chhandogya upanishad

8/2/2019 CHHANDOGYA UPANISHAD

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C h h a d Y a g Y a u p a n i s h a dAJ IT D ALV I


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PrefaceChhandogya Upanishad is one of the most ancient upanishad and is the upanishad onm usic. In this short bool(I am going to just brie f you about various concepts inooloed in it. 'Iherea re eight c hapters in it a nd ea ch under fining va rious conc epts. This of c ourse has a unique plac e inShanl(aracharyas ten upanishads. This is the on{y upa ishad on Samaaeda and therefore it isunique.I prey to a li my gurus and those who have contributed to the vedic litera ture earlier asw ithout w hich I could not have w ritten a fine about this oa luable w isdom . The guru param paracarries it and passes to the next genera tion, the bodies are different but the concepts w hich theyl ioed is the sam e. Shri Sa thya Sa i 'B aba is the inca rna tion of m odern tim es a nd is the yuga va ta ra ,who has made it possible to five w ith the vedic concepts, which were otherw ise bookish, 'Ihee xp erie nc e a nd re alisa tio n o f th ese c on ce pts is just fi~ eating banana and boo~ arejust fi~ th ecov er ing o f it.

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(~.....)From my right ear I could cieariu hear a humming sound of coanch. 'Ihis has been therea {w a ys w ith m e , s ome tim e s it isfe eb {e . It is s ig n o f a usp ic io usn es s.

Let us conclude w ith this.2\._estas we meet next.A. c. Dalvi


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C h h a d Y a g Y a u p a n i s h a dOne

Udgitha is the principle on which this first chapter is based. Ud- is the life principle, gi- theword principle and tha- the food. We all are made up of these three but how we utilise these powersof nature gifted to us, that makes you divine or undivine. Those who make good use of it are said tobe divine. Earlier also, this struggle of divine and undivine has been there as is there today as well.Our five senses - ears, eyes, nose, tongue and skin, out of which first is related to udgitha. Weperceive through ears, eyes and nose and whatever we perceive goes to our mind. If we hear goodand see good - only these two functions can lead us to divine life. Just introspect at the end of day,what we have been looking at and what we were hearing? If it is a good music it will make very goodimpact on our mind and if we do not we are calling for diseases. The food also is very important asthe food and the mind are corelated to each other.

Entire world through the television media as also through the radio is hearing and viewinggood programmes. It has made the world come together. Our words and our lives are dependent oneach other.

Vak - eva - ruk, pranah - sama. Words and the life principle, this prime dual is udgitha. Wehear through ears and talk with our mouth. So the ear is the organ of perception of words and mouththe organ of action. What we speak is also very important. We should not harm anyone with ourspeach, we should be truthful, but again not speak that truth which will be unpleasing or harmful.These are general principles which we have learned from our school days but as we grow olduntruth becomes ou r habit. Various diseases of teeth, eyes and ears are perhaps caused as a resultof untruth.

Earth is the rasa of all the beings water is the rasa of the earth.Biochemicals in the body is the rasa of water, Vital life principle in the body is the rasa of all

biochemicals (aushadha as is put here). Man is made up of this life principle.His words are the crux of his personality So the word and prana is the prime dual.If we think of earth in totality, all our words, in all languages which we hear and talk are so

important and if they are truthful we lead to divine life. The law, government with its various rulesand regulations controls this word power. All those who lead the world, those who are politicians,teachers, or professionals from various disciplines must use this word power carefully. There oneuntrue word can mislead the society. In fact god is not there external, he is there in our true words.So we must try to be truthful. Good words creates good visuals and the bad words creates bad. Godwill excuse his children, once or twice but not third time.

There have been wars between divine and undivine qualities, these wars are internal. Wordsbecome the deciding factor and good words survive. If there is a living god all our words reflect in hiswords, and his words again come back to us, a process of divinisation endlessly continues.

