The Chhandogya Upanishad - 64: Swami Krishnananda.

#Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) is with Sudheer Chaitanya and 2 others:

30 youngsters from various parts of Kerala had an inspiring weekend at the Gita for Yuva camp (in Malayalam & English) 

with Br. Sudheer Chaitanya, Br. Ved Chaitanya and Brni. Taarini Chaitanya, from 17 to18 August 2024 at Adi Sankara Nilayam. ✨

The camp was inaugurated by Prof. Gauri Mahulikar, Academic Director of CIF.

Through profound sessions on Karma Yoga,  Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga, the facilitators imparted the timeless teachings of the Bhagavad Gita to the youth. 

The programme was further enriched by Gita chanting, meaningful group discussions and engaging activities.

May the knowledge and inspiration gained continue to guide all on the path of righteousness.🙏

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Thursday 29, Aug 2024. 07:00.
Chapter 4: An Analysis of the Nature of the Self
Section 15: Parting Advice to the Pupil:
Mantram-1.
Post-64.

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Section 15: Parting Advice to the Pupil:

Mantram-1.

"Taddhaitad brahma prajapataya uvaca, prajapatirmanave, manuh prajabhyah acarya-kulad-vedam 

adhitya yatha-vidhanam, guroh karma (krtva) atisesena abhisamavrtya, kutumbe sthitva, 

sucau dese svadhyayam adhiyanah, dharmikan vidadhat, atmani sarvendriyani sampratisthapya, 

ahimsan sarva-bhutany-anyatra tirthebhyah, sa khalveam vartayanyavad-ayusam 

brahma-lokam abhisampadyate, na ca punar-avartate na ca punar-avartate."

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This is what the great Creator Brahma spoke to his children who are called the Prajapatis—Marichi, Asvini, Kasyapa, Angirasa, and others. This Knowledge has come down through Guru-parampara and not through books. Books cannot give this knowledge. By word of mouth has this knowledge been communicated. "Brahma spoke to Prajapatis." Here too, there is difference of opinion in regard to the interpretation of the meaning of the Upanishadic words. What is meant by saying that Brahma spoke to Prajapati? It may be that the supreme Brahman spoke to the creator Hiranyagarbha also known as Brahma. Or it may be that Narayana spoke to Brahma as we hear it in the Srimadbhagavata, for instance. Or, according to Sankaracharya who has commented on the Upanishad, Brahma, the Creator, spoke to Kasyapa and other progenitors of the family of the universe who are known as Prajapatis. And these Prajapatis spoke to Manu, the first man, the Adam of our Creation. Then Manu gave this knowledge to others. So it has gradually come, stage by stage, from Guru to disciple, and finally to us.

Now, in this concluding passage of the Upanishad, we are given the advice that for the sake of this Knowledge one has to dedicate the whole of one's life in a highly disciplined manner. This vocation, if you would like to call it, is not going to be one among the many other activities in life. It is a whole-souled aspiration, and so it calls for an application of every faculty of ours in a completely dedicated manner. What we usually call the four stages of life, the asramas—brahmacharya, (celibate student's life), garhasthya (married householder's life), vanaprastha (life of an anchorite), and sannyasa (monkhood)-are hinted at in this passage as the requisite process through which one passes for the maturity of one's mind. And at the same time, a caution also is administered that the whole of one's life has to be lived in such a way that it is a preparation for the spiritual goal. There is often a misconception that the spiritual part of one's life is sannyasa alone and the earlier three stages are not. This is what is refuted by all the Upanishads. All the stages of life right from brahmacharya onwards are preparations for spiritual life. Rather, all of them are necessary stages in one's ascent to the spiritual goal. It is not that the spiritual life commences only from sannyasa abruptly, as it were, and the earlier three stages are disconnected entirely from the spiritual goal. The whole of one's life from birth to death is a spiritual preparation. There is nothing but the Atman, the Spirit in life, and, therefore, no activity can be entirely secular, in the sense of its being bereft of the awareness of God's presence, as one's goal of life. In India particularly we have what are called samskaras, the various ceremonies symbolic of the affiliation of every stage of one's life to the spiritual goal. There is no such thing as an unspiritual aspect of life, whether it be brahmacharya, grahasthya, or vanaprastha. This is a very important advice by which we are told that the whole life of a person, whoever be that person, is an entirely dedicated schooling, as it were, a period of training for the purpose of the final achievement of Liberation. There is no part of life which can be squandered or wasted, or completely cut off from this consciousness of the ideal of one's life.

Even childhood has to be associated by proper means. The moment consciousness becomes self-conscious even in a youngster, the traditional method is to be followed. He gets admitted into the gurukula of the acharya, the Guru. The sacred training ground is called the gurukula, the abode of the Guru, the atmosphere of a spiritual teacher. There one studies the Vedas. The Vedas are not studied as we are accustomed to study them these days. It is not merely a parrot-like chant of the words of the Vedas without knowing what they mean. Study of the Vedas is imbibing of knowledge, not merely a committing to memory of the words contained therein. And the Veda does not mean merely a book or a particular scripture. Ananta Vedah—"Vedas are endless" says an old adage. The Veda is a name given to the repository of all comprehensive knowledge which in turn has various stages and aspects of approach. Very few people have time enough to comprehend everything that is in the Veda. Most often they are introduced into certain sakhas, sections only, and even all those sections cannot be studied. Even if all those sections are taught, everything that is contained in them cannot be absorbed into one's mind. However, this study of the Veda is a very necessary stage of training.

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Continued

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