The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

by Swami Krishnananda

Chapter I

Fourth Brahmana: Creation from the Universal Self (Continued)

The worlds of different beings are different forms of a single manifestation which is the form of Īshvara, and therefore the ultimate aim, which is the union of consciousness with that Supreme Being, naturally implies a gradual establishment of harmony between oneself and these different levels of manifestation, called the worlds of beings. Previously, we noted the necessity of five types of adjustment that one has to make—with the celestials, the ancestors, the human beings, the sages of yore and with the subhuman creatures—all which is a preparation for the higher adjustment that is required of us, namely, approximation of our being with the Supreme.

The extent to which we are successful in this harmonious adjustment of ourselves with the world outside will determine the extent of our success in life. The Upaniṣhad would tell us that most of our troubles in life are due to maladjustment with the worlds that do not belong to us. We have a very constricted vision of value. For instance, we cannot think of any value that is other than human. Neither do we know what is above the human, nor do we know what is below the human. But the comprehensiveness of God's manifestation is such that it is not partially favourable merely to humans. Thus it is that the Upaniṣhad makes out the need for our adjustment with everything that is real, and not merely favourable to human sentiment. If the adjustment is effective and properly done in all its various degrees of density, protection comes from every level of being. We are protected by human beings, no doubt, if we are friendly with humans. But what about the non-human principles in life with which we are not friendly? They can create difficulties which cannot be met by human forces.

Our problems are not human problems merely. They are very deep, and connected to various factors not visible to the human eye. Hence, it is futile on the part of a human being to imagine that concern merely with the human level is enough to avoid all problems of life. Life is not merely human. It is something different and something more, and this aspect is not visible to us, inasmuch as we are tied down to the human way of thinking. We cannot think as a snake thinks, or a monkey thinks; feel as a tree would feel, or react as a celestial being would react. All these are impossible for us, generally. But merely because it seems to be impossible does not mean that it does not exist. Even an atom can react, not merely a human being. So, it is necessary to make an all-round adjustment of personality; then only there is protection coming to us from every side. The Upaniṣhad tells us that we shall be taken care of even by the smallest of creatures, as they take care of themselves. As one loves one's own self more than anything else, so would the affection be extended to you by that with which you are friendly, in a manner which is acceptable to the Selfhood of Reality.

Yathā ha vai svāya lokāyāriṣṭim icchet,evaṁ haivaṁ vide (sarvadā) sarvāṇi bhūtāny ariṣṭim icchanti: Every creature will bless you and wish you goodwill, prosperity and protection. Vibrations of protection, security and fulfilment proceed from every quarter in the direction of that person who extends a similar attitude towards the atmosphere that is around him, and this atmosphere is what we call the world of beings. The world of beings, it has to be mentioned again, is every level of being, right from the material, what we call the inanimate, up to the topmost immaculate Consciousness. No level can be regarded as bereft of the Reality of God. Therefore, it is incumbent on the part of anyone who wishes for true success in life, to be in harmony with everything and all things, without projecting forth the excessive egoism that human beings alone are the total reality. Even those who are not human will extend to you a helping hand and provide you with all security and protection, and love you and behave with you with that very same affection that is generally extended to the Self of a person, if you are in harmony with them. Even an ant loves its own self immensely. What love you have towards yourself, even the smallest of creatures has towards itself. That feeling which it has towards itself will be communicated to you, so that you become a friend of all beings—sarvabhūta-hite-rataḥ. Then it is that security comes from all sides, otherwise, whatever be the security human beings can provide, Nature can be in a state of wrath and human beings can do nothing before it. Tad vā etad viditam mīmāṁsitam: Hereto we have described what should be done by a person who is after his own welfare in the true sense of the term.