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Why is vak or the word power is said to be arising out of prana and apana is quite interesting.Aditya or the sun is the prana, he purifies us and gives is the power of speech. In the Suryopanishadyou must have marked the sequence.


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It is from vyana and eventually giver of prana; that is, it will remove all the bad qualities in youand then give you the prana.

In case of Aditya - Udgitha - means - agni, vayu, aditya put together.Two

Sama is one of the important concept explained in Chhandogya Upanishad, as it is theUpanishad of samaved. Sama is two fold, five fold or seven fold. Let us study some of the two foldsama. Rik and sama - these are the two folds. Union of them is the sama. for example Moon and theconstellation are said to be one sama. That is they are derivatives of the integral sama. Even inpuranas you find a story of 27 constellations married to the moon. When the universe came intoexistence they separated and became two; earlier it was just one integrated sama.

Prana VakPruthvi AgniAntariksha VayuAditya SvargaChakshu AtmaThese are some of the two fold samas. As I said earlier, they are integrated as one, though

they appear to be two. The soul and eyes are the sama, similarly the loka and their respective deityis the sama.

There can be five fold sama and simple form of this type of sama is the Gayatri Sama.Vak is the hinkaraPrana prastavaEyes as the udgithaEars is the pratiharaMind is the nidhana.Here we have to understand these terms - hinkara (utterance), prastava (introduction),

udgitha (union), pratihara (output of this union) and nidhana (residue). This is just an extension ofearlier two fold sama. If I want to talk to god - that will be the uttarance or hinkara. If I ask him aboutthe devotion that will be the introduction or prastava. When I look into his eyes, that is udgitha. Heexplains me the devotion which will be the pratihara and completion of his divine advice will benidhana. I hope I am clear.

Let us take one more simplest form of Sama.Bhu (Earth) HinkaraBhuva (Sky) PrastavaSva (divine) UdgithaDik (direction) PratiharaSamudra(Sea) Nidhana


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To understand this let us again try to revise what Brahma is made up ofAnantwan - Bhu Bhuva Sva SeaJyotishwanAyatwana

Sun Moon AgniMind

Kalawana East West North

VidyutEyesSouth

Vak Prana

All these sixteen are equal parts of the Brahma. They all belong to the nature. Man is the partof this vast nature. Bhu is the earth, Bhuva is the distance between the earth and the sun, Sva is thesvargaloka or the divine world, and the Sea all these four make Anantawana pada. Four directionsmake the kalawan pada. In this sama we are dealing with these two parts. Even in Bible you get areference of three worlds, which is the sama - bhu, bhuva, svaha. All religion, all nations, alllanguages are part of this vast earth only. In nut shell this sama talks of that universal all pervasiveentity from whom derived the sea and these three worlds - He is Ishvara.

There is one more important sama which is the Rajan Sama.Bhu - hinkaraBhuv-Sva-

PrastavaUdgitha

Nakshatras or constellations - PratiharaChandra or Moon - Nidhana.With this the Ishvara derived the moon and the constellations.

64qJcr=jj8JR64cVsi'8Jk '1 j ~ ik '8JR IWhy then Krishna felt the Vrihat sama to be the most dear to him or it is the embodiment of

him, we have seen it while discussing Suryopanishad.Similarly there is a seven fold sama also. Where adi is prior to hinkara and upadrava is also

after udgitha.lf you count the letters, they are twentytwo. One can corelate them with the shruties ofmusic and these seven fold sama to be seven notes of music.

Similarly you find various samas in the second chapter, viz. pertain to rain, seasons, natureand man and their relationship.

