Chapter 8, Sections13,14,15 (the end)
Mantra 8-13-1
syamacchabalam prapadye sabalacchyamaṃ prapadye'sva iva romani
vidhuya papam chandra iva rahormukhatpramuchya dhutva sariramakrtam krtatma
brahmalokamabhisambhavamityabhisambhavamiti || 8.13.1|| iti trayodasah khandah ||
From the dark
may I attain the diverse; from the diverse may I attain the dark. Shaking off papams
as a horse shakes dust from its hair, freeing myself from the body as the moon
frees itself from the mouth of Rahu, I fulfil all ends and obtain the eternal
Brahmaloka. End of section thirteen
In this Mantra, we have a prayer uttered by a saguna
upasaka who is a seeker of krama mukthi. So he prays that he may
shed all the papams, which are the obstacles for krama mukthi, before
death, like the horse shaking itself free of all dust from its body and travel
to Brahmaloka, attain Nirguna Brahma Jnanam there and get rid of
the body like moon freeing itself from the hold of Rahu, at the end of
the eclipse, through krama mukthi.
Swami Paramarthananda terms this and next Mantra as obscure Mantras
as it is difficult to understand them without the help of Sri Sankara’s commentary. For instance the Upanishad calls the Daharakasa
Brahmaloka, inner Brahmaloka, syamam, dark, and the
heavenly Brahmaloka as sabalam, diverse and gives the upasaka’s
prayer as “I should get back to sabalam from this syamam” meaning
he should travel to Brahmaloka after death to get krama mukthi as he has not got Nirguna Brahma Jnanam and also for him body is real.
Mantra 8-14-1
akaso vai nama namarupayornirvahita te yadantara tadbrahma
tadamrtam sa athma prajapateh sabham vesma prapadye yaso'ham bhavami
brahmananam yaso rajnam yasovisaṃ yaso'hamanuprapatsi sa haham yasasam yasah
syetamadatkamadatkam syetam lindu mabhigam lindu mabhigam || 8.14.1 || iti
chaturdasah khandah ||
That which is described as Akasa manifests names and
forms. These names and forms are within Brahman. Brahman is immortal; it is the Athma. May I
attend the court of Prajapati. May I attain the glory
of a brahmin, and also of a kshatriya and a vaisya. I wish to attain that
glory. I am the glory of glories. May I not be born again and have a body
covered with blood and dirt, which is toothless and at the same time wanting to
eat. End of section fourteen.
Here the definition of Brahman
is given for meditation as one who is bodiless, all-pervading like Akasa
and that the Athma is Brahman.
The Upanishad also describes Brahman
as that in which all the names and forms exist, and which is unattached and
unaffected by them. Brahman manifests
them on Creation as Saguna Brahman through the power of Maya.
This upasaka meditates on Akasa as Saguna Brahman. The
latter part of the Mantra gives his prayer for travel to Brahmaloka
after death and attaining krama mukthi there. His prayer for krama mukthi
is expressed in two ways. One as a
prayer for all the glories of all the beings to be his in Brahmaloka, as
this is possible only if he merges in Brahman, as Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (10-41);
Yadyad
vibhootimat sattwam shreemadoorjitameva vaa;
Tattadevaavagaccha
twam mama tejom’shasambhavam.
Whatever
being there is that is glorious, prosperous or powerful, that know thou to be a
manifestation of a part of My splendour.
Second as the prayer for freedom from re-birth with its
attendant freedom from the stay in womb wherein as a foetus one wallows
toothless in blood and dirt. With this prayer this section ends.
Mantra 8-15-1
tadhaitadbrahma prajapataya uvacha prajapatirmanave manuh
prajabhyaḥ acharyakuladvedamadhitya yathavidhanam guroh karmatiseshenabhisamavrtya
kutumbe suchau dese svadhyayamadhiyano dharmikanvidadhadatmani sarvendriyani
sampratishthapyahimsansarva bhutanyanyatra tirthebhyah sa khalvevam
vartayanyavadayusham brahmalokamabhisampadyate na cha punaravartate na cha
punaravartate
|| 8.15.1 || iti panchadasah khandah ||
Brahma taught
this knowledge of the Athma to Prajapati, Prajapati to
Manu, Manu to mankind. He who has studied the Vedas at the house of a teacher,
according to the prescribed rules, during the time left after the performance
of his duties to the teacher; he who, after leaving the teacher’s house, has
settled down into a householder’s life and continued the study of the Vedas in
an undisturbed place and made others (i.e. his sons and disciples) virtuous; he
who has withdrawn all the sense— organs into the Athma; he who has not given
pain to any creature except as approved by the scriptures—he who conducts
himself thus, all through his life, reaches the World of Brahman after death
and does not return. End of Section fifteen.
