Brahma Viveka

by Swami Chinmayananda:

The previous stanza with its repetition in its last line and the particle Ith” had already given us the indication that the Upanishad had ended. This Mantra can therefore be only interpreted as the words of Sruti Bhagavati herself. Nachiketas, after listening to the entire Upanishadic advice of his Master, and having acquired a thorough knowledge of the technique (Yoga Vidhi) of Self-perfection by which he can come to experience Absolute Perfection as his own Real Nature, retired to a quiet retreat, where he, practicing the Brahma Vidya came to be pure in mind and intellect, and through the processes of higher meditations, realized his Self.

Virajah (free from Rajas or sin, free from impurities; free from vice and virtue). The Gyana Sadhana consists in controlling the flow of the sense organs towards their sense objects, by a powerful application of the powers of discrimination and severe mental discipline. The mind is thus redeemed, in slow and steady stages, from its dross such as egoistic vanities, selfish self-centered passions and desires, attachments, lusts, greed, etc., and by applying such a controlled and purified mind to dwell at a limited chosen form or idea, its powers of concentration are developed. Lastly, these newly developed powers of continued concentration, are applied, with greater intensity for delving deep beneath the delusory five matter envelopments of the spirit to contact the Self, which is of nature, Pure Consciousness, Eternal and Absolute.

If one seeker at the period of the Vedic era had realized the Self in him, through the blessings of such a Super divine master as Lord Death, to many of us, it may seem to be a historical accident and not a sure achievement for all seekers at all times.

To checkmate this possible doubt in her readers, Sruti herein emphatically asserts, “So will he too attain who knows thus the inner Self”. Even today, he who can fulfill in himself all the necessary qualifications, explained so vividly in this Upanishad, and then practice the entire technique of Brahma Vidya, as diligently as Nachiketas did, he, too, can realize the Self and become one with Truth…. A God-man upon earth.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

We have already discussed in the earlier Mantras the concept of the Supreme Reality as a mere presence, “in the shape of one’s own thumb”, residing in the center of one’s heart. We noted there that the size and shape have been given to the Self to facilitate our meditations, during the earlier stages of the Path of Dhyan. In fact, the Atman is formless although here Self is described as having a shape and a form. This is only for the purpose of providing the seekers with a prop for their mind at meditation to concentrate upon.

It is quite appropriate that Lord Death should conclude his Upanishadic declarations to his disciple, Nachiketas, with a direct call upon him to continue his meditations and discriminate the Real Divine presence in the center of the center, from the unreal concentric coating for matter, which the Spirit has seemingly put on to play its game of hide and seek; Beyond the five Koshas (sheaths) lies the Spirit.

The analogy employed here (to show how through discrimination one reaches the Final State of Self cognizing the Self) is, true to the style of the Upanishads, most emphatic and voluminously Self-expressive, Nachiketas, and through Nachiketas the entire ‘world of seekers, is advised to extricate the element of Absolute Consciousness, the Pure Chit Essence, from the delusory consciousness of the body, by continuous and deep practices of discrimination and meditation.

That, during meditation, one should not, in the least, strain oneself, is so vividly brought out by the analogy of “drawing out the Pith from the reed”; the reed itself is the most delicate of plants, and its stalk is more so; and to draw out this flimsy and subtle pith from its outer envelopments constituted of the stalks of the leaves themselves, is a delicate act, which needs a softness of touch, a measured and practiced application of force, and a subtle silky defines in handling the entire process!

Pure Consciousness, that is the Controller and the Director of all physical, mental, and intellectual activities in a human being is the Soul or the Atman. The Upanishad concludes with the repeated assertion that we must know Him to be pure and immortal.

He is “pure’, in the sense that impurities of the mind as Kama (desires), Krodah (anger), Lobha (avarice), etc., are not in him. He is ‘immortal’ in as much as He is the Eternal Unborn Truth, All-pervading and the Uncaused Cause of all effects seen in His manifestations!

by Swami Chinmayananda:

At this stage of your knowledge of Indian philosophy, you all may find it not too easy to follow the meaning of this Mantra, which is one of the rock-bottom foundations, in the philosophy of Yoga. A much more detailed analysis of the spiritual body encased within our physical form is supplied to us by some of the other Upanishads. In the Vedic Age probably there was wide currency for this knowledge that Lord Death is here only hinting at the particular creed in a passing statement. Chinmaya feels that it would not be adding anything to your total understanding of this Upanishad by a cumbersome and exhaustive explanation of this Mantra.

However, we may touch upon the problem. The subtle spiritual body is believed to be constituted of some 101 subtle nerves which the surgeon’s scalpel shall never dissect nor his eyes ever see, the most important is the Shushumna, which runs parallel to the backbone all along its length and penetrates the top bone, called the Apex, extends itself up to the center of the human crown. The sensitiveness of the top center portion of the crown can be very well experienced by ourselves; Especially in a newborn child, one can feel the heartbeat very regularly at that place.

Whatever may be its physiological explanation and relative position as far as you, the seekers in the Path of Knowledge, are concerned, it is sufficient to know that the ego center of a meditator, who has realized during his life the Apara Brahman (Relative Truth), at the time of his death, escapes through the Shushumna and crossing distinct regions of experiences reaches Brahma Loka from where, ultimately at the end of Kalpa, with the dissolution of that world of experience, it reaches the Supreme State of Realization.

As for the one, who had realized the Eternal, All-pervading Truth in its attributeless pure essence, even while living in the body form, becomes a Jivan Mukta. To such a Gyani even the Sruti denies all passage of the journey (Na Tasya Parana Utkramathi). By knowing Brahman, he becomes Brahman. Such a complete and total liberation is called Kaivalya Mukti