Flowering of Bliss Supreme (Based on Taittiriya Upanishad) by Sri Prabhuji

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Flowering of Supreme Bliss
Discourses by Sadguru Prabhuji
On
Taittiriya Upanishad
(March-April 2014)
Transcribed and Edited by Atmajyothis
Published By
Light of the Self Foundation Publication
Price: Rs 200

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Contents
Preface...........................................................................................................................4
Introduction .................................................................................................................5
Brahmananda Valli....................................................................................................13
The Sheaths of Food, Prana and Mind .................................................................19
The Sheath of Intellect.............................................................................................30
The Blissful Sheath....................................................................................................39
Brahman, the Foundation of all..............................................................................48
Supreme Bliss.............................................................................................................53
Bhrigu Valli.................................................................................................................62
Annexure: Questions ................................................................................................79

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Preface
Existence is Bliss. It is Bliss Supreme. In this very life we can realize the
Supreme Bliss which is our own true nature. One who realizes the Supreme
Bliss becomes immortal in this very life. We are indeed fortunate to have the
gift of Taittiriya Upanishad from Krishna Yajurveda. It describes the Nature
of Supreme Realization in a very lucid way.
For any success in life, it is important to have a disciplined noble way of
living. A way of living in tune with the Universal Law – Dharma. The
Dharmic way of life leads to purification of the mind leading to increased
awareness and Self realization. The first chapter of Taittiriya Upanishad is
an instruction in Dharmic way of living by the Spiritual Master to the disciple
at the time of graduation. The Spiritual Master lovingly instructs the disciple
to lead a life Dharma after he leaves the abode of the Master and takes up a
householder’s life.
The second chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad describes the glory of the Self
Realized. The degree of bliss experienced by Self Realized soul – Brahma Jnani
is far greater than the bliss experienced by any being in existence. This
chapter also beautifully describes the 5 sheaths of human being – Annamaya
(Physical), Pranamaya (Vital), Manomaya (Mental), Vijnanamaya (Intellectual)
and Anandamaya ( Blissful sheath) and the Self beyond these sheaths thus
giving a clear model for contemplation for Self Realization.
The third chapter describes the way Bhrigu the son of Sage Varuna realizes
the Supreme Bliss.
This book covers the lectures on selected shlokas from Chapter 2 and 3 given
by me to the members of Atmajyothi Satsang.
Prabhu
12th July 2014
Guru Purnima

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Introduction
My respectful Pranams to all Atmajyothis.
Today we shall begin the study of Taittiriya Upanishad. It is a part of Yajur
Veda. There is an interesting story behind this Upanishad. There was a Rishi
by name Yajnavalkya and his Guru was Vaishampayana, a very famous
Master who used to teach Yajur Veda. People used to come from far and
wide to study under his guidance. The king of that country had some disease
and he came to Vaishampayana Rishi’s ashram seeking treatment.
Vaishampayana agreed to treat the king. He would go to the palace and recite
some Yajur Veda mantras and conduct some Upasanas. This went on for a
month but the king did not find any relief. The king then came to
Vaishampayana’s Ashram and said that the Mantras are useless and
Vaishampayana Rishi was cheating him. Yajnavalkya who was a student there
could not withstand the accusations made by the king. He told the king that
the Veda mantras have the ability to bring about any desired results; he
pointed to a dry piece of wood lying nearby and said that the mantras have the
ability to bring life into it. He then chanted some Yajur Veda mantras and
sprinkled some water on the dry wood and much to the king’s surprise it
came to life and green leaves appeared on it. The king then humbly requested
Yajnavalkya to come to his palace and cure his disease and Yajnavalkya
obliged. When Vaishampayana learnt that his disciple had cured the king’s
disease which he was unable to cure, he was angry that his disciple had spoilt
his reputation. Vaishampayana cursed Yajnavalkya for having insulted him. A
Master’s curse is very effective; the disease that the king was suffering from,
now came on to Yajnavalkya. The other students were very sad to see him
suffer from the disease. Yajnavalkya told them not to worry and he cured
himself by uttering the Prayaschitta mantra. This made Vaishampayana angrier;
he went wild with fury as his disciple had insulted his curse too. He then
asked Yajnavalkya to give back everything that he had learnt from him. Then
Yajnavalkya chanted the entire Yajur Veda and said that he has returned
everything that he had learnt and he would never chant the Yajur Veda
mantras again. The story says that the other disciples at the Ashram were very
eager to learn the mantras and they took the form of Tittiri bird (partridge)
and swallowed the Yajur Veda mantras vomited by Yajnavalkya. These are only
symbolic, don’t be under the impression that they had an extraordinary ability
to take the form of the bird and swallow the vomit of Yajnavalkya. It is a
figurative way of speaking. The Yajur Veda mantras that he gave back his
Master came to be known as Krishna Yajur Veda (Black Yajur Veda).
Yajnavalkya from that day onwards stopped practicing the Yajur Veda mantras
learnt from Vaishampayana. He then decided to get the Yajur Veda mantras
directly from the Sun and did Surya Upasana. Vedas have three portions:
Karma Kãnda for rituals, Upasana Kãnda for worship and Jnana Kãnda for

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knowledge. Upasana is worshipping, contemplating or meditating upon
divinity through a form. He meditated on Suryanarayana, Narayana in the
form of sun. Upasana requires a Pratika (form). Surya was very pleased with
his Upasana and he came in the form of Hayagriva (horse) and taught the
Yajur Veda mantra again to Yajnavalkya. The mantra which Surya (in the form
of Hayagriva) taught to Yajnavalkya became Shukla Yajur Veda (White Yajur
Veda).
What does acquiring a mantra from Surya mean? Is such a thing possible
today? Is it possible to realize the mantra, is it possible to experience the
mantra, to understand and receive the mantra from God? One who receives
the mantra from God, from the divine directly is called seer of the mantra
Mantradrishtara or Rishi. Veda mantras are called Shrutis, ‘Shruthi’ means
heard, Veda mantras are heard. Hearing the mantra and seeing the mantra are
different. When one sees the mantra, he experiences the mantra directly. For
example, there is a mantra in the Purushasukta which goes like this, ‘Purusha
yevedam sarvam yadbhutam yaccha bhavyam, sahasra seersha purushaha sahasraaksha
sahasrapaat’. The Purusha is ‘Sahasrapurusha’, he has thousands of heads, eyes
and ears. Everything in this existence is Cosmic Consciousness. The Rishi
who wrote down this Mantra not only heard the mantra but also experienced
the mantra simultaneously and that is why he is called Mantradrishtara. The
mantra is not just heard, mantra is experienced. Yajnavalkya is the
Mantradrishtara of Shukla Yajur Veda. Yajnavalkya is a very famous Rishi of
the Upanishads. The entire Brihadarankyaka Upanishad is dedicated to the
teachings of Yajnavalkya.
There is another story about Yajnavalkya. There was a king called Janaka in
Mithila, at the time of Ramayana. He was Mother Sita’s father. He used to
host Vidvatsabhas and invite many saints and scholars for discussions. He
would ask questions and would honour those who gave the right answers. In
one of those Vidvatsabhas, Yajnavalkya was present and King Janaka
announced that the one who is recognized as the greatest Brahmajnani would
be presented one thousand cows that are decorated with golden ornaments.
Nobody came forward as nobody had the courage to claim that they are
Brahmajnanis.
Brahmajnani is the knower of Brahman, Brahman is the absolute Reality behind
all names and forms that we see in the world. Brahman is the axle behind the
revolving world; Brahman is the unchanging substratum that supports the ever
changing world. Brahman is not available for knowledge, cannot be
experienced by the senses. Like how an electric bulb cannot understand
electricity, similarly, a human mind and intellect cannot understand
Consciousness. One might wonder that this being the case, how can anybody
be a Brahmajnani, how can anyone know that, which cannot be reached by any
human faculty? A Brahmajnani is not a knower in the ordinary sense. A

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knower is always in relation to an object, ‘knowing’ is the relationship
between a subject and an object. If I say I know this book, I have read this
book, the book is the object and I, the knower am the subject. Whereas
Brahman is not an object to be known, Brahman is the subject and that is why
it is said that the knower of Brahman becomes Brahman himself ‘Brahmavid
brahmaiva bhavati’, the object, the subject and the process of knowing is
Brahman. So when we say Brahmajnani or Brahmana do not be under the
impression that he is a knower of Brahman, he is Brahman himself. Brahmana in
this context is different from the Brahmana of the Chaturvarna, ‘Brahmana,
Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra’. ‘Varna’ means colour, the nature of the soul
can be Brahmana. A Brahmana soul has an aptitude for learning and teaching
spiritual truths. This was true for the earlier days; in today’s context a
Brahmana can be a scientist or a knowledge worker, somebody who has keen
interest for intellectual enquiry into any subject can be a Brahmana by Varna.
Brahmana when it comes to Brahmajnana is somebody who has gone beyond
Varna Ashrama and Dharma, who has become Brahman himself.
There was a Brahmajnani called Ajja in Puttur. He used to wander around and
take food wherever it was available. Usually in South Canara, food is served
in all the temples during lunch time and it is served in separate halls for
Brahmanas and non-Brahmanas. Ajja went into dining hall in a temple at
lunchtime and they asked him if he was a Brahmana and Ajja said yes. They
asked him to remove his shirt and he did. They noticed that Ajja was not
wearing the sacred thread. They were angry that he was not wearing the
sacred thread but claiming to be a Brahmana. They literally lifted him up and
threw him out of the dining hall of Brahmanas. Ajja was physically injured
and at that time somebody who knew Ajja came by and asked him if he was
hurt and if he felt bad. Ajja replied, “The body is injured but I do not feel
bad, they asked me if I was a Brahmana and I said yes. Knower of Brahman is a
Brahmana for me while a person wearing the sacred thread is a Brahmana for
them.”
In today’s times, a Brahmana is merely someone who wears the sacred thread.
Why does a Brahmana wear the sacred thread? The thread represents the four
Vedas - Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvanaveda, and all these four
Vedas are in three forms; prose, poetry and verse. These are represented by
the three threads and the knot which connects these three threads is the
Brahmagantu which represents Brahman. A person desirous of knowing
Brahman wears such a sacred thread to remind himself everyday about his
prime motivation to realize Brahman. It is thus only symbolic. A thread is
called ‘Sutra’ in Sanskrit. The sacred thread is the Brahmasutra. Brahmasutra
is one of the three prime texts of spirituality; the other two being Srimad
Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. The knowledge of Brahman is told in a
very systematic way through Brahmasutras, and the sacred thread is worn in
remembrance of that. Next is the question about why married men wear a

