The Chhandogya Upanishad - 69: Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday 08, October 2024. 06:40.
Chapter 4: An Analysis of the Nature of the Self
Appendix 1: Sandilya-Vidya
Post-69.

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Mantram-3:

"Esa ma atmantar-hrdaye'niyan vriher-va, 

yavad-va, sarsapad-va, syamakad-va, 

syamaka-tandulad-va, esa ma atmantar-hrdaye jyayan prthivyah, 

jyayan antarikasajjayan divah, jyayan ebhyo lokebhyah."

This great Being, the Supreme Brahman is in one's own heart as fine and subtle as one can conceive of. It is the subtlest. It is most subtle even among those that we regard as very subtle in this world. Subtler than a grain of rice or paddy, subtler than a grain of millet, subtler than the kernel of this grain, so small, subtler than a mustard seed is this great Being who is seated in one's heart. But does it mean it is as small as a mustard seed? No, it is at the same time as vast as the whole of creation. So, objectively also it has to be contemplated, in the same way as we contemplate it subjectively as our own deepest Self inseparable from the whole cosmos. This little thing referred to as one's own Self here is bigger than this vast earth. It is not merely as fine as a millet seed, but also vaster than this whole earth, and this entire atmosphere. It is vaster than all the worlds, not merely this one atmosphere. It is larger than even the sky and the heavens. It is vaster than all the fourteen worlds of creation which cannot comprehend its magnitude. So vast is its objectivity and magnitude, being infinite in its expanse, and yet it is in me, in you, and in every one of us, as if it is so little like a small flame of light.

This symbology is given only for the purpose of contemplation, because it has to be taught to us that it is not merely an infinite expanse outside us, unconnected with us as a transcendent something, but is identical with our own Being also. The Upanishads are never tired of hammering this idea into us that the Supreme Being is both objectively infinite and subjectively the Self of everyone. This is the principal meditation of almost every part of any Upanishad. It is the vast infinitude, incomprehensible to the mind, and yet nothing can be so near to us as That. It is so distant as the distant horizons themselves because of its infinitude and vastness, and yet so near as to be well nigh inseparable from us because it is the Atman itself.

Mantram-4:

"Sarva-karma sarva-kamah sarva-gandhah, 

sarva-rasah, sarvam idam abhyatto'vakyanadarah, 

easa ma atmantar-hrdaye etad-brahma,

 etam itah pretyabhisambhavitasmi iti yasya syat addha 

na vicikitsasti iti ha smaha sandilyah, sandilyah."

Sandilya, who was a great sage, proclaims this great knowledge: "This great Being whose actions are all actions, whose desires are all desires, whose functions are all functions through the senses, is inside me and It is that which is inside everything."

The reason why the Atman is called Brahman is because it is the Self of all. As the Self of each one, it is called the Atman. As the all-comprehensive Self, it is called Brahman. The doubt that may arise in the mind as to the localisation of the Atman is removed by the assertion that it is the Self of all. It is a contemplation on the all-pervading Self, the universal Self. Therefore, the Atman in one is the Brahman everywhere.

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Mantram-4(Continued)

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