ThreeIf you just go through this chapter two subjects are dealt with in detail, one is Gayatri and

other is the nectar or am rita.~ ~ ~ 3l~ ~ fi:J6JPn~d~O jJ~d ~cc!O jJ qG4Pn I

Chha 3-6-1Gods do not need food nor they drink anything. They seek only the nectar, that is what is said

here. All the beings may be grossly divided into three catagories - divine, human and those who arenot either of them. After many lives you get human birth and after many births you enter the divineworld. While reaching it one has to do prolonged sadhana. Though it is difficult in the beginning but


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as a consequence of which you get the nectar. The three fold Sathya - vak, prana, anna - which wewill be discussing latter again. Here food or anna and jala or prana is said to be not required as thesoul enters the domain of words, as the words are the source.

Mother Gayatri is said to be in all words, all lives, all beings and rests in all hearts. She also isthe Earth and the bodies of all the beings. She resides in the heart of Veda purusha.

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She resides in the empty place of our hearts. One has to accept that men of all nationalities,all religions, all languages, their lives, their words, the entire earth is the gayatri. Perhaps when youdo not accept it you create a problem with your heart.

3lFor~ For~ -(Gita 18-20)

The same god or divine or any other name you give it to him is divided into all the beingsthough He is one. That is what satvika knowledge is.

~it f O J O J f A O J C d ROJJ A 3J s o ; ! d f A O J . . .In the beginning though it is tough and difficult, eventually the satvika sukha or happiness

gives you the nectar. I will not repeat all the concept of trig una here again as we have discussed itearlier. (Ref. Spiritual Terms & Symbols-Page 45 and Omkara Sai-Page 65 ..... ).

At times I feel, doing japa is important but more important is to know the significance of thejapa. Doing Gayatri upasana is good but one should also know her nature and we should try to livewith these Gita principle.

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So while doing the japa as well as have to keep in mind the vastness of the Mother and try tomake our heart encompass the entire universe.

Rajasika sukha is 1 1 T i ~ g )1d f" AC iJ q RO ]]R f6j1 .5 JmC iJ... In the beigining the sensual pleasureappear to be pleasing your body but at the end it can create some disease in your body. Commonpeople are generally of this type and only devotion to god can lead you towards satvika way. Onlysadhana or seva is the answer. Seva is unconditional surrendering to god and doing your work andsadhana is to be performed for a particular deity. When you do such sadhana - say gayatri upasanafor long time of your life you may reach a stage of amrita. It is not your choice it is deity who ispleased and gives you the nectar of life.


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Once when Iwas going for a morning walk Isaw a small little girl looking at me.'I am Gayatri', she said.'How it can be?And at the blink of my eye she went high up in the sky and merged into the sun. That was not a

day dream for me Iam sure but the nectar of life realised.Four

I feel unexpressed as many of the concepts and the deep significance of these concepts isnot explained fully in this short little book. One has to learn Sanskrit, take a birth in the indiantradition and experience them, if one has to really master them. What I have done is just spelledsome of the alphabets of vedic, or samavedic to be more precised vedic wisdom.

Again let us see the sixteen aspects of the brahma (pI. refer ch. 2) If we take the Ayatwanapada and with respect to it individual elements of Anantwan pada, you get different combinations-

w. r.to Bhu- Earthw. r.to Bh uv- Yadnyaw. r.to Sva- Vedapurushaw. r.to Sun- Seasonsw. r.to Moon- Day and nightw. r.to Vidyut (Iightening)- Rainw. r.to Agni- PrakrutiIt is as good as imagining the first man on the earth, the first woman and the nature coming

together to form the process of creation. The earth revolving around the sun, forming seasons, thelightening, the rain and the formation of sea. The moon creating the day and night and coupling theirlife. It is as good as experience of all of us but this is the first ever. The word gruhapati meaning thehusband of earth, which is used here. The earth now is divided into so many nations, theirlanguages, their cultures put together. If we have to solve any of current problems we will have tothink in totality that is all the nations put together then only we can get a realistic solution. Naturalproblems and human problems seem to be reciprocating and repeating again and again till weachieve this total thinking. However this is not the subject of this chapter, it under lines the ancientprinciples of nature and man and their relationship. With different names we can call sun but theheight or the glory of it is beyond any name. Various spiritual traditions will have different mantras,they can be vedic, tantric or from any other spiritual cult. One must be able to reconcile all of themtogether and this can happen only when they correlate to the natural truths viz. sun, moon, earth,man, women and so on. Gita is one such principle which can put them together. Shri Sathya SaiBaba with his four basic teachings of Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prem has successfully reconciled allsuch traditions. It is just left to us to follow him.

