Chandogya Upanishad Chapter 6: Tattvamasi

 - By Meenu Krishnasamy

 

On the Labor Day weekend of 2008, the very first Spiritual Retreat held in CMSJ’s new facility took place. Acharya Prabodhji conducted this retreat. It was enjoyed greatly by all who attended. Each day started at 6:30 A.M., and ended at 10:30A.M. There was meditation, and then Acharya began his talk. The text covered in this retreat was Chandogya Upanishad Chapter 6..

 

Introduction to Chandogya Upanishad

Chandogya Upanishad is one of the Upanishads in the Sama Veda. The singers of the Sama Veda are called Chandogya. Since the sage who compiled this Upanishad is a Sama Veda singer, the Upanishad is called Chandogya Upanishad. This Upanishad contains the Mahavakya (Great truth) “Tattvamasi” in its 6th chapter. In the 6th chapter, the teacher Uddalaka Muni teaches this great truth to his disciple and son Svetaketu.. 

 

Invocation

            During an invocation, both the teacher and student pray to the Lord to make their lesson successful. In this invocation, the student prays” May I be physically strong enough to study this Upanishad. May I never deny the Brahman that is spoken of in the Vedas. May I never doubt what is said in the Vedas. May I not lose faith in Brahman, and may Brahman accept me as a worthy recipient of this knowledge. May my teachers also accept me. However, after I am accepted, I must still work hard. If I am lacking in the good qualities that study of the Vedas requires, may I acquire those qualities.”

 

 

Importance of Chapter 6

            Unlike some of the earlier chapters in Chandogya Upanishad, Chapter 6 contains only Jnana.  True Jnana (knowledge) gives instant realization of the Self (Mukti). All four of the Vedas each have a Mahavakya, or great truth. In chapter 6, the Mahvakya of Sama Veda is revealed. Tattvamasi, the Mahavakya that appears here, is the theme of Vedanta.

 

Introduction to Chapter 6

            Chapter 6 has 16 sections. Section 1 talks about the meeting between the teacher and the disciple. In Sections 2-4 the creation of the universe (through the manifestation of Brahman in 3 of the 5 elements) is discussed. In sections 5-7 this creation is discussed on the individual level. The Mahavakya “Tattvamasi” is revealed in Section 8. Sections 9-16 are examples of the truth given in Section 8. It is important to remember that the truth given in this chapter should be both understood and experienced. Throughout this chapter, Brahman is usually referred to as “Sat” or “Tat”.

 

Section I

Section one conveys the scene in which this chapter is set in. The story goes:

Once there was a boy named Svetaketu. Svetaketu was at the age when boys were sent to the hermitage (Gurukula) to learn the scriptures. However, Svetaketu didn’t want to go. Svetaketu’s father told him“Go to the Gurukula and study there. In our family, everybody has studied the Vedas. If you don’t go, then you will be a student only by name.” So, Svetaketu went, and he spent 12 years learning the scriptures. When he returned home, he was 24 years old, and had studied all the Vedas. However, he felt proud of his accomplishments and didn’t want to listen to anyone. When his father saw that Svetaketu was growing arrogant, he called his son and decided to talk to him. 

The father said” Son, did you learn anything? Did you learn that by which what is unheard becomes heard, what is unknown becomes known, and what is unthought-of becomes thought of? Did you learn about this great teaching?”

            To this Svetaketu wondered if he had learnt this great teaching. His father cleared this doubt by saying that after that knowledge is known, nothing else remains to be known. For example,once clay is known, all clay vessels are known. Svetaketu realized that he does not know this knowledge, and asks his father to teach him. The father agrees, thus the relationship between the father and son gets extended to the next level of Guru and disciple.

Sections 2-4

As in many Vedantic texts, Chapter 6 has a part set aside in it that discusses the creation of the universe. The definition of creation is the changing of unmanifest to manifest. In the beginning, Sat (Brahman) alone was. At that time, nothing else was manifest, and Sat alone had an identity. Some think that everything started out as Asat (what is not Brahman), but the teacher refutes this idea by saying “How can nonexistence bring about existence? That is impossible. Therefore, Sat alone was there in the beginning.” In this chapter, creation is explored through the manifestation of Sat in three of the five elements. The teacher now begins explaining the creation. In the beginning Sat alone was. Sat produced the element fire. In turn, fire produced water. Then water produced earth (expressed here as food). This is justified by the fact that wherever there is water, food is plentiful. Physical bodies were then created. Jivas (all animals, plants and humans) come into the world in one of three ways: by an egg (Andajam), by the womb (Jaraujam), or through a seed (Udhbijam). Each of these Jivas became three-fold, due to the three elements entering in them. Outside the body, the Sun, moon, and lightning too become three fold when the elements entered them. Red symbolizes fire, white symbolizes water, and black symbolizes earth. In the next three verses, the teacher explains how this creation takes place in the individual level.

Section 5

Food (the Earth) that is eaten gets divided into three parts. The grossest portion becomes fecal matter. The middle portion becomes flesh, and the subtlest portion becomes the mind.

