The Essence of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad : 1.1. Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Vedanta & Upanishads
The Essence of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad : 1.1 
Chapter 1: The Absolute and the Universe-1.
Swami Krishnananda.

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Chapter 1: The Absolute and the Universe-1

The First Chapter of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad commences with the description of a symbolic meditation, the famous Asvamedha sacrifice, renowned in the Vedas and the Brahmanas. The Asvamedha sacrifice is a liturgical performance, a ritual of the Brahmana portion of the Vedas, but the Upanishad converts every activity external into an internal contemplation. So the Asvamedha sacrifice is taken here as a symbol for cosmic meditation comparing the universe to a horse and the limbs and bodily structure of the horse to the various structural patterns of the universe;—how we can mentally perform the sacrifice and conceive sacrifice as, ultimately, a contemplation of the universal harmony of things rather than lay too much emphasis on the external performance of it by means of physical objects and oblations, etc. in a literal sacrifice.

The Asvamedha sacrifice which is a visible performance from the point of view of the ritual of the Mimamsa and the Brahmana is the object of meditation, in the very beginning of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, occurring in the Satapatha Brahmana, the most important of the Brahmanas, belonging to the Yajurveda. There is a beautiful symbology provided to us for meditation on the whole universe as the sacrifice itself—a subject that is adumbrated in the Purusha-Sukta of the Veda and certain other hymns of the Veda where God's creation is regarded as a sacrifice on His part, a Self-alienation of God Himself, as it were, by which He has become 'the other'. This is the contemplation in the beginning of the Upanishad, the creative process envisaged as a great sacrifice on the part of God. The Upanishad has some resemblance to the Purusha-Sukta, and what follows from the Purusha-Sukta and certain other Upanishads by way of deduction.

The creative process is further elaborated in the Sections which come after the description of the contemplative Asvamedha sacrifice—how, originally, it appeared as if there was nothing, there was just non-being. This is a famous concept in philosophical parlance, that originally it was a non-being 'as it were'. The words 'as it were' are very important. It is not that something comes out of nothing. Nothing can come from nothing. It is not nothingness that 'was', it is rather an imperceptibility of things. The Nasadiya Sukta of the Veda is a famous precedent to this concept in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, even as the Asvamedha sacrifice contemplation is connected with the Purusha-Sukta. Originally, it was nothing in the sense of an imperceptibility of all things, because space, time and objectivity of things were all comprehended in the bosom of what are called the 'original waters', the 'cosmic waters', a symbology which is familiar to all religious and mystical doctrines.

There was, therefore, nothing visible, because nobody was there to see things. The seer and the seen were clubbed together into a single mass of content, which could not be described in any other way except that it was imperceptible. It was imperceptible not because it was really so, but because it was not an object of the perception of anyone. Neither was it an object of the perception of anyone nor was there any chance of its being perceived by anyone, on account of the absence of subjects, and therefore absence of objects. This supreme imperceptibility was the Supreme Being Himself, who revealed Himself as this creation, gradually, in grosser and grosser forms, in various degrees of manifestation, known to us these days, in philosophy, as Ishvara, Hiranyagarbha, Virat, for instance. He became the supreme seer and 'consumer' of everything—to use the word of the Upanishad, Sarvasya Atta Bhavati: God became the 'eater' of all things. The word 'eater' here means the 'consumer', the 'perceiver', the 'experiencer' and the 'being' of everything. He was the Subject of everything; there was no object before Him. As He was the experiencer of all things in an identity of Himself with all things, He could not be regarded as an individual subject, and the objects could not stand outside Him; hence, He was in a position to convert everything into the Subject of experience in the sense of 'Identity of Being'. Therefore, the whole universe was like food for Himself. He is regarded as the Supreme Eater, in a symbolic language. And one who meditates thus, also becomes That, the Absolute Eater. This is how the Upanishad began.

Then we are gradually taken to more subtle subjects and brought nearer to our own selves; from the distant, remote, cosmic creative process, we come nearer to our own selves and to more intelligible forms of manifestation as Prana, mind, senses, etc. It was necessary for the Upanishad to point out the distinction between the cosmic manifestations and the internal personal manifestations. The senses are internally operative, even as gods are externally operative. The gods are the superintending principles over the senses and the mind, etc., of the individuals. If the gods were not to perform their functions, the senses would not act; just as, if the electricity is not to flow from the power-house, the electric bulbs are not going to shine;—this is a very gross example for you. The cosmic forces are responsible for the operation and action of all individual principles including the mind, the Prana, and the senses. But the individual is impotent, as he has lost all contact with the cosmic forces. He has no consciousness of even the existence of these divinities. When we look at things with our eyes, we never for a moment imagine our connection with the Sun, for instance. We are oblivious of the existence of these superintending principles and we are intent merely upon the immediate action of the senses in respect of the visible objects. Why is it that the individual has become so weak, so powerless, so much deprived of energy? This is the subject of the Sections that follow further on, in the form of a story, an analogy.

There was a war that took place between the Asuras and the Devas, the demons and the celestials. There was a battle going on and the Asuras wanted to overcome the Devas, the gods. The gods thought: “We shall contemplate the Supreme Being in the form of Uktha or Omkara, meditate and derive energy, and then overcome the Asuras.” So they started this Contemplation. How did they do it? They employed the various senses including the mind as means of contemplation—the eyes, the ears, the nose and the various senses, and finally the mind itself. When these meditations were attempted by the gods through these instruments of action, the senses and the mind, the Asuras came to know of this fact, and attacked them. So the symbology of the story is that you cannot contact Reality either with the senses or with the mind, because of the Asura attack. The Asura is the urge for separation, the impulse for externalisation, the desire of the senses to come in contact with objects, and a complete oblivion of the existence of divinities cosmically precedent to the internal manifestations in the body, and prior to our existence itself.

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