Peace Invocation
oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate Om Shanti Shanti Shantih
Om That (Brahman) is infinite, and this (universe) is infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite Taking the infinitude of the infinite(universe), It remains as the infinite (Brahman) alone. Om Peace! Peace!
(Madhavananda translation 1934)
The Brihadaranyaka is the oldest and longest Upanishad. It forms the concluding portion of the aranyaka section of The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad which is estimated to have been composed about 7th–6th century BCE. The Sanskrit language text is contained within the Shatapatha Brahmana which is itself a part of the Shukla Yajur Veda.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is a treatise on Atman-Brahman (on Atman-Brahman correlation), and includes passages on metaphysics, ethics, and quest for knowledge that influenced various Indian religions, ancient and medieval scholars, and led to subsequent works such as those by Adi Shankaracarya and Madhvacharya.
For the purposes of the blog we are using only a selection from this Upanishad which distills the essential teachings for disciplined spiritual seekers. We have omitted those sections that are intermixed with mythologies and rituals and rather emphasized the passages that contain the profoundest reflections upon the nature of man.
A method we will use is to read together inspiring philosophical and spiritual meditations which are often expressed in poetic language. This upanishad exemplifies why the Upanishads, as a whole, are often called the ‘the Breath of the Eternal’.
Many commentators consider this Upanishad among the greatest in the sense that the illimitable, all embracing, absolute, self luminous, blissful reality-the Brahman, is identical with the Atman, the divine ground of Being in all of us. This Upanishad comprehends both the revelation of the true nature of the divine experience of Brahman-Atman identity as well as the logical explanation of the great doctrine of Advaita Vedanta through the employment of dialectical modes of discussion and argument. The purpose of this discussion is to annihilate the false stand of one being just a functioning personality.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad captures several sessions of teaching, setting each one in the story of how it came to be taught.
The first dialogue, between Gargya, son of Valaka, and King Ajatasatru of Banaras, (Varanasi) illustrates how easy it is to be lulled into superficial teachings by intelligent but unenlightened persons posing as wisdom teachers. Gargya was trying to teach King Ajatsatru about Brahman but ended up obtaining wisdom from King Ajatasatru himself, who was a compatriot of King Janaka of Videha, who was known to attract spiritual seekers and enlightened sages to his court.
There is a passage taught by the King Ajatasatru to Gargya – which is further developed by Yagnavalkya in his dialogue with his wife, Maitreyi in a subsequent section.
As threads come out of the spider, as little sparks come out of the fire, so all the senses, all the worlds, all the gods, yea, all beings, issue forth from the Self. His secret name is Truth of the Truth. (Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester translation)
A renowned spiritual teacher, Yajnavalkya, is about to leave the life of a householder and live as a renunciate in the forest. One of his two wives, Maitreyi, asks for Self-knowledge. The knowledge that is sought in these types of encounters is aimed not at material prosperity or even intellectual satisfaction, but at enabling the questioner to become free of worldly suffering and limitations; to attain fearlessness, to cross beyond sorrow, to dig up the supreme treasure. This Upanishad stresses that knowledge itself or deep understanding is the practice of Jnana Yoga.
In this selection, we will read one of the most poignant and illuminating discussions in the wisdom of the forest. It is the dialogue between a great sage, Yajnavalkya and his wife, Maitreyi. Maitreyi shares his yearning for immortality and so the parting dialogue between them turns into a deep session of spiritual instruction, emphasizing one of the meanings of the Upanishad – listening close to the exposition of truth.
We will read from Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester, and Eknath Easwaran translations-
Adi Shankara, a scholar of the influential Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, wrote in his Brihadaranyaka Upanishad bhashya (commentary) that the purpose of the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue in chapter 2.4 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is to highlight the importance of the knowledge of Atman and Brahman, and to understand their oneness. Concluding his dialogue on the “inner self”, (Atman-Brahman), Yajnavalkaya tells Maitreyi:
One should indeed see, hear, understand and meditate over the Self, O Maitreyi; indeed, he who has seen, heard, reflected and understood the Self – by him alone the whole world comes to be known.*
— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.5
*Indicates that the whole world is an expression of Brahman- Sat (existence), Chit (consciousness) and Ananda (bliss).
What Yajnavalkya teaches is the greatest discovery of the Upanishads: the Self (Brahman) which is identical in all of us, is the real Being of all that lives. Whenever we love, he tells his wife, we are really responding to the Self (Brahman) within that person. Therefore, if we discover this Self in our own consciousness, there will be no more parting, no more sorrow, ever. Deep understanding, deep knowledge, is to meditate on the Self and realize this underlying reality. And through understanding bring this underlying background to the foreground of one’s life.
Often, it is this anguish of parting- the death of a loved one, the breaking apart of a deep relationship, even the growing up of children- that propels us into the search for a reality that will never let us down. So reading this passage illustrates, through the experience of Maitreyi, the state of seriousness of being shocked into alertness, that makes one ready to absorb spiritual insight. The only real source of such insight is almost always, in Indian tradition, a living teacher who is equally ready to impart it; that is why almost all of the Upanishads are in the form of dialogues.
In verse 2.4.13 Yajnavalkya asserts that everything in the universe is the Self. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad looks at reality as being indescribable and its nature to be infinite existence, consciousness and bliss. (Read the dialogue between Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi in Swami Prabhavananda commentary, and/or Eknath Easwaran translation, pages 99-103).
In our upcoming blogs we will read and discuss King Janaka’s meetings and dialogues with Yajnavalkya.
Explanation of terms:
‘Brahmana’ (Sanskrit ब्राह्मण) means ‘explanations of sacred knowledge or doctrine’.
‘Shatapatha’ (Sanskrit शतपथ) means ‘having a hundred paths’ or ‘proceeding in a hundred ways’.
‘Khanda’, (Sanskrit खंड), means ‘division of a book’, or more loosely ‘book’.
‘Adhyâya’ (Sanskrit अध्याय), means ‘chapter’ (of a book), ‘lesson’, ‘reading’ and ‘lecture’
Please note: excerpts, commentary and references from the following teachers of Vedanta.
Vedanta Society lectures and literature
Swami Sarvapriyananda
Swami Nikhilananda
Swami Gambhirananda
Swami Swahananda and Madhavananda.
Excerpts from the following commentaries and translations of the Upanishads:
Swami Madhavananda
Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester
Robert Ernest Hume
Swami Swahananda and Swami Madhavananda
Eknath Easwaran
Wikipedia
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