Liquid (water) is also divided into three parts. The grossest part becomes urine. The next grossest part becomes blood, and the subtlest part becomes Prana (the life force).

Fire that is eaten (fuels like oil, ghee etc.) is in three parts. The grossest becomes the bones. The middle portion is bone marrow, and the subtlest portion is speech. Uddalaka Muni (the teacher/father) sums up “Thus, the mind is what we eat, Prana is made up of water, and speech is fire”. Svetaketu doesn’t understand and asks his teacher to explain again. He agrees.

 

Section 6

The teacher now tries to explain the content in Section 5 to Svetaketu through examples. He gives the example: When curd is taken for churning, the subtlest portion comes up as ghee. When the food we eat is churned, the subtlest part goes up and becomes the mind. The grossest part goes down and is expelled from the body. Likewise, when water is drunk, the subtlest portion goes up to become Prana. The subtlest portion of fire goes up and becomes speech. The teacher says “Thus, the mind is what we eat, Prana is made of water, and speech is fire.” Svetaketu still doesn’t understand and asks the teacher to repeat the teaching once more. Out of compassion, the teacher agrees.

 

Section 7

This time, the teacher decides to do an experiment to make Svetaketu understand. He explains to Svetaketu that there are sixteen parts in the body. These parts are: life, faith, space, air, light, water, earth, sense organs, mind, food, vitality, austerity, incantations, action, fields of experience, and name. Uddalaka Muni then tells Svetaketu not to eat anything for fifteen days, and to drink as much water as needed, since he needs water to preserve his Prana and sustain his life.  As a devout student, Svetaketu fasts for 15 days. When he approaches the teacher again, Uddalaka Muni asks him to recite the parts of the Vedas that he knew very well. However, Svetaketu could not remember anything. He asks why. The teacher replies” When food is eaten, the mind is well nourished, now that your mind is not nourished, you are unable to remember. Like a firefly with a tiny light, you could not remember because out of your 16 parts, only one part (life) is remaining. Nourish your mind. Then you will be able to remember.” Later, Svetaketu, now nourished, goes back to the teacher. This time, he can recite the Vedas well. The teacher says” Therefore, food is the mind, Prana is made up of water, and speech is made of fire. “This time, Svetaketu understands.

 

Section 8

In this section, three words are taken up to be discussed. These words are Swapiti (sleep), Ashana (hunger), and Pipasa (thirst). First Swapiti, or deep sleep, is talked about. The teacher explains that deep sleep is when all dreams end. The sleeper is completely relaxed and experiences Ananda (bliss) He has merged with Sat. However, the sleeper is ignorant to all this when he wakes up. The teacher uses the following example: Just as a bird that is tied to a pole flies everywhere in vain to find a place to land, but ends up landing on the pole itself, the mind flies everywhere to find refuge, but at the end finds it only at Sat. Next, the teacher talks about hunger. Hunger causes one to eat, but as soon as the food is swallowed, digestive juices(water) lead the food away. In a while, the person is hungry again. This process continues on until death. Thus, food and juices make up the body.

 Food, along with digestive juices, makes the body. The food (Earth) came from water, and water came from fire, which came from Sat. So the body is also Sat.  We all came from Sat, and one day we will return to it. We search far and wide for happiness (Sat), when it is right there within us.

Now the teacher continues on to prove this point through another angle. This time he discusses thirst. Thirst makes us drink water. Then the water is removed or absorbed into our system by fire. Water is also lost when we perspire. Loss of water makes us thirsty. Even though food makes up the body, food comes from water and water is needed to sustain life. Therefore, water is the cause of the body, and water came from fire, which came from Sat. Therefore the body is Sat.

The teacher speaks about death now. Sat is the root of fire, fire is the root of water, water is the root of Earth (food), and food is the root of all creatures.   Therefore, all things have Sat as their root. When a man is dying, his speech merges into the mind, and mind merges into Prana. Finally, Prana leaves the body and merges into fire. Fire then merges into Sat. At this final stage, the body dies.

Uddalaka Muni ties everything together and reveals the Mahavakya in this verse. He says “That Sat, where everything comes from, and merges in is everything in the universe. That truth is all of us. That thou art, Svetaketu!” Svetaketu doesn’t understand and asks his teacher to explain the truth to him again. The teacher agrees. Uddalaka Muni tries to make the student understand and experience that truth by using examples.

 

                                                                                                                                                         Section 9

The first example that the teacher gives is of a honey bee. The honey bee makes honey by collecting nectar from different plants. Then it puts all the nectar together to make the honey. After the nectars are mixed, there is no way to identify the different nectars from each other. All the differences are lost and the honey takes on the same color, flavor, and smell. Like this, all things are different. However, in deep sleep all things are the same and all individuality is lost during the bliss. Only the truth (Sat) remains. One attains this truth daily in sleep. This same truth is attained also during death and dissolution (Pralaya). The teacher says “That Sat, where everything comes from, and merges in, is everything in the universe. That truth is all of us. That thou art, Svetaketu!”

Svetaketu fails to understand and asks his teacher to teach him again.