First the Upanishad highlights the importance of this teaching by stating that this teaching has come down from Brahma in the form of an unbroken guru-sishya parampara. Brahma taught to Prajapathi and Prajapathi to Manu and Manu to his descendants, the mankind. Then it outlines the conducive life-style to be pursued by one for carrying on the tradition and benefitting by it and to ensure the continuity of the tradition. First step is, stay in a gurukulam as a Brahmachari, serving the guru and learning the Vedas from the guru. Second step is; after completion of the stay in gurukulam, return home, get married and start to live as a Grihastha and in family life, to continue the study of Vedas undisturbed in a secluded place, allotting time for it among one’s other duties as a Grihastha and live a dharmic life as prescribed by the Vedas. He must also take care to bring up his children virtuous and at an appropriate time after they become mature responsible adults, withdraw from family responsibilities to pursue actively the spiritual sadhanas practising ahimsa among other religious disciplines. This can be done practicing an introvert, withdrawal life-style, even staying with the family or taking to sanyasa as the final step. One who leads such a life practicing Vedic values, engaged in upasana of Brahman is assured of travel to Brahmaloka after death. Getting krama mukthi there, he is freed from the return to a womb. With this Mantra, the section, the chapter, as well as the Upanishad end and only the Shanthi Mantra which was given at the beginning of the Upanishad is repeated which we shall see now.
Shanthi Mantra
Om. aapyaayantu mamangaani,
vaak praanah chakshuh srotramatho balam indriyaani cha sarvaani. I
sarvam Brahmaupanishadam, ma’ham Brahma niraakuryam maa maa Brahma
niraakarod aniraakaranam astu,
aniraakaranam me astu I tad aatmani nirate ya upanishatsu dharmah, te
mayi santu, te mayi santu. I Om shanti shanti shanti II
May my limbs, speech, Prana, eye, ear and
power of all my senses grow vigorous. All is Brahman of the Upanishads. May I
never deny Brahman; may Brahman never spurn me. May there be no
denial of Brahman; may there be no spurning by Brahman; may I
take delight in that Athma; May the virtues recited in the Upanishads
repose in me; may they repose in me I Om Peace, Peace, Peace II
Through this Shanthi Mantra the sishya
seeks a sound sthula, sukshma sareera that will enable him to
absorb the teaching and pursue studies without interference of physical and
mental problems. Particular mention is made of speech, Prana,
eye and ear among other limbs. Speech
implying communication skill is important in Mananam for conveying the
doubts to guru seeking clarification. Prana
is important for general health and vitality for concentration in studies
without distraction. Eye should be
problem-free to study the Sastras. The importance of ear in Sravanam
needs no emphasis. The essence of Vedanta is stated in the invocation with the
affirmation that everything is only the Brahman of Upanishads. Sishya prays that neither his faith in
Brahman nor the grace of Brahman should desert him at any time, and
repeats it for emphasis. He also seeks
as a devoted student of AthmaJnanam all the qualification required for BrahmaVidya
studies namely sadhana chathushtaya sampathi, i.e. the fourfold
discipline of discrimination, dispassion, sixfold discipline, and the intense
desire for moksha purushartha. The invocation ends with the traditional
prayer for peace from the three types of obstacles, also called tapatrayam,
as given below:
- Adhyathmikam
– Obstacles arising from within oneself like one’s personal ill-health,
negative mood etc. i.e. obstacles arising from oneself.
- Aadhi
bauthikam – Obstacles arising from other known
sources or external situations like ill-health of a family member, noisy neighbourhood
etc. i.e. obstacles arising from one’s environs.
- Aadhi
daivikam – obstacles arising from unseen sources
like floods, storm etc. obstacles arising from nature
Acknowledgement
While
concluding the series of blogs on ‘Chandogya upanishad
(Ch.6,7&8)’ I wish to record my deep debt of gratitude to the speeches and
writings on this subject, of:
1) Swami Lokeswarananda
2) Swamini Vimalananda
3) Swami Paramarthananda
4) Swami Guruparananda
5) Swami Gurubhakthananda &
6) Swami Swahananda
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