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pair of such sacred thread. In the olden days some women did not have the
spiritual education due to lack of facilities and at the time of marriage the
husband would take a commitment to teach Vedas to his wife. One was a
reminder of his own commitment to study and the other was symbolic of his
commitment to teach his wife if she had not studied at a Gurukul and was
not a knower of Vedas. If the wife had gone through Gurukul education then
it was not necessary for the husband to take a commitment to teach her.
Coming back to the story of King Janaka, Yajnavalkya stood up in the
gathering and asked his students to take the thousand cows to his ashram.
Everyone there objected and asked him to prove to them that that he was a
Brahmajnani before he could take the reward. Yajnavalkya then said “When
the king announced the prize no one came forward, I want the cows and the
wealth to run my ashram and take care of all my Sishyas so I am taking the
cows with me.” They did not agree to that and started questioning
Yajnavalkya on Brahmajnana and he answered them all. Finally, the wise lady
Maitreyi asked him several questions and he answered them too and she
proclaimed that he was a Great Brahmajnani. She was attracted by his wisdom
and clarity and asked him to marry her. Yajnavalkya who was already married
to Katyayini then married Maitreyi. After many years of running the ashram
he decided to take Sanyasa and before leaving he wanted to distribute the
wealth that he had received through donations between his two wives. Then
Maitreyi asked him to give her the teaching that would make her immortal
instead of giving her his wealth and Yajnavalkya taught her ‘Atmadeva
drishtavyam mantravyam shrotitavyam’, this is the famous teaching of Yajnavalkya.
For self realization, you have to meditate and contemplate only on Atman,
think and contemplate only about Atman. People say I love my parents, I love
my wife, I love my children and none of this is true! You love your children,
husband or wife for your own sake, for yourself. The self alone has to be
meditated upon and realized is the teaching of Yajnavalkya. Our real self is
Atman, which is not a body, not a mind and not the intellect but pure
Consciousness.
Taittiriya Upanishad has 3 Vallis, Vallis means chapters. Siksha valli,
Brahmananda Valli and Brighu Valli. Shiksha Valli is the teaching about how
your living, conduct and thoughts should be in order to attain Self realization.
In the second chapter Brahmananda valli, the degree of ananda (bliss)
experienced by various beings is compared with the ananda experienced by a
Brahmajnani. The bliss experienced by a human being, the bliss of a
Gandharva, the bliss of Devas, the bliss of Rishis are compared to the bliss of
a Brahmajnani because Supreme bliss cannot be explained it can only be
compared.

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To explain this in a better way, let me tell you a story. There was a frog in a
well. A bird came and sat on the well and sang about the ocean. The frog
which had never seen anything outside the well asked the bird about the
ocean. The bird said that the ocean is very big and has lot of water, the frog
showed it hands and asked if it was that big and the bird said it is much
bigger, the frog then stretched out its arms and asked if the ocean was that
big and the bird said that it is much bigger. The frog then asked if an ocean is
bigger than the well and the bird said yes it is much bigger and the frog called
the bird a liar! The maximum that the frog has seen is a well. The human
mind has a similar limitation, it cannot understand ananda. It tries to
understand bliss through comparison, in comparison to the joy of drinking
coffee, joy of watching a movie and so on, as it cannot comprehend absolute
bliss. The bliss experienced by various beings is explained in the Brahmananda
Valli. The Self realization of Brighu maharshi is explained in Brighu Valli.
Taittiriya Upanishad also contains the Panchakosha Jnana.
Shanti Mantra
oṃ śaṃ no mitraḥ śaṃ varuṇaḥ |
śaṃ no bhavatvaryamā |
śaṃ na indro brihaspatiḥ |
śaṃ no viṣṇururukramaḥ |
namo brahmaṇe |
namaste vāyo |
tvameva pratyakṣaṃ bhrahmāsi |
tvāmeva pratyakṣam brahma vadiṣyāmi |
ṝtaṃ vadiṣyāmi |
satyaṃ vadiṣyāmi |
tanmāmavatu |
tadvaktāramavatu |
avatu mām |
avatu vaktāram |
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||
AUM, may Mitra (Sun) be propitious to us. May Varuna be propitious (to us) May
Aryaman be propitious (to us) May Indra and Bruhaspati be propitious (to us) May the
all pervading Vishnu be propitious to us. Salutations to Brahman. Salutations to you, O
vayu. You indeed are the perceptible Brahman. Of you indeed, the perceptible Brahman,
will I speak. I will speak of the right. I will speak of the truth. May that protect me. May
that protect the speaker. Let that protect me. Let that protect the speaker. AUM! Peace!
Peace! Peace!
May Sun who is the deity of the day, the friend who facilitates our growth
and development and Varuna the deity of night who facilitates rest and
rejuvenation bless us. May Aryaman, the deity who powers the Sun and

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Bruhaspati who is the Guru of all the Devatas bless us. Devatas are the powers
of nature and the powers of Consciousness. The power of the eyes to see is
due to Chakshu Devata. The power of ears is due to Shrotru Devata, the power
of skin is due to Twak Devata. The inner deity of the eye (microcosm) has a
corresponding outer deity in the universe (macrocosm). If in the microcosm
the deity is responsible for seeing, in the macrocosm the same deity is
responsible for the energy that facilitates seeing. The eye is useless without
light (Agni), Agni is the Devata inside the eyes, Agni is the Devata who gives
light outside. The inner and outer power of Consciousness is called Devata.
Your ability to hear is because of Shrotru Devata operating in you and also
outside you to propagate the sound. We are here praying to Bruhaspati who
is Devaguru, the one who gives wisdom to all the Devatas. Devatas gain
understanding about how to play their role from Bruhaspati.
Vishnu is the all-pervading Consciousness. Everyone must have heard about
the story of Trivikrama and Bali Chakravarthy. Bali Chakravarthy was a
demon king who had conquered all the three lokas and chased out the
Devatas. Then Vishnu in the form of Vamana went to him and begged for
three pieces of land. When the land was granted Vamana became Trivikrama
and pervaded through space, Earth and nether lands. ‘Vishvam vishnur
vashatkaro’, the whole universe is pervaded by Consciousness, by Vishnu.
Apart from the cosmic context, this story should also be understood in the
context of the individual. Bali represents ego. He taking control of all the
three lokas is similar to how ego takes control of our waking, dreaming and
deep sleep state. ‘Mana’ means mind and ‘Vamana’ means an uplifted mind,
mind which can show the limitation of ego and bring divinity in life. This
story is about enlightenment. God first comes into our life as a small being,
as Vamana, as purified mind. If we give a chance to that small Vamana then
he will pervade through our waking, dreaming and deep sleep state as
Trivikrama and we can realize Vishnu Consciousness. This is called Savikalpa
Samadhi. The story says that Bali Chakravarthy offered his head, offering
head is symbolic of offering the ego. Once offered the ego disappears into
nether lands and this is the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
Salutations to Brahma and salutations to vayu! Brahma is the unseen
(Nirguna) and vayu is seen (Saguna), the formless and the form are both
respected. The formless and form are related to each other in the same way
as wave is related to water.
Wave is the form and water is the formless, ring is the form and gold is the
formless. The formless does not disappear once the form manifests, both
formless and form coexist. The moment I say formless you should not search
for it elsewhere, both the formless and the form are within you and without
you but your mind gets gripped by the form, when you look at the ring you

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forget about gold which is the substratum of the ring. When you are able to
see the form and the formless simultaneously in the universe you attain
complete realization. Realization of the formless alone is not complete.
Realizing both Shiva and Shakti, Consciousness and energy, formless and
form is complete realization.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had realized Mother Kali in her form. He was
able to speak with her and this was Saguna rupa realization. Kali is the power
of Kaala, the time. She is dark because time cannot be seen only its effect is
seen. Everybody is afraid of the effect of time as it can take away anything
from us; body becomes old, disease takes over and finally death. Time can
destroy everything that we know and her form is as terrifying as her effect.
He realized that she is a mother and not terrible and to the one who realizes
this, time becomes a loving mother and its effect becomes responsible for
your liberation. If you are not seeking Mukti, time is terrible to you but when
you seek liberation it is a loving mother that facilitates. Later a Master by
name Totapuri came to Dakshineshwar and told Ramakrishna that he will
teach him Vedanta. Ramakrishna said that he has to take his mother’s
permission before he can accept teaching from him. He went inside and
asked mother Kali and she gave him permission to learn Vedanta. He then
went back and the first thing that Totapuri did was shaving off
Ramakrishna’s head. Shaving the head is symbolic of dropping all the old
thoughts, vasanas and samskaras and this is why at the time of Brahmopadesha
and also at the time of initiation into Sanyasa the head is shaved. People go to
Tirupati and other temples and offer the hair. The idea is to drop all old
thought processes and become free from all the past impressions. After
shaving off Ramakrishna’s head, Totapuri taught him Aham Brahmasmi, I am
Brahman and everything else is Maya, an appearance. The moment Sri
Ramakrishna closed his eyes mother Kali appeared and he told the same to
Totapuri. Totapuri tells him that mother Kali is Maya and asks him to cut her
off and he does the same and becomes one with Brahman and stays in that
state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi for twenty one days. Totapuri was a wandering
monk and would not stay anywhere for more than three days but because
Ramakrishna was in Samadhi for twenty one days he had to stay there. After
twenty one days he prepared to leave and at that time he got a terrible pain in
his stomach and it was so severe that Totapuri wanted to kill himself in the
river Hoogli. The river was known to be in floods but the moment when he
wanted to kill himself and entered the river; much to his surprise the water
level went down and there was not enough water. No matter how far he
went, the water was only knee deep. He was surprised by this Maya, he was
not able to kill himself so he prayed to be healed and the pain disappeared.
He then came running to Sri Ramakrishna and said that he had been rejecting
everything in the world as it was Maya but he has now realized the power of
Maya. Brahman is the unseen, unchanging, supreme Consciousness and Maya

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is the changing appearance in the form of the world but they are not separate.
Just as you cannot separate fire from burning, you cannot separate out Shiva
and Shakti. Those who realize only one aspect, either Shiva or Shakti are not
complete. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had realized Shakti first and then
by the teachings of Totapuri he realized Shiva whereas Totapuri realized
Brahman first and then Maya.
Now we are praying to vayu (prana Shakti) who is a manifestation of Brahman.
‘ritam vadishyami’: the word ‘ritam’ in Sanskrit means rhythm of English. There
is a rhythm or pattern in everything that exists, there is a pattern in the
appearance of the world, something is born, it grows and it dies. There is a
pattern in the seasonal changes; there is a pattern in sunrise and sunset. This
pattern is governed by Chaitanya, you can see the pattern which is the effect
of Consciousness but you cannot see the Consciousness behind it.
‘Twamevaritam vadishyami’: I am saying that ‘Lord you are the rhythm too’.
‘satyam vadishyami’: rhythm is the periodic pattern of changes and satyam is the
truth, Consciousness. satyam cannot be explained but only experienced. satyam
is your own nature. May the Lord protect me and my Master who is teaching
me the truth. Let there be peace throughout the universe. May the Brahman
alone who has been described so far in his various forms as Mitra, Varuna,
Vishnu, vayu, ritam and satyam protect my Master and me. The Master himself
must have the health and the wisdom to be able to speak the truth and the
student must have faith and ability to grasp the truth. The protection prayed
for, is in these regards. ‘Shanti Shanti Shantihi’: There are three types of
problems Adibhautik, Adidaivik and Adhyatmik in existence. Adibhautik
problems are physical problems related to environmental condition like rain
and whether change, Adidaivik problems are those related to natural
calamities like earthquake and Adhyatmik problems are mental and
psychological disturbances like anger, depression, and suspicion. Shanti is
uttered three times so that Lord Brahma may protect the Master and the
disciple in these three domains.

