TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD – 77. Rishi Yajnavalkya.

 

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Thursday 06, January 2025, 10:30.
Taittiriya Upanishad
Part-2.
BRAHMANANDA VALLI
PART 2: 9 No. Anuvakas (Chapters)
THE BLISS THAT IS BRAHMAN
Anuvaka 2.6 
From Anandamaya to Atman  
THE ANUPRASHNAS: (Vital Questions by the Disciple) 
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Coverage:  Anuvaka 2.6.4 onwards upto 2.8.1
THE SECOND PROOF 
2. Guhayaam Upalabyate 
Mantram - 2.6.5. -  8 
 Mantram - 2.6.5:  Brahman “Enters” Into His Creation  
Post - 77.

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THE SECOND PROOF 
2. Guhayaam Upalabyate   
Mantram - 2.6.5. -  8 
He has entered into the ‘cavity of our intellect’ as the doer, seer, hearer, feeler and thinker; 
Mantram - 2.6.5:  Brahman “Enters” Into His Creation 
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8.

tat srishtvaa; tat eva anupraavishat = Having created it, He ENTERED into it. 

tat anupravishya,. = and having entered there, . . . 

8. He ENTERED into that very thing. How did He enter it? 

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At this point an interesting dialogue takes place in the Bhashya, the fourth of us selections from the Bhashya. We now have Bhashya D within Bhashya C. It is beginning to resemble some of the stories in the Bhagavat Purana! 

The subject is “How did Brahman manage to enter His creation?” 

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Bhashya D: 
BRAHMAN’S ENTRY INTO MAN’S INTELLECT  
Coverage:  Anuvaka 2.6.5 only 

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 A PSEUDO VEDANTIN PROPOSES six ways by which this ‘Entry’ could have taken place. He is refuted by the Poorvapakshi. It seems like this is a friendly banter with roles exchanged to whet our appetite for the discussion that follows. The pseudo Vedantin teases the objector with his proposals, while the objector answers as though he were a Vedantin! 

Proposal 1:  He Enters Himself? 

Pseudo Vedantin: [In Samskrit grammar a past participle ending in ‘tvaa’ (srishtvaa) is assumed to take the same subject as the verb in the same sentence, ‘entered’.] Having created it, He must have entered it Himself? 

Poorvapakshi: No, that is illogical. The cause becomes transformed into the effect. It is already there in the effect. How can it enter into it again? Once a clay pot is made, claydoes not enter it again. 

Proposal 2:  He Enters in Another Form? 

Pseudo Vedantin: As clay dust enters a clay pot, could He not have entered in the guise of another name and form into His creation?  

Poorvapakshi: No, that is not proper, since Brahman is One and homogenous. 

Brahman is not like clay which can have parts. The partless Brahman will have nowhere to enter into!

Proposal 3:  He Enters as a Hand Into One’s Mouth? 

Pseudo Vedantin: There has to be some way He entered. Like a baby putting its hand into its mouth, Brahman too must have done the same? He entered as the Jeeva. 

Poorvapakshi: No, that assumes empty space to be there in the ‘mouth’. In His creation all space is occupied, even the so-called ‘empty space’ is full of space! Everything is 

filled in His creation, so where is there space for Him to enter? If He enters as the Jeeva, He will immediately cease to be Brahman, as a pot ceases to be a pot if its clay changes intodust (i.e. it is crushed). 

 Proposal 4:  He Enters as One Effect Into Another? 

Pseudo Vedantin: The individual soul (Jeeva) can be one of His effects, entering the body which is another effect, both having a name and form?  

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Poorvapakshi: No, there is a contradiction there. A pot cannot be merged into another pot. The Vedas differentiate the Jeeva from the effects. It is not an effect. If the soul 

were to merge into the body, then no liberation will be possible. Why should one merge 

into what he is trying to free himself from? A thief does not himself enter into chains! 

 

Proposal 5:  He Enters as Content in a Container? 

Pseudo Vedantin: We can assume Brahman has two parts, an external and internal. When Brahman creates, the external part becomes the body and the internal part enters it as its content?  

Poorvapakshi: No, if the content is there already in the container, then why speak of ‘entering’ it? Entry can only be of something that is outside the container.  

Proposal 6:  He Enters as Reflections in Water? 

Pseudo Vedantin: To avoid that problem, we could say that Brahman enters the body as the sun enters water – by being reflected in it?  

Poorvapakshi: No, Brahman has to have a form Himself in order to enter as a reflection into the body. But Brahman is not limited like that. It is also not possible because Brahman is all-pervading. There is no ‘other’ substance to hold the reflection. I think that, after all these possibilities are refuted, there can be no entry of Brahman into His creation. It is simply not possible. It makes no sense; we have to just discard the whole idea of Brahman entering into Creation. There can be no such thing! 

The Answer:  THE “ENTRY” IS SYMBOLIC 

Siddhanta Vedantin: There is no need to discard anything. The entry is symbolic and the symbolic meaning has to be understood. The Shrutis are only a means for us to comprehend that which is beyond the intellect. The “Entry” is not to be taken literally. The Entry is to draw the seeker’s attention within him, not to look around here and there. The seeker himself is being asked to ENTER within. This is Upanishadic style at its best! 

The Shruti wants us to know Brahman in the “cave of the heart”. That is where we are heading. That is the only topic. The mention of effects is only to teach us who Brahman is NOT. We are not to lose ourselves in words and logic. Our intellect needs a pointer, a characteristic to point the way. Thereafter, we must drop the pointer and move on. What is that pointer? That very Brahman, who had determined, created and entered the Effects called Creation, is “perceived within the cavity of the intellect as the seer, hearer, thinker, knower, etc. That, indeed, is His ENTRY. This, surely is proof that Brahman must exist. It is the SECOND PROOF. 

Here ends Bhashya D on the “Entry of Brahman into Man”. Bhashya C continues . . .  

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THE THIRD PROOF 
3. Vibhaktwena Avabhaasat  
Mantram - 2.6.6   9-10
 Being One, He has become Many; we behold His bounteous manifestations.

Continued

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