The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - 23. Swami Krishnananda.

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Chinmaya Mission :

Swami Swaroopananda enthralled the residents of Ernakulam between 6 - 10th February with a practical series of talks on Life Management Techniques based on the Man of Perfection as enumerated in Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verses 54 - 72. 

The event was inaugurated by Hon. Justice Sri. Devan Ramachandran, the High Court of Kerala, and started with prayers and lighting the lamp. 

The gold medal distribution for Toppers of Std XII in 2022 was also held during the event.

Overall, the series of talks provided practical guidance on how to manage one's life effectively by following the principles outlined in the Bhagavad Gita. 

The teachings focused on the importance of managing one's expectations, dealing with distractions, managing one's senses, and realizing that true happiness cannot be obtained from external objects.

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Monday, February 13, 2023. 07:00.

Chapter- III :

FIRST BRAHMANA: SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP AND ITS REWARDS

Post-23.

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Mantram-3 :

"Yājñavalkya! Now answer my questions. You know Yājñavalkya, that everything is subject to death. Everyone is capable of being destroyed by death, one day or the other. Not one among us can escape death. The sacrifice also will die. The one who causes the sacrifice to be performed will die. The materials used in a sacrifice are perishable. Therefore, the results that accrue from the sacrifice will also be subject to destruction. How can one escape death under these circumstances? How is it possible for the Yajamāna – the one who conducts a sacrifice – to free himself from this death that envelops everything and swallows everything? No one can escape death. Is there a way of escaping it? Now answer this question."

 Yājñavalkya gives the answer : "This answer is very difficult. It is not possible to escape death as long as the sacrificer considers himself as an individual. As long as he thinks that he is a human being; as long as he knows that he has verily enough to perform or conduct a sacrifice; that he has many priests whom he can employ in the sacrifice; that he can go to the other world and enjoy the pleasures of heaven – if these are the ideas in the mind of the conductor of a sacrifice, naturally he cannot escape death. But, there is a way of escaping death by knowing the cause of death. If you know the cause of death, you can escape death. Why do people die? Because they are inharmonious with Truth, that is all. There is nothing more secret about it. It is the law of Truth that compels you to undergo certain disciplines for the purpose of putting yourself in harmony with its nature. And this process of discipline that is imposed upon you is called birth and death. It is a tremendous discipline that is compelled upon us by the law of Truth. We are irreconcilable; we cannot agree with anyone; we always disagree; we are independent; we each have a personality of our own; we assert ourself in everything. As long as this assertion of individuality is there and the Truth behind this individuality is not known, one cannot escape death. But, if you know the principles that govern the very existence and function of the individual, then you can, by a harmony with that Truth, escape death. What is this harmony that we are speaking of?

"There should be, simultaneously, together with the sacrifice, a meditation. A meditation should be there, coupled with the performance of the sacrifice. It is not enough if you merely offer oblations into the sacred fire. It is not enough if you give material objects in charity. It is already known that these are not the ways of escaping death. All things shall be swallowed by death. You must also have a simultaneous meditation performed together with the performance of the sacrifice, so that the sacrifice becomes an external symbol of an internal contemplation that is necessarily to be associated with the sacrifice. If the meditation is not there, the sacrifice is as good as nothing. What is the meditation?

"The chants by means of the Veda, which are effected through speech by the priest called Hotā who is the presiding authority of the  Vedic Mantras, have to be identified with the deity of speech. This identification can be done only in meditation. It cannot be done by any kind of action. Speech is controlled, superintended over and presided over by a deity that is the Fire Principle. If the Fire Principle which is the Agnī Tattva-Vaiśvānara, can be identified with him, then he, the Hotā, the priest, absolves himself from death.

"There are four priests in a sacrifice. They are Hotā, Adhvaryu, Udgātr and Brahma. Hotā is the name of the priest who chants the  Vedic Mantras in a sacrifice. Adhvaryu is the one who performs the sacrifice, and he is connected with the Yajur Veda Mantras which are recited in the sacrifice. Udgātr is one who speaks the Sāma Veda Mantras in the very same sacrifice. And Brahma – the word Brahma does not mean the Absolute here – is the name of the priest who is the superintending authority over the Atharva Veda Mantras, whose function is to see that no mistake is committed by the other priests in the performance of the sacrifice, unwittingly. Now, none of these priests can escape death, and therefore the conductor of the sacrifice, the Yajamana, also cannot escape death – unless they perform a meditation inside. All these four priests should meditate, then only they can free themselves from death and also free the Yajamanā, the performer of the sacrifice, from death.

"The first meditation is the identification of all the hymns of the Ṛg Vedic Mantras with the principle of Agnī, together with the identification of one's own self as one with.  Ultimately, it is not a human being that performs a sacrifice. That is what Yājñavalkya tells us. It is not a priest that conducts a sacrifice. It is not a person; it is the principle of speech which is responsible for the recitation of the Mantra that gives meaning to the Yajña or the sacrifice. And therefore, you may say that this sacred speech called the  Veda is really the performance –  This speech, which is sacred, and is this Veda, is conducted also by the horse-principle, the Universal Being, He is the real conductor of the sacrifice. If you do not know Him, you will die. This knowledge is liberation. This is called Moksha. This is freedom from the trammels of death."

Aśvala, the priest, does not leave Yājñavalkya at that. "You have answered one question. I have seven more questions. Answer all of them if you want to take the cows like this, otherwise you bring the cows back."

*****
To be continued



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