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Brahmananda Valli
In the first chapter of this Upanishad Shiksha Valli, the Master educates his
disciples about how they should lead their life. We can find teachings like
‘Acharya devo bhava, matru devo bhava, pitr devo bhava’ and ‘Swadhyaya
pravachanabhyan no pravatitvyam’ which outline how we should lead our life,
engage in self-study and teach the higher truths every day. Speaking of
teaching, the best way to learn is to teach since the teacher should always be
at least one step ahead of the disciple. If you teach you learn, if you give you
get and this is true for everything in life. If you give money, your money
increases. I am not speaking about charity I am speaking about the law of
business. If any businessman has to be successful then he has to help people
make money or save money. For example I bought this wireless router a few
days ago. Its selling point is high speed internet, high speed saves my time
and time is money. So the one who sold this router made money by helping
me to make money. The paradox of life is that we gain by giving and lose by
holding on. We have to know how to offer whatever we have and that is
yajna. Yajna is the basic teaching in the first chapter. Without going into the
details of this chapter let us move ahead to Brahmananda Valli which speaks
about attaining supreme bliss.
Shloka 2.1
ॐ ब्रह्मविदाप्नोवि परम् | िदेषाऽभ्युक्ता |
सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्िं ब्रह्म | यो िेद वनवििं गुिायां परमे व्योमन् |
सोऽश्नुिे सिाान् कामान् सि | ब्रह्मणा विपवििेवि ||
िस्माद्वा एिस्मादात्मन आकाशः संभूिः | आकाशाद्वायुः |
िायोरव्नः | अ्नेरापः | अद्भ्यः पृवििी |
पृविव्या ओषधयः | ओषधीभ्योऽन्नम् | अन्नात्पुरुषः |
स िा एष पुरुषोऽन्न्नरसमयः |
िस्येदमेि वशरः |
अयं दविणः पिः | अयमुत्तरः पिः |
अयमात्मा | इदं पुच्छं प्रविष्ठा |
िदप्येष श्लोको भिवि ||१||इवि प्रिमोऽनुिाकः ||
Om Brahmavidapnoti param tadeshabhyukta
satyam jnanam anantam brahma
Yo vedanihitam guhayam parame vyoman
Sa ashnute sarvan kaman saha brahmana avipaschiteti
Tasmad va etasmadatma askashah sambhoota
Akashat vayuh vayor aghih anger apah

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Apbhyapruthvi pruthvya oshadhayah
Oushadhebhya annam annat purushah
Sa vaa esha purusho annarasamayah
Tasmadeva shirah
Ayam dakshina pakshah ayamuthara pakshah
Ayam Atma
Idam puchcham pratishthaa
Tadapyesha shloko bhavati
AUM. The knower of Brahman attains the supreme. As to this the following has been
said: He who knows Brahman as the real, as knowledge and as the infinite, as placed in
the transcendental space within the secret cavern, enjoys all desires along with the attainment
of Brahman, the all-knowing. From such a self, verily, space came into existence. From
space emerged air. From air fire, from fire water, from water the Earth, from Earth herbs,
from herbs food and from food the person. This person verily consists of the essence of food.
Of him this indeed is the head, this the right side, this the left side, this the body, this the
tail end, the foundation. As to that there is also this verse.
Brahmananda Valli means supreme bliss and the first Shloka of Brahmanada
Valli explains about Brahman. We are seeking something, searching
something and we are always in need of something throughout our life. What
is it that we are searching for? It is bliss that we are in search of. A boy is in
search of a girl, a girl is in search of a boy, both of them search for name,
fame and money, everyone is going round in circles. Each person is chasing
something and nobody knows what. You think that by getting married you
will be happy, the moment you get married restlessness starts because you
will want to have children. Every time you say that you have reached a step
the next step will open up. Life is continuously shifting and you go on
looking for one thing after the other. What is it that everyone is searching
for? Everyone is searching for bliss, a peaceful and tranquil state of mind.
When we are blissful we feel expanded, limitless and when we are sad we feel
small, we shrink. We constantly seek that expanded state but we have a
wrong understanding about it. We think that we attain that state by getting
something, we put a goal for that and try to achieve it but in reality no goal
will satisfy us for long as the infinite cannot be gained by the finite. You
cannot gain the infinite by any method unless you already have it. Infinite
bliss is something that is already within you and discovering that is the
purpose of your life.
There was a beggar who used to beg near the Gateway of India. He had
bought that begging spot from another beggar. Later, when he died, the
people from the municipality came to take the body away but then decided to
bury him there itself. When they dug open the place they found a lot of
money underneath which, the previous beggar had hidden. This poor beggar

15
was all sitting on this huge pile of money all these years but spent his entire
life begging. If you have infinite bliss within but don’t know and don’t
recognize it in you then you will still be a beggar. All of us are beggars who
are begging for happiness and peace from someone else while all the while
we are sitting on the infinite treasure of happiness and bliss. Bliss is our own
nature and this Shloka points that out.
‘Om brahmavid aapnoti param’, the one who realizes Brahman attains the
supreme eternal bliss. We not only want happiness from the world but also
want permanent happiness from it. Nothing is permanent in life, everything
comes with an expiry date and everything changes. How can we aspire for
permanent happiness and bliss? ‘Brahmavid aapnoti param’, one who realizes
Brahman attains supreme eternal bliss. A knower of Brahman becomes Brahman
himself. In the world, it is not possible to become someone by knowing that
person or to become the subject by knowing the subject. But in the domain
of spiritual knowledge if you have knowledge of Brahman then you become
Brahman. You might wonder how so let me explain it through the story of a
salt doll.
There was a salt doll that was depressed because it was small. One day
someone told the doll that it is not small, it has a rich heritage and its
grandfather is the ocean which has a lot of salt. The salt doll went to see his
grandparents and entered the ocean. Once the salt doll entered the ocean
there was nothing left of it. No more salt doll, the ocean alone remains. If
you are on a journey to meet Brahman then ‘you’ will not return, only Brahman
will remain and what you know as ‘you’ will disappear. If today I ask you who
you are then you will tell me that you are a daughter or a mother or a working
woman. All these are temporary. You are a mother with respect to your
children and a daughter with respect to your parents; all of these are
temporary and relative identities. Do you have a permanent identity or do
you thrive only on relative identities? That permanent identity is Brahman,
Supreme Reality. This unchanging identity supports the changing identities.
It is like how an axle supports the wheel. The unchanging which supports
this constantly changing universe is Brahman. We chase the change hoping
that it will be permanent. We drop what is permanent and this is the misery
of life. Our search for permanent happiness in the world is like going behind
a mirage looking for water; it disappears the moment you go close to it. Look
at your own life, your body has changed in these years, your body will grow
old and die but you still say ‘I’. It is because this ‘I’ has not changed that the
body which is changing can exist. If ‘I’ also changed then you would be a
different person yesterday and someone else tomorrow but it is not so
because inside you there is an ‘I’ which is not changing and that ‘I’ is God.
That ‘I’ is the support for your existence and in the universe too there is
something which is unchanging called Brahman. Are these ‘I’ and Brahman

16
different? They are the same. You are one with the Supreme Reality and even
when the body dies you do not die as the ‘I’ is eternal. When you realize your
infinite nature you will attain infinity.
Before knowing Brahman one has many temporary identities as life itself will
be a web of relationships. For some reason or the other God shows grace
and detaches you from all the relationships either naturally or forcefully. The
identity that you have when all the relationships are taken away is called
Brahman. What you have will disappear but what you are cannot disappear
and what you are is that Supreme Reality. I said that knower of Brahman
becomes Brahman. What is this knowledge about Brahman? You can know
about any object but how can you know about Brahman? He is the subject, he
is the knower in you and is there a way to know the knower? Can you know
about sunlight which powers all forms of light by using a torch light? Atma,
the Self cannot be known by any other means other than dropping the
ignorance due to which we identify with relative identities and not the
absolute identity. You were not related to your husband of wife before
marriage, you were strangers but one event changed it, it gave you a new
relationship and identity. Similarly one correction in our faulty
understanding, one time removal of the error in our body, mind and intellect
complex will help you see your true identity and remain eternally blissful. You
will realize that this was the only purpose of your life and life is a waste
without that.
‘tadesha abhiyuktanam’, this is what is told in the scriptures. We can know
about the objects which are available to our senses but how can we know
about Brahman? The tube light works because of the presence of electricity
but it cannot understand electricity, similarly our body, mind and intellect
lights up due to the presence of Atma but the intellect cannot know Atma.
The created cannot know the creator and this is the challenge about knowing
Brahman. To know that there is infinite bliss within you, somebody has to tell
you about it and the Vedas tell you that.
Nobody tells you anything without a benefit for themselves in doing so,
without some selfish motive. If somebody does tell you that you are Brahman
how can you trust such a person? If there is no trust on the person then there
is no confidence in what he says either. If you are ill and someone advices
some medication to you then you will not take it because you will be afraid of
the damage it can cause if it is not the correct medicine. But if a doctor
prescribes the same medicine to you then you will take it. Is there someone
trustworthy in the world? Yes you can trust a doctor for health, an engineer
for a building and a banker for a transaction but how can you trust someone
in the spiritual matter where Atma cannot be seen. Our day to day experience
is that the Sun goes round the Earth but when our primary school text book

