The Chhandogya Upanishad - 75: Swami Krishnanand

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Saturday 11, January 2025. 09:35.
The Chhandogya Upanishad - 75: 
Swami Krishnananda.
Appendix 2: Samvarga-Vidya
Post-75.

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Section 2.

1.

"Tad u ha janasrutih parutrayanah sat-satavni gavam niskam 

asvatari-rathacm tad-adaya praticakrame, tam habhyuvada."

2.

"Raikvemani sat satani gavam, ayam nisko'yam asvatarirathah,

anu ma etam bhagavo devatam sadhi, yam devatam upassa iti".

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The king was very happy. He collected a lot of wealth and reverentially went to this great man sitting under a cart, scratching the eruptions on his skin. He took with him six hundred cows, a gold necklace, and a chariot driven by mules. He addressed Raikva: "O Great One, here are six hundred cows, here is a gold necklace, here is a chariot driven with mules. Please accept these things and initiate me into the meditation on the deity whose worship you are performing, and on whom you are meditating. I want to be initiated into the great vidya which you possess, knowledge of that deity whom you have known." The great man was not pleased. He did not accept those gifts, nor was he prepared to give any initiation.

3.

"Tam u ha parah pratyuvaca, aha haretva, sudra, tavaiva saha  gobhir-astv-iti; 

tad-u ha punar-eva janasrutih pautrayanah sahasram gavam niskam 

asvatari-ratham duhitaram tad-adaya praticakrame."

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"O Sudra, take back all these things, useless man," he said, as if he was not at all interested in them. "Get away from here. Take your cows, your chariot and gold necklace. Do not talk to me." This was what he said."

The word 'sudra' mentioned here has been a target of great discussion in the Brahmasutras as to whether Sudras can be initiated into Brahma-Vidya. This is one of the points discussed in the sutras of Badarayana and much has been made of it by commentators. Sudra means a low caste belonging to the fourth category of the social order. Can such a person be initiated into Brahma-Vidya? Here is a context where the word 'sudra' occurs, and afterwards the person is initiated also. Well, the argument is very long and prolonged and it is not of much use to us to go into the intricacies. But the interpreters make out that 'sudra' does not mean a low-caste man, in this context. One who is sunk in grief is called a 'sudra'. This is the etymological meaning drawn out from the word 'sudra'. He was in great grief because he found that there was a person greater than him and his knowledge was very little compared to the knowledge of the other one. So, he was sorrow-stricken, and he rushed immediately in the direction in which he could get this knowledge. 

He was a king and a Kshatriya. How could you call him a Sudra? So 'sudra' here does not mean a low caste man of the fourth order, but is only a symbolic, metaphorical way of referring to that person, indicating that he came in sorrow, in search of knowledge. This point is irrelevant to our subject, but anyway I made mention of it because it has been discussed in great detail in the Brahmasutras.

The king was grief-stricken. He went again with a larger quantity of wealth. This time he came with new things. He came with one thousand cows instead of the previous six hundred, the gold necklace, the chariot driven with mules, and he brought his daughter also to be offered to Raikva.

There is something between the lines which the Upanishad is silent about. There is a sudden shift of emphasis to the main question, from the descriptions of the king coming to the great man with all these offerings. Raikva felt that there was some sincerity in the king and that he had done something which ordinarily a person would not do. He was trying to offer his daughter to him. No ordinary man would do that. So there must be some tremendous sincerity in this person. He had come here a second time. If he was not sincere, he would have got fed up and gone back. He was not like the rich man who went to Jesus Christ and who was asked to sell everything he had and come back, but never did come back, because he did not want to sell everything. Janasruti was a person who was very particular about the knowledge which he wanted to gain. So he made a proposal to offer that which ordinarily one would not offer. This was an occasion for Raikva to recognise the sincerity of this person.

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Section - 2, Continued 

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