17. ātmaivedam agra āsīt, eka eva; so'kāmayata, jāyā me syāt atha prajāyeya; atha vittam me syād, atha karma kurvīyeti. etāvān vai kāmaḥ: necchaṁś ca na ato bhūyo vindet. tasmād apy etarhy ekākī kāmayate, jāyā me syāt, atha prajāyeya, atha vittaṁ me syād atha karma kurvīyeti. sa yāvad apy eteṣām ekaikam na prāpnoti, a-kṛtsna eva tāvan manyate. tasyo kṛtsnatā: mana evāsya ātmā, vāg jāyā, prāṇaḥ prajā, cakṣur mānuṣaṁ vittam, cakṣuṣā hi tad vindate, śrotraṁ daivam, śrotreṇa hi tac chṛṇot, ātmaivāsya karma, ātmanā hi karma karoti. sa eṣa pāṅkto yajñaḥ, pāṅktaḥ paśuḥ, pāṅktaḥ puruṣaḥ, pāṅktam idaṁ sarvaṁ yad idaṁ kiṁ ca. tad idaṁ sarvam āpnoti, ya evaṁ veda.

Ātmaivedam agra āsīt, eka eva; so'kāmayata, jāyā me syāt atha prajāyeya; atha vittam me syād, atha karma kurvīyeti. etāvān vai kāmaḥ: necchaṁś ca na ato bhūyo vindet. tasmād apy etarhy ekākī kāmayate, jāyā me syāt, atha prajāyeya, athavittaṁ me syād atha karma kurvīyeti: Now the Upaniṣhad turns its attention upon another factor which is equally important in spiritual life, and every kind of life—the attitude that we should have towards desires—because the wish or longing which characterises a mind is important enough, in any form or any of its intensities, to have a say in the matter of one's progress on the path to perfection. We have very little understanding of what desire is, and it is not possible to understand it because it is a part of our nature. Just as we cannot understand our own selves, anything that is inseparable from our selves cannot be understood properly. The attitude which one should have towards a desire is the same, for all practical purposes, which a physician may have in respect of a patient. How does a physician treat a patient? That would be the attitude which a healthy person would have towards desires. The desires are multifarious. They are projections of the mind in the direction of various types of satisfaction; and these impulses in the mind arise on account of the urge of the Cosmic Being Himself, as the Upaniṣhad makes out, towards diversification in various ways. That desire is a desire to exhaust itself, ultimately, for fulfilment of the purpose of a return to its source. It has a spiritual connotation, ultimately. It is an urge that is projected forth, by the Supreme Cause, until it reaches the lowest form of it, in the greatest variety of manifestation and multiplicity, till the point is reached where it turns back to the source which is the process of ascent of the individual to the Absolute.

Here, the Upaniṣhad tells us that desires are many. They are broadly classified as three primary urges—the desire for progeny, the desire for wealth and the desire for renown. These are the major desires of the human being. So, it is stated here in the Upaniṣhad, that the one wish, as it were, is to fulfil itself in three forms. To multiply itself in the form in which it is at a particular time, that is called the desire for progeny. It is present in every level of creation, in every species, and in all the planes of existence, right from the celestial down to the lowermost. It functions in various ways, but its structure or pattern is the same. It is a desire, a wish, an urge, to perpetuate existence which is eternal and indestructible. And the desire, which is called the desire for wealth here, is actually not a desire for money or physical amenities, but every comfort which is required for the maintenance of the physical body. That is called desire for wealth. These desires are purely psychological in their nature; they have very little connection with the actual existence of physical counterparts, though these counterparts (which are the physical objects) act as agents in the satisfaction of these impulses. The desire for wealth is actually desire for material comfort. It is not desire for mere luxury, but it is a need that is felt for the maintenance of the body itself. We should not mistake need for luxury, and vice versa. The body is not asking for luxury. It asks for certain primary needs. These needs are what are called the securities it asks for in the form of material comfort. That is summed up in the term 'wealth'. The maintenance of the body into which one is born, in a particular species, is the aim or objective of this impulse of the mind to have physical or material comfort—Artha, as they call it in Sanskrit language. The maintenance of this form, in a particular species, for a protracted period of time, requires a further activity and adjustment of itself, which is the desire for progeny. But it is not merely the body that is required to be attended to. There is something else in us in addition to the body. We do not ask merely for physical comfort. We also ask for psychological comfort. It is not enough if a person is physically well-maintained while being psychologically ill-treated. You know it very well. So, there is a need also for a psychological security, in addition to physical security. That necessity felt by the human mind, in the form of the ego, to maintain itself in its own secure form, is what is called the desire for renown. So, these are the primary desires, and no one can have more than these three desires, says the Upaniṣhad. Even if you wish, you cannot have more than these three. Everything is comprehended within these three only. So, one wishes to have these fulfilments for the purpose mentioned, and they have to be properly dealt with, with the intention of sublimation for the higher cause in a very intelligent manner.