'Purifying the budhhi, sanctifying the words, one who has little expectations, one who hasconqured his ego, one who expects less and is detached, one who is always in meditation, one whois always in divine bliss, selfless and peaceful is said to be merged into brahma.

Gita 18-51,52,53)


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These are the qualities of the brahmin or one who has become all pervasive and merged intovastness of nature. Yoga also is such a path where all the paths are integrated. One can read themin yogi Aurovindo's Encyclopedia of Integral Yoga. But even he could foresee that the incarnation isyet to arrive, he could know the birth date of such a incarnated soul which he wrote down for all of usand that divine soul is none other than Shri Sathya Sai Baba. He is the Jyoti incarnated. Jyoti isuniversal mother. If you want to reach to the entire humanity you must find out such a commonprinciple which he must have felt in his earlier incarnation, that is Shirdi Sai Baba.

So the garhapatya and ahavaniya explained here is the offering of yadnya for mother earth.Prana and Jyoti this is that prime combination

FivePrana Man Nature Loka Cosmic namePrana Eyes Sun Dyuloka SoulApana Vak Agni Earth VaishvanaraVyana Ears Moon Directions VaishvanaraSamana Mind Rain Lightening VaishvnaraUdana Skin Air Sky VaishvanaraWhat is there in each individual is also there in the nature. The above table explains it.

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~~~ ~ o r r 3JJ4dcrJR I"" (Ch-5,1)

It starts with the Pranavidya as given above. Prana is said to be greatest among all. We talkwith our words and hear them with ears. So it is the sense of perception of words which gives us thebody. If we talk good and hear good we will have a good body. Eyes are another important organ ofperception. Mind is a said to be the house of God. But most important amongst all of them is theprana. Prano-vai-aditya. Sun is the prana which gives us the power of speech or the vision. Sun isthe source of the world. The wealth is generated by all these senses when applied to mind and usedfor the benefit of all the mankind, it gives the wealth as the natural wealth is derived from the Sun.

When we die we take the solar way or the lunar way. Those who, take the solar way they donot take rebirth and become free. Those who take the lunar way take the birth and come back on theearth. When one dies during uttarayana, during the shukla paksha or during the day, he takes thesolar way. When he dies during Dakshinayana Krishna paksha or night, he is said to be taking thelunar way and takes rebirth. How then it must be happening. The mind plays an important role -whether it seeks liberation or the bondage that becomes the deciding factor. The mind takes thesuitable body and comes back to earth.

The concept of panchagni - (Please also refer Prashnopanishad) explains the variousplanes of galaxies, sun, earth and the human life. In case of those who are incarnations ---- while


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they are going towards the solar plane, mother from the lunar plane brings him down on the earth.Example of course that of Shri Sathya Sai Baba in modern times can be given.

"Do you know about Spirituality?""Do you know how people take birth and come to this world?""Do you know about the two ways - solar and lunar - when all of us pass away?""After death also we do not die, do you know what is the reason?""Again how they become men, do you know all this?"These were the five questions put by Pravahana to Shvetketu; answer to all these questions

is panchagni.The word agni means - coming to formation - From the vast nature we take birth and take

various names and forms. This is a huge yadnya. Samidha is what we offer to the yadnya, thesmoke, the flames and the fire all are symbolic and they denote various elements of nature as givenin the following table.

