The Brahman of the Upanishads
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
The heart of the Upanishads is most meaningful and most fruitful because it embodies the Life of the Brahman. Brahman is Reality in existence; Brahman is Reality’s existence. The eternal Truth of the Brahman is in the finite, beyond the finite, in the Infinite, and beyond the ever-transcending Infinite.
In the domain of realisation, Brahman is the Sovereign Absolute. In the domain of revelation, Brahman is the Omnipresent Reality. And in the field of manifestation, Brahman is the immortalising Perfection.
Brahman the Creator is the Consciousness-Light; Brahman the Fulfiller is the Consciousness-Delight. Brahman is the inner Soul of all and the only Goal in all.
AUM
When we look within, Brahman is Consciousness-Force. When we look without, Brahman is Self-Manifestation. When we think of Brahman with the mind, earth-bound mind, limited mind, sophisticated mind, unaspiring mind, our life becomes sheer frustration. But when we meditate on Brahman in the heart, in the silent recesses of the heart, our life becomes pure illumination.
AUM
To a non-seeker, Brahman is unknowable. To a beginner-seeker, Brahman is unknown. To a master-seeker, Brahman is knowable, Brahman is known. Further, he himself grows into the Consciousness of Brahman.
"Sarvam khalu idam brahma.
Indeed, all is Brahman."
The Eternal is existence within. The Eternal is existence without.
There is no abiding happiness in the finite. It is only in the Infinite that we can hear the message of eternal Delight: anandam brahma and anantam brahma. These are the two major aspects of Brahman. Anandam brahma is the life of the all-illumining Delight and the all-fulfilling Delight. Anantam brahma is the Life of Infinity.
Here on earth the Life of Infinity constantly grows for the fulfilment of the Absolute Brahman. That is why the Upanishadic Seers sing from the depths of their hearts about the transcendental Delight of the Brahman:
"Anandadd hy eva khalv imani bhutani jayante,
Anandena jatani jivanti,
Anandam prayantyabhisam visanti."
From the transcendental Delight we came into existence; in Delight we grow and play our respective roles; and at the end of our journey’s close we enter into the Supreme Delight.
Again, when the Seers saw Infinity in Brahman, they sang:
"Aum,
Purnam adah, purnam idam, purnat purnam udacyate.
Purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate."Infinity is that.
Infinity is this.
From Infinity, Infinity has come into existence.
From Infinity, when Infinity is taken away, Infinity remains.
Brahman is active. Brahman is inactive. The active Brahman inwardly does and outwardly becomes. Also, the active Brahman outwardly does and inwardly becomes. But the inactive Brahman is the total Freedom of inaction and complete Freedom in inaction.
Brahman is at once the eternal unborn and the eternal birth and growth of existence. Brahman is ignorance-night. Brahman is knowledge-light. Brahman the ignorance-night needs total transformation. Brahman the knowledge-light needs complete manifestation.
The whole universe came into existence from Brahman the Seed. When Brahman wanted to project Himself, He first projected Himself through four significant worlds: ambhas, the highest world; marichi, the sky; mara, the mortal world, the earth; and apa, the world beneath earth. Then Brahman sent forth the guardians of these worlds. Next, He sent forth food for them. Then Brahman came to realise that He Himself had to take part in His Cosmic Game, so He entered into the Cosmic lila(Game) through His own Yogic power. First He entered into the human body through the skull. The door by which Brahman entered is called the Door of Delight. This door is the highest centre of consciousness. This is known as sahasrara, the thousand-petaled lotus. It is situated in the centre of the brain. The realisation of the Yogi enters there and becomes one with the Consciousness of the Brahman.
Brahman has many names, but His secret name is AUM.
"Pranavo dhanuh saro atma...
AUM is the bow and atma, the Self, is the arrow; Brahman is the target."
Through repeated practice the arrow is fixed into the target, the Brahmic Consciousness. That is to say, through regular concentration, meditation, and contemplation, the seeker enters into the Absolute Consciousness of the Brahman.
Creation is the supreme sacrifice of the Brahman. Creation is by no means a mechanical construction. Creation is a spiritual act, supremely revealing, manifesting, and fulfilling the divine splendour of the Brahman. The divine Architect is beyond creation, and at the same time manifests Himself in and through creation.
Brahman created out of His Being priests, warriors, tradesmen, and servants. Then He created the Law. Nothing can be higher than this Law. This Law is Truth. When a man speaks the Truth, he declares the Law. When he declares the Law, he speaks the Truth. The Truth and the Law are one, inseparable.