17
told us that Earth goes round the sun we believed it because we have faith in
the text book and the teacher. We take many things in life based on trust and
faith. Whom should you trust about immortality and your true nature? That
trustworthy person is called Sadguru. For a very mature student if the Sadguru
tells him once that he is Brahman it is more than enough. No explanation and
logic is required. Trust and faith on the authenticity and spiritual authority of
the Master is most important. The Sadguru derives his strength from the
Upanishads and Vedas. Upanishads are the experiences of realized masters
the Rishis. The Master shares his experience, he tells you that his experience is
true for you and then says that the Rishis also say the same, and he refers to
the Upanishads. When he refers to the scriptures it does not mean that he
teaches from the scriptures or just repeats what is in them. He teaches from
his own experience, he is the authentic source; he refers to the scriptures for
the student’s confirmation. His experience is the ultimate realization, he is
Brahman, his words are the Vedas and Upanishads, and you cannot find any
difference between what is written in the scriptures and what a realized
Master teaches. Vedas are nothing but the words of realized Rishis. Similarly
what Sri Ramana Maharshi teaches is Ramana Veda, what Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa teaches is Ramakrishna Upanishad. Vedas and Upanishads aid
the students to cross check and confirm as there are many false Gurus whose
teachings are not in tune with the teachings of the Rishis. Spiritual journey is
from the known to unknown and to embark on that journey you need to
have faith and confidence in the Master and you get faith in the Master when
what he teaches is in tune with what has been mentioned in the Vedas and
Upanishads.
‘brahmavid aapnoti param’, knower of Brahman becomes Brahman himself. This
is the reason why Brahmins are worshiped in India. Brahmin is someone who is
Brahmin not by caste but one who has realized Brahman. Buddha and
Mahavira never spoke about God but people call them Bhagvan Buddha and
Bhagvan Mahavira because they have realized God, supreme Consciousness.
‘satyam jnanam anantam brahma’, it is impossible to define Brahman as he is the
subject but it is possible to outline the main characteristics. ‘satyam’, truth is
one of them.
Truth is something that does not change with time, something that existed in
the past, exists in the present and will exist in the same way in the future. We
get confused between truth and fact. Fact is something that is available to
objective experience and it changes. Truth on the other hand is a subjective
experience. For example, happiness or unhappiness is a subjective
experience, it is truth for you but not a fact for me as I cannot know it if you
do not express. It cannot be proven or shown by any scientific instrument or
cannot be proven by anyone. Truth is your inner experience but fact is an
objective experience. ‘satyam shivam sundaram’, Shiva is truth, truth is the

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eternal reality. Find out that in you which does not change. Your body, mind,
house, society, and lifestyle everything has changed but have you changed?
You still say ‘I’, that ‘I’ which is constant throughout is Atma; the truth, the
unchanging in you.
Let us now understand ‘Jnanam’. There are four aspects of our personality,
doer, enjoyer, thinker and knower. We say I eat, I drink, I go around, and the
doer is the body. Mind in the experience of all the emotions, intellect is the
thinker and you are the knower, Atma. To make this clear to you let me give
you an example. When you play a 3D game wearing the 3D glasses you feel
as if you are driving the car but are you really driving the car? You experience
as though you are driving the car because of the 3D glasses that you are
wearing. The moment you remove the glasses the experience disappears.
There is a knower and the known, Kshetra and Kshetrajna. Kshetra is the field,
the world and Kshetrajna is the knower, the Atma. Your body is also a field
(Kshetrajna), you know that your body is doing something; you know that your
mind is happy or unhappy; you know if your intellect is thinking or not
thinking. You are the knower not the doer. Atma is jnanam. It knows what is
happening in your body. The universal Atman knows the collective
experience and knowledge of the world; it is the knower of everything in the
universe. To know everything your mind has to become silent. Silent mind
becomes one with the knower, the Kshetrajna. ‘Anantam’, Atma is infinite in
space and time.

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The Sheaths of Food, Prana and Mind
Shloka 2.1 continued
‘brahmavid apnoti param’, the knower of Brahman attains the Supreme Reality
and becomes Brahman himself. This is not possible in a day-to-day
transaction. If I know about something, I cannot become that. But Brahman is
something where a knower of Brahman becomes Brahman himself. Not
because he was something else earlier and here, knowing is not in the sense
of knowing something as an object, knowing is a correction in understanding.
And because of the correction in understanding he becomes (realizes that he
is) Brahman himself and because, earlier also he was Brahman. Only there was
an ignorance which made him feel like an individual. So ‘brahmavid apnoti
param’: the knower of Brahman becomes Brahman himself. “tadesha yukthaha” –
This is what is told in Scriptures and Upanishads. So knowing God, Brahman
is to be one with Brahman. You cannot know Brahman, the Supreme Reality as
an object, He is the subject. This correction takes place.
“satyam jnanam anantham brahma” – What is the definition of Brahman? satyam –
eternal, Jnanam – Consciousness, Anantham – infinity. So these are the three
aspects of Brahman. ‘yo vedam nihitam guhayam paramam .’ He is to be known in
the cave of the heart. The cave of the heart is the intellect. It is called cave
because there is darkness there, the darkness is ignorance. In that cave of the
heart resides the Supreme Reality. ‘soshnuthe sarvan kaman’ One who realizes
Brahman, all his desires will be fulfilled. This is great actually. Does it mean
that whatever he desires for will be fulfilled? What is the meaning of that?
The desire in us arises from the feeling of inadequacy which is there because
we feel like an individual separate from existence. Now, when this feeling is
dominant, all our life we have a fear because at any given point of time our
identity –physical, mental or psychological is under threat because of our
perceived separation. So to protect against an eventuality, we have a desire to
build layers and layers of protection. Just like politicians who have many rims
of police protection around them, we build layers and layers of safety. It can
be relationships, it can be family, money, job, power etc. So, all our desires
are related to the sense of inadequacy because of the feeling of separateness
from the existence. To cover that up we build protections and these
protections are called objects. So, these desires are always related to fulfil the
need for security in some way and to increase that. When you realize the
Brahman, your ignorance drops and you realize yourself as the infinite Self.
The moment you realize yourself as the infinite Self, the deep rooted feeling
of inadequacy drops. When the feeling of inadequacy drops all the existing
desires which are born out of ignorance and inadequacy will drop. He feels
fulfilled as nothing else is there to be achieved in life. So the desires getting
fulfilled does not mean that whatever he thinks or desires will come true. He

20
will not have any desire to acquire out of ignorance. Still the person will
continue to have, as far as the world is concerned, his own way of living. A
person who is a monk, who is enlightened, will live out of charity that is
given to him. An enlightened person who is a king will live like a king only.
His day-to-day routine will not change. A person who is enlightened and
working in some place will continue to work there for the maintenance of his
body. It is not that Universe will suddenly give him something to maintain his
body and mind. There will be no alteration in his day-today affairs as they are
concerned with the maintenance of body and mind. The only thing that will
drop is the deep rooted fear and desire for survival and growth.
There are 4 aspects of motivation for a person, Dharma, Artha, Kama and
Moksha. Kama means desire, all desires are related to Kama, and it is related to
inadequacy and is born out of ignorance. Artha (money) is required for
fulfilment of Kama, desire. Doing that in Dharmic (righteous) way to purify
oneself is called Dharma. Moksha is liberation or Self realization. When
somebody gets Moksha, when somebody realizes his own nature as
Consciousness, Dharma, Artha and Kama as motivations drop. What will he
live for then? He will continue to live, maintain his body and mind, probably
social responsibilities, etc whatever is required. Responsibility is slightly
different from duty. Duty is a compulsion whereas responsibility is
something that is taken up. So a Jnani or an enlightened being will continue to
have responsibilities, may take up higher and higher responsibilities to help
the people through whatever position he is in. A king like Janaka Raja ruled
the kingdom in the view of the protection of his subjects, establishing
Dharma in the society. A monk who is an enlightened being may teach which
was the case with enlightened beings like Vyasa Maharshi, Buddha, Adi
Shankaracharya etc. They may continue to take the responsibility for the
purpose of upliftment of the world, but not anything born out of selfish
desires. There are no selfish desires left beyond the point of enlightenment.
That is what spirituality is.
Now the process of creation is told. What is the process of creation? From
that Self all this has come. All that is there is one reality Brahman whose
nature is Consciousness. That one reality took the form of the subject and
object. For the sake of convenience I will say ‘Subject Consciousness’ and
‘Object Consciousness’, because all that is there is Consciousness only. So I
will call matter as object Consciousness and individual I will call as subject
Consciousness, just to bring in the word Consciousness. In that Supreme
Reality, there is subject Consciousness and object Consciousness which
appears. This happens in the dream state. When you enter into a dream your
mind is there. The mind takes the form of subject as well as object. Mind
takes the form of a tiger, a building, or a forest and yourself. Both are mind
only. One mind appears as subject as well as object also. Similarly Universal

21
Consciousness appears as both subject and object, subjective reality and
objective reality – this and that, ‘aham’ and ‘tat’. Aham means subject and Tat
means the object. Tat also means ‘That’, the Consciousness. So that ‘Tat’
becomes ‘Aham’ and ‘Idam’, Subject Consciousness and Object
Consciousness. What is the difference between the Subject Consciousness
and Object Consciousness? Subject Consciousness becomes the experiencer
and Object Consciousness becomes the ‘experienced’. But both are coming
from the one reality or ‘tat’, they are not different. So from that reality,
’akasha sambhutha’ space appeared, ‘akasha vayuhu’ - from space, wind
appeared, ‘vayoha agnihi’ - from wind, fire appeared, ‘agnihi tapasaha’ - from fire,
water appeared, ‘tapasaha prithvihi’ - from water appeared Earth and from
Earth human beings appeared. So, this is the process of the appearance of
creation. Successive levels of creation are explained in this. It is almost
something similar to the scientific of explanation of creation. What science
explains for this creation is, long before there was nothing. In that
nothingness there was a gaseous formation which exploded, what you call as
the big bang. In that big bang, the whole space and time were created and the
universe started expanding. Initially the universe was in the form of a sparse
molecules which were scattered by wind, as those molecules cooled down,
they liquefied and subsequently got solidified into Earth. On the Earth, water
appeared, then life forms appeared and then human beings appeared. So the
process of creation is from big bang, the explosion, formation of solar
system, galaxies, mostly in the molten form, then gradual solidification, and
then life form creation. Except for that Scientists don’t recognize or don’t
give credence to Consciousness which is the source of all this. They say there
was vacuum, there was nothing and in that nothing something got created.
Whereas Upanishads went one step further and said, to say that there was
nothing, is not true, Consciousness, Chaitanya was there all along. In that
Consciousness, space was born, the wind was born; the wind is nothing but
movement of molecules. When the movement of molecules happens at very
long distances, it becomes wind and when the molecules come closer and
closer, heat gets generated and that becomes fire. When the cooling takes
place, there is water and then the water or the liquid form melt in Lava. Then
gradually solidification takes place which became Earth and beyond the
Earth, living beings are born. Initially the Earth is composed of inorganic
molecules. Gradually there is formation of complex molecules in terms of
organic molecules. Organic molecules support life form and life is thus born.
“Annad graasaha” From the essence of food which is actually Earth, all the
living beings are made up of Earth elements predominantly Earth element is
organic and inorganic molecules and that is what our bodies are. So,
‘Purushaha’, living beings are born. So this is the summary of creation.
Why is this told like this? Because all of us are deeply connected to all aspects
of existence. On Apollo mission to moon there were three astronauts. Before