Sa yāvad apy eteṣāmekaikam na prāpnoti, a-kṛtsna eva tāvan manyate: Even if one of these wishes is not fulfilled, one regards oneself as incomplete and unhappy. All these three press themselves forward for fulfilment in equal measure and intensity. And even if one of them is neglected, that would make you miserable. So, one regards oneself as incomplete, inadequate and unhappy if even one of them has not been properly attended to—a-kṛtsna eva tāvan manyate.

Tasyo kṛtsnatā: mana evāsyaātmā, vāg jāyā, prāṇaḥ prajā, cakṣur mānuṣaṁ vittam, cakṣuṣā hi tad vindate, śrotraṁ daivam, etc: Now, the Upaniṣhad tells us that by a method of contemplation, these impulses can be converted into a sort of spiritual energy, that is, the bringing of the objects of these desires into a relationship with the impulses connected with them, in such a manner that they are perpetually with the subject impulse. It is the feeling that the object is disconnected from the impulse which causes the feeling of dissatisfaction and incompleteness in oneself. So, the contemplation that is prescribed here for the purpose of removing this feeling of incompleteness is that the mind should be regarded as the source of all impulses. And knowledge, which is symbolised here in this Mantra by the word 'speech', is imagined as the 'consort' of the mind which is equivalent to consciousness, and the Prāṇa or the impulse for action is considered to be the progeny. A proper harmonious adjustment between these three inner faculties, the mind and the speech and the Prāṇa, symbolised by knowledge and action rooted in one's own consciousness, may be regarded as a remedy for the uncontrollable onrush of desires. The eyes and the ears are mentioned here as instruments of visible and invisible forms of wealth, which means to say that name and form constitute everything that one actually asks for, and needs. The ear and the eye stand for name and form; sound and colour. It is these two things that actually draw our attention in various fields of life—the form that we perceive and the name that we attach to this form. So, these two aspects of life, namely, name and form, are also symbolically attached to the ear and the eye, in addition to the faculties of mind, speech and Prāṇa, so that these five aspects of the human being, five faculties, you may say, represent the avenues of every kind of action; the processes of the manifestation of every kind of desire. If they can be integrated in such a way that they do not war among themselves as if they are independent and have independent objects of their own; if this integration could be effected in contemplation, then all things come in an instantaneous manner instead of successively.

Śrotreṇa hi tac chṛṇot, ātmaivāsya karma,ātmanā hi karma karoti. sa eṣa pāṅkto yajñaḥ, pāṅktaḥ paśuḥ, pāṅktaḥ puruṣaḥ, pāṅktam idaṁ sarvaṁ yad idaṁ kiṁ ca. tad idaṁ sarvam āpnoti, ya evaṁ veda: One who knows the rootedness of diversity in Singleness of Being, in all its fivefold manifestations—mind, speech, Prāṇa, eye and ear—such a person, who has the capacity to integrate consciousness in all these ways, acquires the fruits of these fivefold actions at one stroke. It is a difficult meditation because it is hard to instruct the mind that even its desires, normally regarded as secular, cannot be fulfilled if the spiritual element is absent. Even the secular desires cannot be fulfilled if the spiritual principle is absent. This, the mind cannot understand. All desires, whatever may be, become capable of fulfilment only if there is the activity of the principle of unity with the self behind them. How can the subject, which is the desiring element, come in contact with the object that is 'outside', unless there is a principle of unity between the two? No desire can be fulfilled if the principle of unity, which is the Spirit, is absent in things. So, it would be a futile effort on the part of any individual, or any desiring mind, to ask for things merely on the basis of the philosophy of diversity, ignoring the principle of unity. The more you are able to contemplate unity, the more is your capacity to fulfil desires, because every desire is one or other form of the principle of unity itself, asserting in one way or the other, through space and time. Desires are, really speaking, urges of unity which appear to be diverse. Thus we see that desire has a twofold nature—the unifying and the diversifying—the unifying nature asking for unity of the desiring principle with the object of desire, and the diversifying nature asking for a separation of the object and oneself.