṁ veda. lokās tam parādur yo'nyatrātmano lokān veda. devās tam parādur yo'nyatrātmano devān veda. bhūtāni tam parādur yo'nyatrātmano bhūtāni veda. sarvaṁ tam parādād yo'nyatrātmano sarvaṁ veda. idam brahma, idaṁ kṣatram, ime lokāḥ, ime devāḥ, imāmi bhūtāni, idaṁ sarvam, yad ayam ātmā.


Finally the Upaniṣhad says; sarvaṁ tam parādād yo' nyatrātmano sarvaṁ veda: Everything shall leave you if you regard anything as other than you. It is a metaphysical point, a psychological theme, and a practical truth. You cannot forget this. Anything that is outside you cannot belong to you and cannot satisfy you, and it will leave you. So, it shall bring you sorrow. It is a point which is eternally true. All things shall desert you, one day or the other. Even those things which you regard as dearest and nearest, most desirable and valuable, shall desert you and leave you, bringing sorrow, because they do not belong to you.


Yo' nyatrātmano sarvaṁ veda. idam brahma, idaṁ kṣatram, ime lokāḥ, ime devāḥ, imāni bhūtāni, idaṁ sarvam, yad ayam ātmā: "So, Maitreyī," says Yājñavalkya, "It is the ātman that appears as all these things. This is the point that is never grasped by the mind which looks upon objects as independent entities. The ātman is the one Reality that masquerades in various forms and names, but this point is not understood. The mind that is finite, located and lodged in the body, does not understand the fact that finite objects that are outside are only appearances of a single indivisible Reality. So, the finite tries to clings to the finite, not knowing this fact of infinitude that is at the background of these finite forms. If this infinitude that is at the base of these finite forms is to be understood, realised and made part of one's own being, then the realisation accrues." This ātman is all – idaṁ sarvaṁ, yad ayam ātmā.


7.sa yathā dundubher hanyamānasya na bāhyān śabdān śaknuyād grahaṇāya, dundubheś tu grahaṇena dundubhy-āghātasya vā śabdō gṛhītaḥ.

8.sa yathā śaṅkhasya dhmāyamānasya na bāhyān śabdān śaknuyād grahaṇāya, śaṅkhasya tu grahaenaṇ śaṅkha-dhmasya vā śabdō gṛhītaḥ.

9.sa yathā vīṇāyai vādyamānāyai na bāhyān śabdān śaknuyād grahaṇāya, vīṇāyai tu grahaṇena vīṇā-vādaṣya vā śabdō gṛhītaḥ.




By these three illustrations, sage Yājñavalkya tells us that the effect cannot be known unless the cause is known, because the effect is a manifestation of the cause in some proportion. You cannot understand the nature of any object in this world unless you know wherefrom it has come. But you try to understand the why and wherefore of things by merely beholding them with the eyes. Whatever be the extent of your observation in the best laboratory conceivable in the world, you cannot understand things, because whatever is observed through even the subtlest instrument, even the best microscope, etc., is an effect, not a cause. It is a product of certain circumstances. The conditions that have been responsible for the effectuation of these forms that you are observing are transcendent, and therefore they are invisible. Unless the cause behind the form that is visible is perceived, the form cannot be really known. If you are intent upon knowing the nature of any object, you must know its relation to something else. And that something else is connected to another thing, and so on and so on, until you will be surprised to realise that everything is connected to everything else in such a way that nothing can be known unless everything is known. So, it is not possible to have complete knowledge of any finite object unless the Infinite itself is known. You cannot know the structure of even a sand particle in the beach unless the whole cosmos is known ultimately, because it has got infinite relationships to various types of atmosphere of which it is a product. So it will take you up to the limit of the Infinite if you try to understand the inner, inscrutable majesty of even a grain of sand.


To understand this, the great Master Yājñavalkya gives us three illustrations. Just as the sound that is made by a percussion instrument cannot be properly identified if the instrument itself is far away and not visible to the eyes, but whose sound is heard by you from a distance, unless you catch the source thereof; just as you cannot identify the rhythm produced by the blowing of a conch unless you have the capacity to grasp the totality of the sound by actually perceiving the conch that is being blown at any particular time; just as you cannot understand the symphony produced by a Vina or a stringed instrument, for instance, merely by hearing one note unless you are able to connect all the notes in a harmonious symphony, so is the case with all these things in this world. You cannot know anything. They are each like one note in the symphony or the music of the universe. How can you know the beauty of the music by merely hearing one note? That note is connected to many other notes. And when every note is harmoniously related to all other notes to which it is related, and all the notes are grasped at one stroke in one single harmonious symphony, that becomes music; it is beautiful. But if only a twang is heard or one tick is heard, it makes no sense; it is not music. Likewise with any object in this world. It is one twang, one tick, one sound which is really connected to a vast arena or gamut of a symphony that is universally expansive. Unless that total expanse or continuity is grasped by the mind at one stroke, which means to say that unless the infinite Being behind the finite objects is grasped by the consciousness, no finite object can be known fully, nothing can be understood perfectly. Therefore, nothing can give you satisfaction. There is no hope of immortality through any possession in this world, is the conclusion of Sage Yājñavalkya.


To be continued...  


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