22
landing on the moon, the lunar module gets separated out and when it lands
on the moon, there is a module which rotates around the moon. One of
these three astronauts was sitting inside this module which was launched for
exploration purpose. The atmosphere on the moon was having less of
oxygen and all around it was deep darkness. As the module was orbiting
around the moon, he could see the stars, planets, galaxies in a different
colours. Suddenly he had a realization of feeling connected with the whole of
existence, every part of existence. He felt oneness with the existence. He
realized that the universe of galaxies, stars and planets are made of the same
stuff. The star dust is also a part of his own body. His body is also made up
of the same start dust which all the galaxies are made up of. You are related
to every aspect of creation. Suddenly his Consciousness opened up and after
that he was no longer the same person. When he landed on the Earth, he was
well received and he became a celebrity. But he just withdrew himself and he
found an organization to research into Consciousness with which he spent
the rest of his life. He could not find the right word and the meaning in the
English language for the experience which he had at that point of time.
Eventually he found closest meaning in Indian literature and that is called
‘Savikalpa Samadhi’. Feeling of total oneness with the Universe which is also
called God Realization. So this is the experience which he had. The idea is, as
an individual we are connected to the universal and how we are connected to
the universe is told step by step in this Upanishad.
Even now if you look at yourself, the air which you breathe is the same air
which is circulating the atmosphere throughout the world. The air which has
been there millions of years ago is the same air that is getting circulated, it is
not different air. The same air which Lord Rama or Lord Shri Krishna
breathed is also there today. The same air which is being breathed by the
human beings in America or in Australia is what you are breathing now. So
you are connected to the rest of the world through air. What about the space
in you? You might feel space in you is separate, but if you look at the atoms
or molecules in your body there is vast space actually. What scientists say is, if
you collapse all the atoms and the molecules in the universe, they would not
even occupy one spoonful of space. There is so much of space in between,
but it appears to be solid and large to us. Your body is also 99.9% space, still
it feels very solid. Between the nucleus and the electron the space is so much
that it is equivalent to a football ground. Two Venus planets positioned
across the distance of football ground, that much of space is there at the
molecular level. You are nothing but space. Your body is full of space.
Your body is also 80% water. Where is the water coming from? The water
comes from the water you drink and the blood is nothing but water. The
water you drink comes from the rains which come from the ocean and all the

23
rivers and the oceans in the world are connected. So you are also deeply
connected with the existence in the form of water.
What about fire? The heat in your body is nothing but the heat generated
through the chemical reactions which got produced because of the food you
ate. The food you ate came from the food which was grown in the fields. The
food was grown in the fields because of the sunlight. Because of the solar
energy or the sunlight it became the heat in your body. If there is no sunlight
for a couple of days you will be dead.
Then what about the Earth? Your body of bones and bone marrows is made
up of the Earth element. How is it made up of the Earth element? You ate
an apple, what is an apple actually, or the food grain? Food grains are actually
the synthesis of the nutrients taken from the Earth. In the solar light it gets
transformed into an apple. It may look like very nice, something to eat, but it
is actually mud transformed into apple. So when you eat, a larger part of that
goes into flesh and bones. A small portion becomes energy and some part
gets circulated into blood. So your body is nothing but mud or Earth
element. Earth is the same which is throughout the world and the same Earth
is also there in the Mars and in some other galaxies. You are actually a part of
the whole existence and not different from it.
You are connected to the universe very deeply. If there is no sunrise
tomorrow your life will also disappear because you are connected to the sun.
If the wind is polluted or poisoned you will be dead because you are
connected to the wind. If the water is polluted you will not survive because
we are connected to all five elements of the nature very closely and these five
elements of the nature came out of Consciousness, Chaitanya. And this
Consciousness takes the role of converting the non-living material into
Consciousness living being and vice versa. For example, you take apple; the
apple that you ate got converted into your blood and cells in your body.
Apple is non living because it is cut from the plant but it gets converted into
something living in your body. Who does this? This is done by
Consciousness, Chaitanya. This process goes on. So this Shloka states that you
are deeply connected to Existence. You have to relate the feeling of
separation from the Existence to what is told in the Upanishad and trace
back your Existence to Chaitanya. Our mind gets stuck in separateness. You
have to go back to the original source of life, Chaitanya.
Shloka 2.2
अन्नाद्वै प्रजाः प्रजायन्िे | याः काि पृवििीीँ
वििाः | अिो अन्नेनैि जीिवन्ि | अिैनदवप यन्त्यन्ििः |
अन्नीँ वि भूिानां ज्येष्ठम् | िस्माि् सिौषधमुच्यिे |

24
सिं िै िेऽन्नमाप्नुिवन्ि | येऽन्नं ब्रह्मोपासिे |
अन्नीँ वि भूिानां ज्येष्ठम् | िस्माि् सिौषधमुच्यिे |
अन्नाद् भूिावन जायन्िे | जािान्यन्नेन िधान्िे |
अद्यिेऽवत्त च भूिावन | िस्मादन्नं िदुच्यि इवि |
िस्माद्वा एिस्मादन्नरसमयाि् | अन्योऽन्िर आत्मा प्राणमयः |
िेनैष पूणाः | स िा एष पुरुषविध एि |
िस्य पुरुषविधिाम् | अन्ियं पुरुषविधः |
िस्य प्राण एि वशरः | व्यानो दविणः पिः |
अपान उत्तरः पिः | आकाश आत्मा |
पृवििी पुच्छं प्रविष्ठा | िदप्येष श्लोको भिवि ||१||
इवि वद्विीयोऽनुिाकः ||
Annad vai praja prajayante
Yah kaashcha pruthveem shritaa atho annenaiva jeevanti
Atha ened apyantyantatah
Annam hi bhootaanaam jyeshtham tasmad sarva oushadhamuchyate
Sarvamvaite annam aapnuvanti
Ye annam brahmam upaasate
Annam hi bhootaanaam jyeshtham tasmad sarva oushadhamuchyate
Annad bhootaani jayante jaataani anyena vardhante
Adhyaate atichabhootani tasmad annam taduchyata
Tasmadvaa etasmaadannarasamayaat anye antara atmaa
Pranamayah tenaishapoornah sa vaa purushavidhah eva
Tasya purusha vidhataam anvayam purushavidhah
Tasya prana eva shirah
Vyano dakshina pakshah apaana uttara pakshah
Akaasha atmah pruthvee pucham pratishtham
Tadapyesha sloko bhavati iti dvithiyo anuvakaha…
“From food, verily, are produced all creatures—whatsoever dwell on Earth. By food alone,
furthermore, do they live and to food, in the end, do they return; for food alone is the eldest
of all beings and therefore, it is called the panacea for all.”
“They who worship food as Brahman obtain all food. Food alone is the eldest of all beings
and therefore it is called the panacea for all. From food all creatures are born: by food, when
born, they grow. Because it is eaten by beings and because it eats beings, therefore it is called
food.”
Verily, different from this, which consists of the essence of food, but within it, is another
self, which consists of the vital breath. By this the former is filled. This too has the shape of
a man. Like the human shape of the former is the human shape of the latter. prana,
indeed, is its head; vyana is its right wing; apana is its left wing; akasa is its trunk; the
Earth is its tail, its support.

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‘anna tvam’, ‘anna’ means food and anna also means matter, prakriti. So from
‘anna’ - matter, ‘prajaha’ - living beings are born. They live in that matter; they
die and again go back to that matter which is ‘anna’. So anna is the original
source of the living beings. That is why it is called ‘Aushadha’, the medicine.
One who worships anna as Brahman; he will not have any shortcomings in life.
‘Annam Brahmeti’, we will understand the meaning of this. So first it is told
that all living beings are born from matter and matter is not the first born. So,
the process we have already told, from Consciousness space was created,
from space water, etc and all this matter was created. So matter came out of
Consciousness. So that matter becomes the playground of Consciousness.
Matter is not opposing Consciousness but the matter becomes the material
through which the Consciousness expresses itself and its creativity. It is like a
painter, his creativity gets expressed through the painting. He can take
multiple colour paints and create a painting of forest, animal, living beings or
non-living beings, etc. The painting is the means through which the creativity
of the painter is expressed. So creativity of the Consciousness is expressed
through matter. anna bhutaha, living beings are born out of matter. That does
not means that matter gives rise to Consciousness. The material becomes a
playground for the Consciousness to operate. So the play in this world can
involve birth, growth and the death. They play and go back to matter. The
body is made up of five elements and again goes back to the five elements.
So this is the process by which creation happened. ‘Annam brahmeti upaseta’,
matter becomes matter, anna. It is Brahman, the Supreme Reality and one who
worships that will attain abundance.
Now the problem is, it is not that matter has to be worshipped, stone is not
Brahman because the quality of stone, the Consciousness what we have to see,
the Consciousness which is the nature of the Brahman is not expressed in
stone. But the matter comes out of Consciousness. The source of matter is
Consciousness. So one who worships the Brahman, understanding that the
matter is born out of Brahman, for the play of Brahman, for the play of
manifestation of Brahman, he will attain abundance. One who worships
matter does not attain abundance. One who worships the source of matter,
as Brahman will attain abundance. Earlier I told what is meant by abundance,
abundance is lack of individual limitation. The way to do that is, matter
becomes the focus point, you go beyond matter and understand that
Consciousness is the source of the matter and then you become free. This is
actually a very different opinion from that of a scientist. They are materialists.
They think that Consciousness is born out of matter. It is the other way. A
couple of days back I received a phone call from a scientist. That lady is
doing a research in Australia. She is in Neuroscience. She was talking to me
about the mind and brain connection and Consciousness. I told her that body
and the mind are born out of Consciousness. She was shocked. That is not
what is taught in neurology or in science. What they say is, ‘You have a brain,