.

 

Section 10

            The teacher’s second example is of the river. Rivers that flow east and rivers that flow west all originate from the same ocean. When they merge into the ocean, all the water gets mixed. It is impossible to recognize which water came from which river. All the water becomes one. In this way, all creatures come out of Sat. Since they don’t know they are Sat, they develop individuality.  After everything merges into Sat, that individuality drops of. Uddalaka Muni states “That Sat, where everything comes from, and merges in is everything in the universe. That truth is all of us. That thou art, Svetaketu!” Svetaketu doesn’t understand.

 

Section 11

            The next example given is of a tree. When a tree is cut at its roots, sap flows out of the wound, but the tree stays alive. The same thing happens when the tree is cut at the trunk or the top. Because the tree is pervaded by life, it stands tall, rejoicing. However, when all the life sap leaves the tree, the tree dies, even though the sap is still intact. Likewise, whenever the Jiva withdraws from a body, that body is dead. But the Jiva that has withdrawn is not dead. The teacher tells Svetaketu “That Sat, where everything comes from, and merges in is everything in the universe. That truth is all of us. That thou art, Svetaketu!” Svetaketu still needs further explanation.

 

 

Section 12

            The following example is imparted through demonstration. The teacher asks Svetaketu to bring a fruit from the banyan tree and to break the fruit. When this is done, Svetaketu is asked what he sees in the fruit. Svetaketu says that he sees many small seeds. Then Svetaketu, following his Guru’s instructions, breaks one of the seeds. Once again he is asked what he sees. This time, Svetaketu is unable to see anything in the seed. Uddalaka Muni says” In that tiny seed, there are even tinier particles that the eye cannot see. That huge banyan tree was born out of one of these unseeable particles.” Similiarly, even though Sat is subtle and unseen, the gross world is born out of it. The teacher says “That Sat, where everything comes from, and merges in is everything in the universe. That truth is all of us. That thou art, Svetaketu!” Svetaketu needs more clarification.

 

Section 13

            Another example is taught through demonstration. The teacher asks Svetaketu to get a clay cup full of water, and put some salt into it. He tells the student to come back the next morning. When Svetaketu comes the following morning, he is asked to take out the salt from the water. Svetaketu searches for it, but cannot find it, because the salt had already dissolved. The teacher told him to taste the water now. Svetaketu tasted the water at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom. When asked how the water tasted, Svetaketu replied that it tasted salty. The teacher told him “You do not see what is in the water but you can taste it. That shows that the salt does exist. In the same way, even though you cannot see Sat, it is indeed there. That Sat, where everything comes from, and merges in is everything in the universe. That truth is all of us. That thou art, Svetaketu!” Svetaketu asks for some more teaching.

 

Section 14

            Uddalaka Muni starts by telling a story. Once, there was a man from Gandhar. One day, he was robbed, and the robbers bound his eyes and hands and left him in a desolate forest. Even though the man yelled for help as loud as he could, nobody came to his rescue. Finally, some time later, a traveler came and took the blind fold off. The traveler pointed the direction of Gandhar out to the victim, and left. The man from Gandhar asked for his way a few times, but he went the rest of his journey without any help. The man from Gandhar is the Jiva, and his body was the forest. The blind fold was the man’s delusion, his bound hands were his family and friends, and the robbers were his previous merits and sins. After suffering for a long time, he man was finally saved by the traveler (the Guru), who removed his delusion and showed him his way back. At first, the man needed help with his way, but then he was able to venture independently towards his goal. He reached the goal successfully, with the help of the Guru. Uddalaka Muni tells Svetaketu “That Sat, where everything comes from, and merges in is everything in the universe. That truth is all of us. That thou art, Svetaketu!” Svetaketu still needs further explanation.

Section 15

            The next thing the teacher discusses is about the way a realized person dies. A realized person dies the same way a normal person would. First his speech merges into his mind, then his mind merges into his prana, then the mind merges into fire, then fire merges into Sat. However, after death the realized Jiva merges into Sat and has no more births. The ignorant Jiva gets pulled back into the cycle of birth and death. The teacher proclaims “That Sat, where everything comes from, and merges in is everything in the universe. That truth is all of us. That thou art, Svetaketu!”Svetaketu asks for one more example.

Section 16

            This final example is given through a story. Once a man who was suspected of committing a theft was brought before the King. The King said that the man’s hand would be placed on a heated axe as a test. If he was guilty of the crime and lied about it, then his hand would be burned, and he would be punished. If he was innocent, then he would remain unburned and would be released. Like wise, one who lives by false notions, like identifying with the body, gets caught up in bad actions. When he fails at the test of the truth, then he is punished by suffering in future births. However, one who has merged with the truth remains unburned even in the midst of actions. Uddalaka Muni declares “That Sat, where everything comes from, and merges in is everything in the universe. That truth is all of us. That thou art, Svetaketu!” This time Svetaketu understood. He lived the rest of his life like one who had realized the truth. He freed himself from the cycle of birth and death and became one with Sat.

 

Sarvam Krishnarpanam!