The Chandogya Upanishad - 4.1.3. - 32 : Swami Krishnananda.

Chinmaya Mission 

Chinmaya Mission Chicago celebrated the graduation ceremony of the graduating Bala Vihar class of 2023 on June 4th. The children who have attended Chinmaya Mission for many years and have gained a rich knowledge of Hindu dharma and Vedanta were truly commendable. The program included Saraswati puja, the chanting of Shishya anushanam from Taittiriya Upanishad, inspiring speeches by Swami Sharananandaji, Swami Aparajitanandaji, and their teacher, as well as heartfelt remembrances and gratitude expressed by the students themselves. As part of the graduation ceremony, the seniors chanted the Shishyanushasanam portion of Taittiriya Upanishad, adhering to the tradition at Chinmaya Mission.  They have diligently learned this chanting over their years of study.

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Monday, 10 Jul 2023. 06:40.

CHAPTER 4: AN ANALYSIS OF THE NATURE OF THE SELF

Section: 1. The Universal Self within the Heart and in the World-3

Post-32.

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As a matter of fact, all investigation in the field spiritual is internal and not external, because when a thing is externalised it is divested of the divine content. It thereby gets partially abstracted. What we call the outer world is only that aspect of Reality which can be comprehended by the senses. Whatever the senses are incapable of grasping cannot be contained in the external world. Only a little bit of the total value of the ultimate truth can be taken out by the vessels of the senses, more than that they cannot contain. What is sensed by the senses in the form of sensation is not the whole reality. They can take up only what they can contain and what they are able to cognise. It is the five elemental features of the external manifestation that the senses can present to us in experience. But, there are other aspects which they cannot contain within themselves and about which they cannot, therefore, give any kind of information.

This is the secret, as the Upanishad puts it. This heart is a great secret, and by an introversion of Consciousness into its depths, it would be possible to plumb the mysteries of the whole cosmos. The reason is that the tentacles of all planes of being are centred in one's heart. It is as though this heart is the centre of a universal circle. The radii of this circle converge into this little centre of Consciousness which we vaguely call the subject of perception.

It has been explained in the earlier chapters, especially in the third chapter, that the Absolute is universal in its nature. It is not merely an individual subject. But, this is a very hard thing for the mind to comprehend. One's mind can never know what universality is and, therefore, any amount of instruction given to it from this point of view would naturally go over one's head. We are told that the present chapter is especially intended for those who are unable to grasp the implications of the just-preceding chapter, which is concerned more with the universal aspect of the Absolute. But when this chapter confines itself to the heart of the individual, it does not limit itself to the body of the individual. For, the heart which we are speaking of is not the physical heart. It is not your heart or my heart, not that which is in this bodily encasement. It is a symbol used for the centre of pure subjectivity in us and, therefore, the heart means the consciousness which is apparently located within the walls of the body, but which can never be restrained or limited on account of its super-physical nature. Physical encasements cannot limit it in any manner whatsoever. We will gradually be taken to the point where the 'little thing' that we speak of at present as being in our own heart is found to the same as the 'universal thing' that has been discussed in the third chapter. The two are one. Whatever is there is also here.

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Next

Mantram-4.

4."Tam ced-bruyuh, asmimsced-idam brahma-pure sarvam, 

samahitam sarvani ca bhutani sarve ca kamah yadaitaj-jara 

vapnoti pradhvamsate va, kim tato'tisisyata iti."

To be continued

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