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which is why you have a mind and because you have a mind you have
Consciousness’, so it is the other way for them. Consciousness is a by-
product of matter, which is what is taught in science. What spirituality says is
that Consciousness is the one which is the source of the matter. So what
difference does it make? If the Consciousness is the source and matter is the
by-product and on the other hand matter is the source and the
Consciousness is the by-product? It makes a difference. In the sense that
matter undergoes changes. Consciousness does not undergo any change. You
are actually confusing something which is eternal with something which is
temporary. Your view of life will be very different including your perception
of what is the source and what is the by-product.
Today’s understanding of science is, there is a body, there is a brain and
because there is brain there is mind and because there is a mind there is
Consciousness. The body has a short life, may be fifty-sixty years and after
that nothing is there because when body goes you are also gone. This is a
very temporary view of the world. We are super-imposing the characteristic
of matter on Consciousness. See, with this temporary view of the world, a
second view comes, ‘anyway life is short, get the maximum juice out of the
world in this temporary life. Just squeeze maximum possible out of this
world’. That will be the view of the world. Whereas Consciousness being
eternal, the other view of the world will be, ‘anyways there is infinite time,
you take one body or the other body, this lifetime or the next lifetime, this is
anyway a never ending process. So you can just go on and on, you can keep
on doing. You do not have to kill yourself in this lifetime itself to get
everything out of life. This is the other view and the view here is that
Consciousness is eternal reality and the matter is a temporary reality. Matter is
equivalent to paint in the hands of a painter or stone in the hands of the
sculptor. So what are you really, that makes the difference.
‘Anyo anthara aathma pranamayaha” So, anna, the body is made out of the
matter. Consciousness is different from the body. The body is born from
Consciousness, but Consciousness is different from the body. The body has
no life of its own. Consciousness animates the body with the prana. prana is
the life force. prana is the Shakti. Without the animation of the body with the
prana, the body has no life. It is non-living. prana is of five types, prana, apana,
vyana, udana, samana. Atma controls the body through prana. Atma animates
the body through prana. Here the parts of the body where the prana is there is
described. prana is the head portion, vyana is the lower portion, apana is the
nasal portion, and samana is the middle part of the body ‘pucchaha’, which
means the back portion. This is how the prana is established in the body.
Atma is the controller, prana is the controlling force and body is the
controlled. What is the difference between what is said here in the first Shloka
and this Shloka? In the first Shloka there is a process of subtle becoming

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grosser and grosser and taking the body form. In this Shloka from the grosser
you start and go back to subtle and subtler. You start from matter and then
you say behind matter is prana, the energy or life force and behind energy
there is Consciousness. You move from the grosser to the subtle, reverse
process.
Shloka 2.3
प्राणं देिा अनु प्राणवन्ि | मनुषयाः पशिि ये |
प्राणो वि भूिानामायुः | िस्माि् सिाायुषमुच्यिे |
सिामेि ि आयुयावन्ि | ये प्राणं ब्रह्मोपासिे |
प्राणो वि भूिानामायुः | िस्माि् सिाायुषमुच्यि इवि |
िस्यैष एि शारीर आत्मा | यः पूिास्य |
िस्माद्वा एिस्माि् प्राणमयाि् | अन्योऽन्िर आत्मा मनोमयः |
िस्य पुरुषविधिाम् | अन्ियं पुरुषविधः |
िस्य यजुरेि वशरः | ऋ्दविणः पिः | सामोत्तरः पिः |
आदेश आत्मा | अििााङ्वगरसः पुच्छं प्रविष्ठा |
िदप्येष श्लोको भिवि ||१||इवि िृिीयोऽनुिाकः ||
Praanam devaa anupraananti manushyah pashavashchaye
Praanohi bhootaanaamayuh tasmaad sarvaayushamuchyate
Tasmad sarvayushamuchyate Sarvameva ta aayuryaanti
Ye praanam brahmopaasate Praanohi bhootaanaamaayuh
Tasmad sarvaayushamuchyati it Tasyaisha esha shareeraa atmaa yah poorvah
Tasmadva etasmaadpraanamayaat
Anye antara atmaa Manomayah tenaisha poorna
Sa vaa esha purushavidhah evam
Tasya purusha vidhaataam anvayam purushavidhah
Tasya yajur eva shirah
Ruk dakshina pakshah saama uttara pakshah
Aadesh aatmaah Atharvaangirasah puchcham pratishtham
Tadapyesha sloko bhavati Iti thritheeyo anuvakaha.
The gods breathe after the prana, so also do men and cattle; for the prana is the life of
creatures. Therefore it is called the life of all. Those who worship the prana as Brahman
obtain a full life; for the prana is the life of creatures. Therefore it is called the life of all.
This sheath of the prana is the embodied soul of the former. Verily, different from this
sheath, which consists of the essence of the prana, but within it, is another self, which
consists of the mind. By this the former is filled. This too has the shape of a man. Like the
human shape of the former is the human shape of the latter. The Yajur Veda is its head,

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the Rig Veda is its right wing, the Sama Veda is its left wing, the teaching is its trunk,
the hymns of Atharva and Angiras are its tail, its support.
‘Pranaha deva anuprananthi’: All livings beings including human beings and the
Devatas which means Divine beings are all born out of prana. prana, the life
force is giving life to all the living beings. As long as there is prana in the
body, you will be living. The moment prana goes, you are dead. prana is the
fuel which is responsible for running your body. As long as this prana is there
in your body, your life will be there. So your life is nothing but prana. ‘ye
pranambrahmeti upansati’, one who worships prana as Brahman will become free.
Again when you say prana is Brahman, prana itself is coming out of
Consciousness. When you say ‘prana ithi Brahma’, we worship the prana as
controlled by the Self, Atma. prana has no independent existence other than
Atma. prana is nothing but the force of life which is coming from
Consciousness, Atma. So, ’pranam brahmeti upansati’ which means all living
beings are born out of life, they live in prana and die in prana. So the birth,
growth, death and decay of the living beings is because of prana. prana is
controlled by the Brahman, the Supreme Reality and one who realizes this will
become free. prana has no independent existence; otherwise prana itself may
be taken as the Supreme Reality which is not true.
People understand this in various ways. The body oriented aspect of
understanding is the body is you. If your body is gone then you no longer
exist. Your body itself has a shape and form and once you die, the body is
gone. This is one way of thinking. If you go a little bit subtler your body lives
as long as there is prana. You will say you are nothing but the life force, prana.
Here it is being pointed out that within this grosser form of the body there is
the subtler form of prana, beyond that there is Atma. So none of this, neither
the body, nor the prana is the Atma, the Supreme Reality, body and prana both
are controlled by the Atma, the Self. The Self is the Supreme Reality. So this
is what is being taught here. Without prana there is no animation of the body,
no life. So life is dependent on prana and the prana itself is dependent on the
Atma.
So Atma uses the shareera (body). The body is operated through the mind,
manomaya. The mind controls the body and prana animates the mind and the
body. So one who is there in annamaya (this body), one who is there in
manomaya (the mind) and one who is there in pranamaya, that Atma is what
you are. The Atma is there in the body in the sense that he is there spread
throughout the body. His head is Yajurveda, his right hand is Rigveda, his left
hand is Samaveda, and Brahmana is the middle portion. Atharvaveda is the lower
portion. So the meaning of this is Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda and
Brahmana, they actually adore Brahman. The Vedas are the means of adoring
and worshipping Brahman. Brahman, Paramatma is called Veda Purusha. He is

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explained in terms of the four Vedas. Who is this Veda Purusha? All these
four Vedas speak of Brahman, in a different language. They worship and
praise Brahman and Vedas came from Brahman. So Vedas actually manifested
from Brahman like everything else has manifested. What is speciality about
Vedas is they describe, proclaim and talk about Supreme Reality. Whereas
other things which have come from Brahman like science and technology etc,
do not speak of Brahman directly but speak about matter. That is the
difference. So, while science speaks of matter, Vedas speak of Consciousness
through matter. The Vedas have more direct connectivity to the Supreme
Reality. Bhagavan or Brahman is called Veda Purusha because Vedas manifest
from him. The authentic knowledge of his own Self is in the form of Vedas.
That is why he is called Veda Purusha. What you study in the Vedas is nothing
but description of Brahman.

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The Sheath of Intellect
Shloka 2.4
यिो िाचो वनििान्िे | अप्राप्य मनसा सि |
आनन्दं ब्रह्मणो विद्वान् | न विभेवि कदाचनेवि |
िस्यैष एि शारीर आत्मा | यः पूिास्य |
िस्माद्वा एिस्मान्मनोमयाि् | अन्योऽन्िर आत्मा विज्ञानमयः |
िस्य पुरुषविधिाम् |
अन्ियं पुरुषविधः | िस्य िद्धैि वशरः |
ऋिं दविणः पिः |
सत्यमुत्तरः पिः | योग आत्मा | मिः पुच्छं प्रविष्ठा |
िदप्येष श्लोको भिवि ||१||इवि चिुिोऽनुिाकः ||
Yatho vacho nivartante aprapya manasaa saha
Aanandam brahmano vidvaan na bibheti kadaachaneti
Tasyaisha shareera atmaa yah poorvasya
Tasmadva etasmanmanomayat anye antara atmaa
Vijnaanamayah tenaishapoornah
Tasya shradha eva shirah
ritam dakshina pakshah satyam uttara pakshah
Yoga atmaah
Mahah puchcham pratishtham
Tadapyesha slokobhavati Iti chathurtho anuvakaha
He who knows the Bliss of Brahman, whence all words together with the mind turn away,
unable to reach it—he never fears. This sheath of the mind is the embodied soul of the
former. Verily, the different from this sheath, which consists of the essence of the mind, but
within it, is another self, which consists of the intellect. By this the former is filled. This too
has the shape of a man. Like the human shape of the former is the human shape of the
latter. Faith is it head, what is right is its right wing, what is truth is its left wing,
absorption is its trunk, Mahat is its tail, its support.
Brahman is of the nature of Supreme Bliss, ananda. The highest possible
ananda, the greatest possible bliss is Brahman. All our life we keep searching
for ananda, bliss. Somebody says, ‘I am trying for a job’, somebody says, ‘I am
trying for a marriage’ and somebody says, ‘I am trying for this, that etc’.
Finally what you are trying to do is you are searching for bliss in whatever
way possible. Do you have experience of bliss in your life? Do you know the