Indian mythology has divided Time — not earthbound time but eternal Time — into four divisions: satya yuga, treta yuga, dwapara yuga, and kali yuga. According to many we are now in the kali yuga. Brahman in the kali yuga is fast asleep. He is in inconscience-ignorance-mire. In the dwapara yuga He awakes and He looks around. In the treta yuga He stands up, about to move forward. In the satya yuga, the Golden age, He moves fast, faster, fastest, towards His Goal. The message of the Vedas, the eternal message of the Aryan culture and civilisation, the realisation of the Indian Sages and Seers, is movement, inner progress, the life’s march towards the destined Goal.
"Charai veti, charai veti.
Move on, move on."
Published in The Upanishads: the Crown of India's Soul
In the Early Days
Remarks by Sri Chinmoy
Pangkor Island Beach Resort, Malaysia
In the early days, my stories were performed by the disciples with utmost devotedness. Each and every line they learnt by heart. There was no joking involved, and no embellishment. This way lasted for quite a few years. Only my words they repeated, and with such love and respect they performed. It seems that those days are buried in oblivion now. Now, the performers fly into the sky with their imagination. What can we do? In those days, perhaps the modern kind of performances we would not have appreciated. Life changes; our taste changes.
I have written many, many, many stories: spiritual stories, instructive stories, even some funny stories. I am begging you to read the stories that I wrote thirty or thirty-five years ago. Many original stories I wrote, and many are my versions of traditional Indian stories. In my books called Great Indian Meals, there are stories about spiritual Masters. I tell you, they are really authentic. Please read them and perform them.
Published in My Golden Children
Such an Affectionate Bond
A story by Sri Chinmoy
Pangkor Island Beach Resort, Malaysia
One incident I am telling which you have not heard. Even if you have heard it, kindly say you have not heard it, so that I can get joy!
This story took place in 1935 or 1936, when I was four or five years old. Before I became a permanent member, I went six times to the Ashram with my family. We were children. We were not allowed, not allowed to stay at the Ashram! For a month we used to rent a very big house for our whole family.
About sixty or seventy metres away from our rented house, there was a very old lady. You have seen Satyajit Ray’s movie Pather Panchali. In Pather Panchali there is a very old lady with a stick. This old lady was like that. She had a tinier than the tiniest fruit shop. I was a little boy. I used to go to her place to buy only one guava. I was not interested in other fruits or things that she had. The guava was smaller than the smallest, but ripe. It cost one paisa. You cannot divide the paisa. It is such a ridiculous amount if you are dealing with American dollars. The guava also was tinier than the tiniest.
The old lady was very fond of me. We liked each other so much. I used to go in the morning to get the guava, small but ripe. I enjoyed it very much. One month we used to spend at the Ashram, so every day I went there.
Every fourth day or so, she would not take money from me. She would give me a guava free. I would say, “No, no, no, no,” but she would grab my hands and put the guava in them. She liked me so much.
On the last day, when we were about to leave, I told her, “I am not going to come any more.”
This I said in my kind of Tamil. Many years later, when I came to Pondicherry and became permanent in the Ashram, at that time I could speak Tamil — simple Tamil. At this time I managed to make the old lady understand that the following day I would leave. Immediately there were tears in her eyes and tears in my eyes. Then she gave me four guavas. I wanted to pay, but she would not take money. I was dying to give her the money, but she would not take it. I had enough money for four guavas, but she would not take it.
I came back home to our place there. My eldest sister saw that I was very sad. I was almost shedding tears. She asked, “What is wrong with you?”
I said, “This old lady likes me so much. Today she did not take money from me, and four guavas she has given me free. I am very sad that she will not accept the money.”
My sister said, “I am going with you. I will compel her to take the money.”
My sister by that time knew quite a few Tamil words, many, many more than I did. We went there, and the old lady was still shedding tears. My sister wanted to give her money for my four guavas. She was determined not to take it.
My sister Arpita was famous for her determination. Nobody could compete with her! She spent so much time with this old lady and finally she gave her much more money than the cost of the guavas that I had taken home.
At that time three souls were all shedding tears, but tears of joy, not tears of pain. There was no pain at that time. The lady, very, very old and very thin, was weeping, I was weeping and my sister also was weeping because such an affectionate bond an old lady and I had developed.
I was either four or five years old — that much I know. Like this one, a few other absolutely new stories I will tell.
