The Chhandogya Upanishad - 76: Swami Krishnananda

Chinmaya Mission: 

Bala Vihar Kids from Chinmaya Mission, Portland, showcased their compassion and culinary skills by preparing a heartfelt meal for 100 individuals at the Transition Projects’ River Navigation Center, serving the homeless community. The menu featured Mexican Vegetable Soup, Veggie and Tofu Tacos, and Oat Energy Bars, thoughtfully prepared to nourish and comfort. Additionally, the children extended their kindness to seniors by creating 22 beautifully crafted care cards for a local senior center, spreading joy and warmth through their efforts.

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Monday 20, January 2025. 08:05.
The Chhandogya Upanishad - 76: 
Swami Krishnananda.
Appendix 2: Samvarga-Vidya
Post-76.

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Section continued:

Tam habhyuvada, raikvedam sahasram gavam ayam nisko'yam asvatari-rathah, iym jayayam gramo yasmin-nasse anveva ma bhagavah sadhiti.

"I have brought all these things. Will you kindly initiate me into the great deity on whom you are meditating, due to which you are so great that your glory is spreading to all the corners of the world? Will you kindly give this knowledge to me?" This was the prayer of the king.

There was another greater man than this king Janasruti and that was Janaka, who offered even himself as a servant to the great sage Yajnavalkya who initiated him into Brahma-Vidya. He offered the whole kingdom to the sage and he said, "Here I am as your slave." Such were our great kings in this country, who valued the wisdom of Reality much more than temporal wealth, renown, and greatness in this world. To that category belonged Janasruti also.

Tasya ha mukham upodgrhnan-nuvaca ajaharemah sudra anenaiva mukhenalapayisyatha iti, 

te haite raikvaparna nama mahavrsesu yatrasma uvasa tasmai hovaca.

"With all this that you have brought before me as the means, you want me to speak! Well, I shall speak, recognising your honesty and sincerity of purpose," said Raikva. The king was highly pleased at this condescending attitude of the great master and he gave him a set of villages in charity. The king said: "O great one, this village, in which you are seated here, is yours. I give it as a gift."

It appears he gave several villages. Those villages are called Raikva-parna, after the name of this great man, Raikva, in the country of Mahavrisha. So Raikva became rich in one moment with land, gold, attendants, and what not. The king also became richer by becoming the disciple of the great Raikva. Now the initiation was given by Raikva, the great master to the disciple, King Janasruti, into the mystery of meditation on the all-absorbing Being. Because of the character of all-absorption, this great Being on which Raikva was meditating is called Samvarga. It is a peculiar Upanishadic term which implies the absorbent into which everything enters, that which sucks everything into itself. That is Samvarga. There is a great 'wind' that blows everything into itself. Into that Raikva initiated the king. This is not the ordinary wind that blows here. It is not an ill wind that does good to no one, but it is a tremendous 'wind', a symbolic term used in respect of the great Reality on which Raikva was meditating. His meditation was on that which withdraws everything into itself, which blows over everything, and absorbs everything into itself. Raikva then spoke of this great knowledge to Janasruti.

Section 3

Vayur-vava samvargah, yada va agnir-udvayati, vayum evapyeti, 

yada suryo'stam eti vayum evapyeti, yada candro'stam eti vayum evapyeti.

Raikva said: "There is this great cosmic air or wind which is an absorbent of everything. Everything is absorbed into it, everything rises from it, everything is maintained in it, and everything goes back into it. When the fire subsides, it goes into it. It is absorbed into this great wind that absorbs everything into itself. It is on this Vayu, the great deity, that I am meditating."

When you blow a lamp, where does the flame go? No one knows where it goes. That it is not the ordinary wind which is spoken of here, is clear from the fact that Raikva refers to it as an absorbent of even the sun himself. The sun cannot be absorbed by the ordinary wind. He says even the sun is absorbed when he moves in any particular direction, or sets. His rising in one place is equal to setting in another place. So the point is: what is it that makes the universe rotate or revolve in this manner? It is here referred to as cosmic 'wind' that blows in particular directions, compelling the planets, the stars and the sun to direct their courses in a given manner. Due to the fear of this Being, they are moving in a symmetrical fashion. The planets move around the sun, the sun is rushing towards the Milky Way, and so on and so forth. This is what we hear even in our modern scientific parlance. The fire burns due to fear of It and the rain falls due to fear of It. The sun also shines due to fear of this all-absorbent Air. Death performs its duty due to fear of It. This is the controlling central government, as it were, which is the object of meditation. The sun sets into It. If the sun and the moon rise and set and move in their orbits and maintain their position in a perfect manner, it is all due to this great Being, the absorbent of everything which, by its very existence, controls the movements of all things.

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Section-3 Continued

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