Taittriya Upanishad – 7

 Chapter 2, Anuvaka 4

Mantra 2-4-1

yato vacho nivartante I aprapya manasa saha I

anandam brahmano vidvan I na bibhetikadacaneti I

He who knows the Bliss of Brahman, whence all words together with the mind turn away, unable to reach it—he never fears.

            Sruthi here says that Brahman is beyond all speech and thought, and mind as an instrument of knowledge has no access to Brahman.  The best one can do with the mind as an instrument of knowledge is to discover Brahman as conditioned by the mind, i.e. to attain Hiranyagarbha which is Consciousness in association with the Total Mind. And the person who attains the Bliss of Hiranyagarbha by meditating on Him will not have any fear at all.  This Mantra is quoted again in anuvaka 9 while explaining the transcendental nature of Self, the Athma..

Mantra 2-4-2

tasyaisha eva sarira athma I yah purvasya I

tasmadva etasmanmanomayat I

anyo'ntara athma vijaānamayah I tenaisa purnah I

sa va esha purushavidha eva I tasya purushavidhatam I

anvayam purushavidhah I tasya sraddhaiva sirah I

ṛtam dakshinah pakshah I satyamuttarah pakshah I

yoga athma I mahah puccham pratishtha I

tadapyesha sloko bhavati II

This Manomaya is the embodied soul of the preceding Pranamaya.  As compared with Manomaya, there is another self within it made of the intellect (Vijnana).  By that (of intellect) is this one (of Mind) filled.  This is also verily of the human form.  The human form of that Manomaya kosa continues as the human form of this Vijnanamaya kosa. Sraddah is it head, Ritam is its right wing, Sathyam is its left wing, Yoga is its trunk, Mahat is its tail, its support. There is the following (Sruthi) verse about it.

            The Manomaya kosa is considered as the Athma or the Self of the Pranamaya kosa. Inside the Manomaya kosa is the Vijnananamaya kosa, the sheath of the intellect. Vijnananamaya kosa fills the Manomaya kosa. It is also of the form of Manomaya kosa. Vijnanamaya is of the level of the intellect, the level of decision or determination.  Tattva Bodha (9-5) describes: “Sankalpa-vikalpa aatmakam manah; nischaya aatmikaa buddhih;( The mind is of an indecisive nature; the intellect is very decisive in nature;).  Again, Vijnanamaya kosa is described as a bird. The head of such bird is sraddha, faith and respect in the scriptures, which is necessary for the discriminative knowledge to rise.  Head here means the prime factor of knowledge. The right wing of the bird is Ritam, righteousness and the left wing is Satyam, truth, as without these a settled conviction cannot arise. The body of the bird is said to be Yoga; Yoga means complete absorption, without which no complete knowledge will arise. The tail of the bird, the support, is Mahat which is Hiranyagarbha, the first manifestation of Brahman, that supports the individual mind-stuff including Buddhi.  There is the following Sruthi Mantra about Vijnanamaya kosa which will come in the next anuvaka.  This anuvaka ends with this Mantra.

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