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difference between joy and bliss? When you get something you have a joy,
you are happy and you enjoy, right? The joy which is experience is
momentary in nature whereas bliss is eternal in nature. Bliss is you own
nature; joy is what you experience when you get something. When you get
something in life you say “I am joyful”. But bliss is your own nature. The
closest experience of bliss which you experience is when you are in deep
sleep. After waking up you say I felt very peaceful and enjoyed a good sleep.
In twenty four hours of a day, in the waking state you are stressed from the
interaction with the world. In the dream state you recollect in various ways
whatever you did in the dream state, which is also a sort of disturbance. In
deep sleep state, there are no thoughts, no ego, there is a deep sense of peace
and joy. That is the joy that is closest to Brahman. When there is no sense of
ego and no sense of appearance of the world, your own nature as Brahman is
experienced.
What is joy? “I am so happy when my cricket team wins; I feel joy when I eat
ice-cream, I feel joy when I eat jalebi.” What is this joy? Joy comes when I get
something from the world, joy is object related. When you seek an object in
the world, let us say ice-cream, a job, or whatever that is, your mind is
constantly agitated with lots of thoughts about acquiring the object. When
you acquire that the mind becomes momentarily silent and you experience
the joy within. That ananda came from inside you not from outside. That
ananda which you felt is not because you got a jalebi or a job or something in
life. It is because during that time your mind became silent. When the mind
became silent momentarily, you felt your Atma in that silence. So what you
experienced is ananda, the bliss of the Atma and nothing else. But we make a
mistake in attributing happiness to outside factors i.e. objects, but bliss can
never come from outside objects, it is only inner experience, the experience
of Atma, Brahman.
‘Yatho vacho nivarthanthe’, the words cannot describe that bliss. It is very
difficult to explain any experience of life. Let us say you felt happy and you
are asked to go and tell somebody else that you felt happy. They will ask,
‘How much happiness?’ You say, “Very happy” or “Very very happy”. You
can tell the adjective, but you cannot explain very clearly what happiness is
about. Similarly if somebody has never eaten a sweet before; you cannot
communicate sweetness i.e. taste of sweets that you eat with the word ‘sweet’.
I cannot understand what that real sweet is, I don’t know. We cannot easily
communicate our inner experiences to somebody; we can only communicate
about outer objects. We can speak about this book or this chair, but we can’t
speak about the inner experiences to anybody. So what about the experience
of Supreme Bliss which is infinite? There is no way you can explain the
infinite bliss to somebody. For that matter our mind and words cannot
explain what that infinite is to anybody. Let us say, I ask you, what is space?

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Can you explain space to me? How will you explain it? If you want to say
what space is, you’ll say absence of objects is space. What is space you cannot
explain. Similarly ananda, the bliss of Brahman which is of infinite nature, you
cannot explain to anybody, because any explanation falls short. But the
beauty of that ananda is, it is your own nature and you already have it. But you
keep on searching for what you have without knowing that you have it and
search outside in various objects, in some entertainment programs, alcohol,
smoking, and job, etc. You try to find that ananda which already you have like
the story of the beggar told earlier.
Even though you have lot of ananda, bliss inside you, if you don’t know it,
you keep on searching outside in Rasgulla, Laddoos, jobs etc. What all jobs
you search! So you keep on searching for bliss outside when bliss is your own
nature. Atma’s nature is ananda. Now the problem is not only you search for
ananda outside, you say, ’My wife has to give ananda to me, my husband has to
give ananda to me’ and we expect somebody else to give ananda to us as if
they have extra stock of it. They are also beggars who keep on begging for
ananda from somebody which you don’t know. And then there are these
Swamijis who keep their name as some ananda, at least in their names they
want to keep as ananda, Brahmananda, Yogananda, and Mukthananda etc. So
you keep on searching for ananda. So where do you get ananda from? Ananda
or bliss can come only from within. That is infinite and the closest example
you know of that is in deep sleep. You experience the bliss, ananda. That is
your own nature. The key to ananda is that the mind has to become silent. In
deep sleep, your mind becomes silent. Now the problem is, throughout the
day, our mind keeps jumping like a monkey. Not only my mind is monkey, I
can make your mind also a monkey. See, the monkeys have to keep on
jumping, keep scratching each other’s head. So we scratch everybody, we
make everybody a monkey. Ananda is our nature and we can experience that
when the mind is made silent. The process of making the mind silent is called
meditation or dhyana. When my mind is silent, I will not disturb you and if
you disturb me, it doesn’t matter. I am peaceful. Now the problem is, my
mind is disturbed and I disturb your mind also and everybody’s mind is
disturbed. You have to do meditation daily to make your mind silent, to
experience the ananda of Atma.
‘Yatho vacho nivartante’ How much is the ananda, the bliss you have already
inside you? It is infinite and no words can explain it. ‘apraapya manasasa’, the
mind can’t reach it. Why can’t the mind reach it? The ananda of the Atma can
be experienced only when the mind is silent. Then you say I got joy, I got
some money or I got a job and I became very happy. What you don’t
understand is the happiness is not because you got a job, happiness is not
because you ate a jalebi or laddoo. Happiness is because when you got the
job or ate jalebi, your mind became silent. When the mind became silent, the

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ananda of the Atma got reflected in that silent mind. The mind comes back
and says, ‘I experienced joy’. The experience of joy was there because it
became silent. When it is talking, it has already come out of the silence.
‘Anando brahmani vidwan nabhibheti kadhachaneti’, so one who has realized the
Brahman, see, we call as ‘Brahmin’, but Brahmin has become just a name.
Brahmin is not somebody who is born in a community. Nobody becomes a
Brahmana by being born in a Brahmana community. Brahmin is the one who
has realized the Brahman, Atma. Such a person is called Brahmana. Now,
Brahmana by a community is not the right explanation of a Brahmana. If a
person who is born in a Brahmana community can become a Brahmana, then
the moment a child is born in a lawyer’s family will become a lawyer, a child
born in a doctor’s family will become a doctor and a child born in a
policeman’s family will become a policeman. No such thing happens because
only somebody who realizes Brahman becomes a Brahmin and not by birth.
One who realizes Brahman, one who realizes the bliss of Atma within, he
becomes free from all the fears.
Why is it important to become fearless? All our life we are driven by fear.
Constantly at the back of our mind, there is a fear factor. We fear, “What will
happen if this does not happen, what will happen we do not get money, if I
don’t get a job, what will happen if my health is not good’, all these fears are
there in the background of our mind and Consciousness throughout. We
live and die in fear. We may not say so, but fear is the real motivator which
makes you go out and do something. When you become fearless, your mind
will become clear and the decision making will become clearer. Otherwise
our decision making is always cluttered with fear factor. When you realize the
Atman or Brahman, the fear drops. Why? Because you realize that my nature is
only Brahman. Only one who realizes this is called Brahmana. My nature is
Brahman, I am of the nature of Supreme Reality. Brahman has no birth or
death. My nature is infinite. This understanding will make one free from fear.
We have a fear of losing 5000 rupees or one lakh rupees, why? That one lakh
rupees is important for us because we have very less money. But let us think
of a billionaire who has lots of money. If he loses one lakh rupees, it is
nothing for him; he doesn’t even bother about it, because he has no fear.
When you get something in infinite, then you will not be worried about the
finite. When you get infinite ananda you will lose the fear of anything because
your nature is bliss. Otherwise, moment to moment in your life, please look
at what you are afraid of, you are afraid of losing something because you
think that having that is ananda, and you are afraid of losing ananda, bliss
which is our life. Constantly we are afraid of losing something, it is not the
objects, husband, wife or job, it is the fear of losing ananda or the happiness
that we have. So that fear disappears.

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He will be free from any aggression in the world, no weapon can threaten
him. He is not afraid of any weapons. The Mahabharata war was there, Lord
Shri Krishna was sitting unarmed as a charioteer for Arjuna. He was not
using any weapon, but he was not afraid of anything also. Why? When you
know yourself as the birthless and deathless spirit, the Atma, there is no
question of at all. No weapons can threaten him. Please understand, all your
life you make decisions based on fear. Can you take a decision in ananda or
happiness? Then that decision will be clearer and less cluttered. Because that
is not based on the fear factor.
‘anyo antharatma” we have multiple layers in the body. Annamaya kosha is the
outer layer of the body, the physical structure. It is made up of skin, muscles,
bone etc. Inside Annamaya kosha we have Pranamaya kosha which is giving life
to our entire body. Inside Pranamaya kosha, there is Manomaya kosha, the mind
which has the thoughts, images, imaginations etc. Behind that Manomaya
kosha is the Vijnanamaya kosha - that is the intellectual sheath and beyond that
intellectual sheath is the Atma. So there are five layers in our body, Annamaya
kosha (the physical body), Pranamaya kosha (the vital body), Manomaya kosha
(the mental body), Vijnanamaya kosha (the intellectual body), Anandamaya
kosha (blissful body) and Atma which is of the nature of bliss. One who has
realized the Atma in these five layers, he becomes free. But most of the
people live with the concept that ‘I am the body’. They don’t even know that
there is something beyond the gross body. They live like machines because
they live in the outer layer of their life. You live in the surface level of
Consciousness, you do not go deeper. If you go deeper inside, you will see
the Bhagavan, Atma or Brahman inside and that is the realization. He is beyond
the Vijnanamaya kosha and his head is shraddha.
What is shraddha? It is not name of some girl. Shraddha means faith. Our
entire life is driven by a sort of faith and we are dependent on it. Our day-to-
day transactions are dependent on it. When the child drinks milk from the
mother, it has the faith that she will not give poison. Otherwise it will not
drink milk. When husband and wife are living together, the husband has the
faith that wife will be giving food, not poison. When you are interacting in
the office, you have the faith that if you work hard you will get salary. When
you are doing business, you have the faith that the customers will pay you for
the products you have sold. Faith is the foundation of life. Faith is the
foundation of spiritual life also. In material life you need faith for living, if
you live in constant suspicion you cannot live. If you are suspicious, you
cannot do any transactions. Some amount of faith is required in transactions.
If this faith is missing, there is no transaction possible in life. Without faith
how can you find God in you? To find God, Atma or Bhagavan in you, you
need shraddha. How does the faith come? Faith comes from the teachings of
the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads and the teachings of realized masters. It