Agni Samidha Smoke Flames Fire(offering)

1.Galaxy Sun Rays Day Moon & constellations2. Rain Air Clouds Lightening Thundering3. Pruthvi Year Sky Night Directions

(Earth)4. Purusha Words Life Tongue Eyes and ears.When this purusha such formed marries it is the fifth agni. So we come down from such

vastness of nature. We are sons and daughters of nature in real sense. Though we come throughour parents we really come from the nature. After death those who reach the sun take the solar wayand become free souls, those who go to moon take rebirth again. The soul does not die, the bodydies. The mind itself make a suitable body and takes birth back on mother earth.

"The galaxies are his head, the Sun is his eye, the air is his life,the sky,the nose,the earth are his legs,the constellation is the chest.This is the vastness of nature encompassed into a cosmic man, the body of God. This is in

other words the body of the incarnated souls, those who do not have desire of their own but broughtback to the earth for doing the divine work. Shri Sathya Sai Baba is such a divine soul.

Sixcr ]H:kn ~ o r r""

When there was no existence - this part starts with such a void state - how the Creationbegan is the topic of concentration here. How one can say confidently that all that is written in vedicscripture is true. One need not go and analyse the sky, little cavity of sky in your own heart is enoughto ascertain it. One need not analyse the sea water, little water in your hands is enough to know it.


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Similarly the vast vedic wisdom can be tested by just practising few of principles it preaches. Youhave to practise truth.

The Sat principle from which the whole universe having various names and forms derived isexplained in detail here. All the names and forms derive from it and merge into it. The life is threefold. Sat entered into the life and became three fold.

RedWhiteBlack

Teja or Life principleWater.Food.

These three colours of agni or jyoti pertain to various aspects of jyoti as given above. Sun,Moon and agni are three forms of jyoti.

This trio is discovered by Uddalaka-Aruni rishi, and it also relate to-Teja WordsWaterFood PranaMindSo a very important conclusion is drawn by these two, stating the mind to be related to the

food, and therefore the food habit very much relate to status of mind. As Gita says the Satvika foodis that which is--

Satvik food will give you satvic mind, Food-head-god this trio therefore links you to divineworld. All the names, Sat itself becomes the source of all gods.

This principle of Sat is very important and it is illustrated with various examples. As the sea isthe sat and the rivers are like various names and so on.

These principles which are explained here can be experienced only by those who haverealised. These are post-realisation experiences. Shri Satya Saibaba always says, ----- 'all namesand all forms; are my names and my forms' he means this Sat principle. He is the embodiment ofSat.

SevenIn this chapter you will find a chain of concepts which are related to each other, the later is

said to be greater than the earlier.Nama- Vak - mind - sankalpa - chitta - concentration - strength - food - water - teja - sky -

memory - optimism - life - sathya - vidhnyana - thought - faith - determination - action - happiness -nonduality - oneness

Various upanishada have various names, they are derived from words, which came frommind, mind has a sankalpa or a thing to do. Mind depends on food, but water is part of food. The fireor the efflugence is still greater, which comes from sky, memory is stored in the sky. One has to beoptimistic to overcome bad memories as that is the life, which leads to truth or the sathya asexplained earlier. Vidhnyanamaya Kosha is the source of all the thoughts where faith is mostimportant. If you are determined you can act which eventually leads to anandamaya kosha which isnonduality.


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Anand mayakosha BlissVidhnyana mayakosha BudhiMano mayakosha MindPrana mayakosha WaterAnna mayakosha FoodAs I have written earlier these are post realisation stages when the soul realises himself to

be the god he comes down on earth with his sankalpa, this is known as bhuma - vidya. Thesankalpa obviously has to be selfless and which can eliminate the grief or sufferings of the earth.Bhu - means earth. God becomes one with the earth a stage of nonduality.

Shri Sathaya Saibaba comes from the Bharadvaja tradition. As you know Bharadvajamarries to the earth when he finds she is weeping and surrounded by asuras. His sankalpa is wellknown - Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema, Ahimsa. Unless the truth is established therighteousness in the society will not come, unless the righteousness is there the peace will not befelt and unless there is peace love can not be experienced. When love is there nonviolence follows.In this kaliyuga this principle will endlessly work as he is the kalki Avatara.