Published in Only One Power
Surrender, Surrender, Surrender
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in Antalya, Turkey
We have to surrender, surrender, surrender to God’s Will. How many times God has cured disciples of serious, serious ailments. Sometimes doctors will give the patient two days, three days, four days, one week to live; sometimes they will give two weeks. Even a month ago, one case was so serious, extremely serious. God utilised me. God utilises me so many times. You know only very few cases. About the rest you have no idea. In hundreds of cases God wanted me to be His instrument to save people from death.
God created disease. If God did not create it, who created it? Somebody created disease, since everything that exists was created. In only two or three cases where death from the most serious disease was imminent, I did not succeed. In more than fifteen cases recently, God wanted me to succeed. Even in this hall there are three people to whom God wanted me to be of service in this way. They would have died in a maximum of six months, but God used me. The patients themselves know it. It was a matter of months, or even a week.
I joke with you, because you are my spiritual children. So many times I cut jokes with my spiritual children. But God jokes with me infinitely more than I joke with you. Again, I place my suffering for you at the Feet of God. He is the Tree. When I place my suffering at the foot of the Tree, I do it very cheerfully, plus unconditionally. The heart breaks; but the inner existence, which is divinity, is so completely surrendered to God’s Will.
Again, you know only a few cases. Concerning twenty or thirty cancer cases, including brain cancer, you have no idea. God used me as His instrument. In two or three cases He did not use me. It is all His Will, His Will. We cannot do anything ourselves; we are fully surrendered to God’s Will.
Sometimes we say to God about those who have serious ailments, “I know her, I know him; I care for them.” Then God says, “Who created those people? Did you create them?” At that time we have to say, “No, sorry — I did not create them.” God tells us that we are dearer than the dearest to Him, each one of us. Here on earth somebody will be with us for some years, and then the soul departs. But who created the soul? God created the soul. That soul came to us in the form of affection, love and sweetness.
We show our affection and fondness to dogs or cats, and these animals also show their sweetness and affection to us. We cannot understand their language, but our heart knows them and can easily understand their feelings. When they look at us, immediately we can feel what they are going to say. The affection, sweetness and fondness that we give to these little animals and they give to us will make us spiritually rich.
Many people cannot show their real affection, sweetness and fondness. They are unkind, or their heart is not developed. When we can offer to human beings our sweet concern and affection, it is God who gives us those divine qualities. Again, when our dear ones leave the earth, God, out of His infinite Compassion, in a few months or a year takes away our excruciating pangs. Then our suffering disappears.
Everybody will lose his dear ones — parents, brothers, sisters, all. In my case, one by one they left. How much I suffered! Again, three times God gave me the capacity to extend my brother Chitta’s life, and four times my sister’s life. He gave me the capacity. But when God does not want it, what can you do? In Chitta’s case, outwardly I had to make a connection. I knew something was wrong with my brother. From New York I called our house, but our phone was not working. I phoned the hospital, but their two lines were not working. I could not do anything. In a matter of eleven hours he disappeared, my dearest brother Chitta. My sister Lily also disappeared. God gave me the capacity to be of service by extending their lives. Again, after some time the same God did not want to keep them here on earth any more.
Surrender, surrender, surrender! We have to surrender to God’s Will, willingly or unwillingly. If we do it willingly, then we make tremendous progress, tremendous progress. Unwillingly if we do it, then we make no progress; we almost stand against God’s Will. Happily, self-givingly, unconditionally we have to surrender to God’s Will. After all, we have to know that we did not create our dear ones. It was God who created them. The Creator will always have infinitely more Affection, Love and Concern for the Creation than anyone else can have. We get our dear ones for ten, twenty, thirty or forty years. Then they disappear, and we also disappear.
For fifty, sixty or one hundred years, we are together; there is no fixed time. And if we are very close, then in the soul’s world we meet together. Then again, there may be a problem. We are members of the same family, but one individual in the family may be spiritually much more developed, according to his virtues, according to his good deeds. There may be four, five or six persons in one family, but there is no guarantee that they will also be in Heaven together. In some cases they are together, because they are very close to each other. In other cases, the brother will be on one plane of consciousness and the sister will be somewhere else. It is like that. We cannot say that all five or six members of a family will be in Heaven again together — no, no, no! It all depends on their standard. If they are of the same standard, they will be together. Otherwise, if there is a great gap between one individual and another, they may come and visit each other. Like distant relatives they can come and visit, but they do not dwell on the same plane.
Published in Devotion Becomes a Magnet