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comes from the teachings of the Guru. Faith is required to do any sadhana, to
realize your Self, the Consciousness beyond the body mind intellect. Beyond
the five koshas my Atma, my God is there. God is in me. For this realization,
faith is the shraddha, the head that is required.
‘ritam dakshina pakshaha’ - ‘ritam’ is the left hand and ‘satyam’ is the right hand.
‘ritam’ comes from the English word, ‘rhythm’. Rhythm is a pattern. There is
summer, rainy season, winter etc, which is a seasonal rhythm, and then there
is a body rhythm. There are various rhythms in the world. Rhythm is the
pattern in nature. satyam means the truth, your inner experience is called
satyam. So left hand is ritam and right hand is satyam. Likewise Atma has two
dimensions. Atma manifests as the ritam in the outer world and as satyam in
the inner world. That Atma, ‘tat’ becomes, ‘aham’ and ‘idam’, the Self and non
Self, Subjective Consciousness and Objective Consciousness. The one
Parabrahma appears as two, as individual and as universal, ‘aham’ and ‘idam’. In
the individual he manifests as ‘satyam’ and in the world he manifests as ‘ritam’.
The world has a pattern and if that pattern is destroyed, the world will go.
The different seasons occur as a pattern and if suddenly that is disturbed,
then life will go. So that pattern itself is important and Bhagavan himself
appears as that pattern. Consciousness itself appears as that pattern. That
pattern is called ritam (rhythm). Inside you there is a deep feeling called ‘I am’
or ’aham’ and that is called satyam. Satyam and ritam are his left and right
hands.
‘Yogaha madhyaha’ – Yoga is the Self. To realize Atma you need to go through
the process of Yoga. There is Karma yoga, Bhakti yoga, Jnana yoga and Kriya
yoga. There are different types of yoga. Yoga is one which helps you to attain
peace, attain Bhagavan, and attain Consciousness in you. What we are doing
now is a part of Jnana yoga.
‘Mahaha pruccham pratishta’: ‘mahat tathva’ is the lower part, what you call as
Bhagavan, God. We are speaking of Parabrahma, Bhagavan and the jivatma. They
are related to each other like water, ocean and wave. Wave is the individual
Consciousness. “I am a small wave, you are small wave, he is a big wave”
similarly each individual is an individual wave. Waves are part of ocean and
ocean is nothing but water. These are actually representations for Parabrahma
which represents water. Bhagavan or God represents the ocean and jivatma
represents individual wave. Bhagavan is also called as ‘maha tathva’. He is also
called as ‘Saguna Brahma’. The realization is “I am not the body, mind and
intellect, I am Pure Consciousness, Atma which is ananda, bliss”. This
realization is explained in this chapter. What is the realization?
“Nanu nanembudhu naan alla ee deha mana buddhi naan alla, satchitadAnanda Atma
shiva naanu naane shivoham shivoham shivoham”.

36
So the purpose of life is to realize the Atma, Parabrahma in us and in
everybody. By that realization we feel Supreme bliss, ananda. That is the
meaning of this Shloka.
Shloka 2.5
विज्ञानं यज्ञं िनुिे | कमाावण िनुिेऽवप च |
विज्ञानं देिाः सिे |
ब्रह्म ज्येष्ठमुपासिे | विज्ञानं ब्रह्म चेद्वेद |
िस्माच्चेन्न प्रमाद्यवि | शरीरे पाप्मनो वित्िा |
सिाान्कामान्समश्नुि इवि | िस्यैष एि शारीर आत्मा |
यः पूिास्य | िस्माद्वा एिस्मावद्वज्ञानमयाि् |
अन्योऽन्िर आत्माऽऽनन्दमयः | िेनैष पूणाः |
स िा एष पुरुषविध एि | िस्य पुरुषविधिाम् |
अन्ियं पुरुषविधः | िस्य वप्रयमेि वशरः | मोदो दविणः पिः |
प्रमोद उत्तरः पिः | आनन्द आत्मा | ब्रह्म पुच्छं प्रविष्ठा |
िदप्येष श्लोको भिवि ||१||इवि पञ्चमोऽनुिाकः ||
Vijnaanam yajnam tanute kamaani tanutepi cha
Vijnaanam devaah sarvah brahmajyeshthamupaasate
Vijnaanam brahmachetvada tasmaachenna pramaadhati
Shareere paapmanohitvaa sarvaan kaamaan samashnuta it
Tasyaisha eva shareera atmaa yah poorvasya
Tasmadva etasmaadvijnaanamayaat anye antara atmaa
Aanandamayah tenaishapoornah
Tasya priyam eva shirah modo dakshinah pakshah
Pramodo uttara pakshah aananda atmaah brahma pucham pratishthaa
Tadapyesha sloko bhavati Iti panchamo anuvakaha
The intellect accomplishes the sacrifice; it also accomplishes all actions. All the gods worship
the intellect, who is the eldest, as Brahman.” “If a man knows the intellect as Brahman
and if he does not swerve from it, he leaves behind in the body all evils and attains all his
desires. This is the embodied soul of the former. Verily, different from this, which consists of
the essence of the intellect, but within it, is another self, which consists of bliss. By this the
former is filled. This too has the shape of a man. Like the human shape of the former is the
human shape of the latter. Joy is its head, delight is its right wing, great delight is its left,
bliss is its trunk. Brahman is its tail, its support.

37
Jnana means knowledge and Vijnana means science in common language.
But here Vijnana means ‘visishta jnana’, the knowledge which is actually arrived
at after deep analysis. It is not just ordinary knowledge. You just don’t take
for granted what is there. You go deeper, analyze and understand. ‘Vijnanam
yajnam vinuthe’, greater than your senses is your mind, greater than the mind is
the intellect. Intellect has knowledge and after a clear understanding of life
the knowledge becomes Vijnana, Supreme knowledge. It is not a mistaken
knowledge but a clear knowledge of the higher purpose of life. We have a
knowledge of the lower purpose of life. I have to earn money, I have to do
this job, I have to take care of children, etc. But higher purpose of life is to
realize Brahman, God within. So that comes from Vijnana and application of
that Vijnana in life is called Yajna.
I keep saying Yajna is the foundation of life. The idea is service and when you
know how to do service, seva, the mind gets purified. Yajna is the supreme
principle of life. In nature everything lives on the basis of sharing. The ocean
shares the water with the cloud, the cloud shares the water with the rivers,
and the rivers give back the water to the ocean. The process of cycle of
nature is called Yajna. Everything in life, whether it is plants or trees or
animals, they know how to give. That process is called Yajna. What you give
grows, except money. If you have knowledge when you teach children it
grows. You are a teacher, when you teach children, your understanding
becomes much better. Who is learning, children or the teacher? The teacher
becomes better every year. He is able to teach. Knowledge grows by teaching.
Goodwill grows by helping each other. Similarly money grows by giving, not
in charity, but in business. What happens in business is that somebody who
makes lot of money teaches other people how to save money or to earn
money in business. Nature is the process of giving. Only by the process of
giving you grow and that is Yajna. One who has Vijnana, one whose
understanding has become clear, he lives by Yajna, and he understands how
to do Yajna. Then he uses his sense organs and body, mind complex for the
purpose of Yajna and service. Why do you do service? By doing service,
helping each other, by doing service to God, your mind becomes purified. In
that pure mind, you become closer to God, you can realize Bhagavan.
Realization happens with inner clarity, inner purity.
One who realizes that Vijnana is Brahman, here, don’t be under the
impression that intellect itself is Brahman, the intellect is powered by Brahman.
Like you have laptop, right? Laptop has ‘Intel inside’. So what do you have to
say? ‘God inside’. Then the power will be higher. Only when Bhagavan is
inside you will have more power. The idea is to realize that Supreme Reality,
Brahman, Atma is in you, that is your power, and then you will get enough
power in the world to interact. There are different types of powers on which
people live, what are the powers on which people live? Dhanabalam,

38
somebody who has lots of money; power of money. Adhikarabalam, the
power of position, and Yavvanabalam, ‘I am youthful, I am handsome, and I
am beautiful’. Jnanabalam, the power of knowledge. Whatever balam you have
is not good enough. Adhikarabalam, when you sit in the chair there is power,
when you move out of the chair somebody else comes and sits. The chair is
powerful, not you. When you sit in the chair you will get power and when
you go out, the power is gone. And people are waiting to pull you out of the
chair!! The life of a person in power is very fearful. In earlier days when the
kings had many wives, the wives were the power. If a king had hundred wives
he was more powerful compared to some other king who had fifty wives. But
even that king was living in fear that his wife may add poison in his food
anytime. So kings used to have dogs which ate the food first after which they
eat. Power is also fear. Power of Yavvanabalam “I am handsome, I am
beautiful”. There is a girl of twenty – twenty five who is beautiful. One day a
kid comes and calls her ‘Aunty’, she becomes aunty? She gets very angry. She
goes and tells the kid, “Did you call me aunty?” and then kid says, “I am
sorry nani (grandmother)”. So yavvanabalam also goes. Dhanabalam, I have so
much of money. My dear, there will always be some bigger guy who will
come as competition in your business. None of this bala is yours. They are all
borrowed, rented. Only bala you have deep inside is called atmabala. Atmabala
is the strength, which alone can make you survive. All your balas are
dependent on atmabala. Your body is dependent, your mind is dependent,
your intellect is dependent, and adhikara is dependent on Atma which is the
inner strength. There is a huge building under which there is a strong
foundation of concrete pillars. What you don’t see is the concrete pillars,
what you don’t see is the foundation, but you can see the building. Similarly
our life has a foundation, that foundation is Jnana. The foundation of life is
Yajna, which people cannot see. The strength, the inner pillar within us is
Bhagavan, God, Atma in us. We cannot see that, but everything is dependant
on that alone. What is seen is the physical, mental or intellectual strength, but
the real strength comes from Atma, the Brahmabalam within.
“Shareere paapmanohitvaa sarvaan kaamaan samashnuta iti tasyaisha eva shareera
atmaa yah poorvasya” Then he becomes sinless or free from sin. What is sin?
Society has a concept of sin based on right and wrong that is ethical and
moral values. The sin spoken of here is to know yourself as a body and mind,
not as Atma. This is the greatest sin. And because of this sin all your life you
are living in an illusion that you are a body mind complex. This is the biggest
sin and there is no other sin. To realize that I am not the body, I am not the
mind, I am not the intellect, I am pure Atma, I am pure spirit, Chaitanya,
Consciousness one with Bhagavan is the greatest freedom, freedom from sin.
Only when you realize this you will be free from the cycle of birth and death
“Punarapi jananam, puranapi maranam”. Until you realize “I am Atma” there is
no freedom, there is no Mukti.

Flowering of Bliss Supreme (Based on Taittiriya Upanishad) by Sri Prabhuji

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Flowering of Bliss Supreme (Based on Taittiriya Upanishad) by Sri Prabhuji