Krishna had two wives, Rukmini and Satyabhama. Satyabhama had one tree of flowersknown as Parijat i.e. coral tree in her garden. She would water it daily and took all the care so that itcan grow. Rukmini's garden was just next door. When the tree became big, beautiful flowers ofparijata started blooming but falling in Rukminis garden! There are two words - Satya and Bhamaor Bhumavidya.Sat is Nectar the Soul

Ti is bodyYam is lifeThat is Sathya. Bhumavidya as we have seen, with the divine sankalpa coming back on

earth as an incarnated soul. In case of Shri Satya Saibaba to re-establish the vedic wisdom was theSankalpa. He is also Ardha - nari-nateshwara, so Krishna and Sathyabhama became one. Theseprinciples can be understood only by those who are realised souls. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is hismission.

" f O r i 5 1 c > 5 ) Cf4 $f i : c i J c r = f ) 'fHR - J O J j~~cdg4J~I

All the women are the form of wealth as they are the symbols of prosperity. If all of them unite,removing the natural boundries much will be attained and it will be proved in time to come.

Part EightNow you enter into such a soul where the sun, moon, the earth are part of your entity. It is the

virat purusha. The life travels from atma to brahma, that is from where to where, from within towithout. External and internal life plays with each other where the time is void. What is state ofawakening to an individual is the Vaishvanar of the virat purusha. What is the state of divine for anindividual is the state of Hiranyagarbha and what is the state of deep sleep for an individual is thestate of Ishvara.


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When you become one with everything around, you are Ishvara, who is the guru of gurus,who is beyond time and not affected by the grief or happiness. The poor and the rich, man andwoman, good and bad, success or failure; all dualities are lost. By his just wish he can enter into anysoul and by his sankalpa the bad can be converted to good. All national boundries are imaginary forhim, whole universe becomes is house.

~~l{dJf;j~~~:

Geeta 9/4All beings become part of his existences but he is not in them. When he achieves such a

state of mind he with his divine resolution can change the minds of the people who surrender tohim.

~~ CJR("4"*


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Vak is inspired by the Prana, mind experiences the divine feelings and become pure to getthe bliss.

Now let us study the twenty two letter corresponding to seven fold Sama, as given inChhadogya Upanishad. (2-1 0)

1. Adi 22. Hinkara 33. Prastava 34. Udgith 35. Upadrava 46. Pratihar 47. Nidhana 3

Total 22

As also there are various names given to these Shruties. If one sees the names of theseshruties one may draw out certain conclusions.

Anudatta - Re - Dayavati Dha - MadantiRajani RohiniRaktika Ramya

Udatta - Ga - Raudri Ni - UgraKrodha KshobhiniSwarita - Sa - Tivra Ma - VajrikaKumudrati Prasarini

Manda PritiChhandorati Marjani

Pa - KshitiRaktikaSandipiniAlapini

In the Anudatta note the shruti is - dayavati, she is ramya.In Udatta she is Krodha, Ugra.In swarita however she is Priti, chhandovati.The shuddha svaras are vedic potencies - The Komala and tivra are indicating the human

desires.Now, if one examine the meaning of the seven fold sama with the help of mantra shastra it

also gives us certain more indications as to how the sam a is mrutyu - vimochan or conquering overdeath - the amrit.


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LettersHim, Pra

Meaning therebyConquering over death (Pra)Uttarance (Him)Budhhi (Aa) Mangalya (d)Dream (U) Mangalya (d)Giver of bliss (Ni)

Aa - PratiUd - UpaNiThat is how the twenty two shruties of Indian music are the giver of the Nectar or in other

words divine love is the nectar of shruties.

chhandogya upanishad

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