Talk:The Ten Upaniṣad
By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami
Śankara Bhagavatpāda selected ten out of the numerous Upaniṣads to comment upon from the non-dualistic point of view. Rāmānuja, Madhva and others who came after him wrote commentaries on the same based on their own philosophical points of view. These ten Upaniṣads are listed in the following stanza for the names to be easily remembered.
Īśā-Kena-Kaṭha-Praśna-Muṇḍa-Māṇḍukya-Taittirī Aitareyaṃ ca Chāndogyaṃ Bṛhadāraṇyakaṃ daśa
Śankara has followed the same order in his Bhāṣya (commentary).
"Īśā" is Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad (Īśāvāsyopaniṣad). It occurs towards the end of the Saṃhitā of Śuklayajurveda. The name of this Upaniṣad is derived from its very first word, "Īśāvāsya". The next, "Kena", is Kenopaniṣad. The Īśāvāsyopaniṣad proclaims that the entire world is pervaded by Īśvara and that we must dedicate all our works to him and attain the Paramātman.
An elephant made of wood looks real to a child. Grown-ups realise that, though it resembles an elephant in shape, it is really wood. To the child the wood is concealed, revealing the elephant; to the grown-up the animal is hidden revealing the wood. Similarly, all this world and the five elements are made of the timber called the Paramātman. We must learn to look upon all this as the Supreme Godhead.
Maraṭṭai maraittadu māmada yanai'Maraṭṭil maraindadu māmada yanai'Parattai maraittadu paramudal bhūtam'Parattil maraindadu paramudal bhūtam
Tirumūlar says in this stanza that, because of our being accustomed to seeing the five elements all the time, we must not forget that the Paramātman is hidden in them. We must recognise that it is indeed he who pervades them and learn to see that everything is instinct with Īśvara. Śankara expresses exactly the same idea in his Bhāṣya when he speaks of "dantiṃi dāru vikāre". I don't wish to enter into a debate as to who came first, Tirumūlar or Śankara. Great men think alike.
The Kenopaniṣad is also called the Talavakāra Upaniṣad since it occurs in the Talavakāra Brāhmaṇa of the Jaiminī Śākhā of the Sāmaveda. This Upaniṣad contains a story about the devas. The celestials in their arrogance failed to recognise the Supreme Being whose crown and feet are unknown. Ambikā then appeared to give instruction in jñāna to Indra, the king of the devas. She explained to him that all our power emanated from the one Great Power, from the one Mahāśakti.
The Ācārya has written two types of commentaries for this Upaniṣad, the first word by word as in the case of the other Upaniṣads and the second sentence by sentence. In his Saundaryalaharī he has the Kenopaniṣad in mind when he prays to Ambā: "Place your feet on my head, the feet that are held by Mother Veda."
The Upaniṣads (Vedānta) are also called "Veda-śiras", "Śruti-śiras", the "head" or "crown" of the Vedas—the Upaniṣads which are the "end" of the Vedas (Vedānta) are also their crown. To say that Ambā's feet are placed on the head of Mother Veda means that they are held by the Upaniṣads. It is in the Kenopaniṣad that we see Ambā appearing as Jñānāmbikā (the goddess of jñāna). "Sāmāganapriyā" is one of her names in the Lalitāsahasranāma: this is in keeping with the fact that Ambā's glory is specially revealed in an Upaniṣad belonging to the Sāmaveda. The Kaṭhopaniṣad comes next. It occurs in the Kaṭha Śākhā of the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda. This Upaniṣad contains the teachings imparted by Yama to the brahmacārin Naciketā. It begins as a story and leads up to the exposition of profound philosophical truths. The Gītā contains quotations from this Upaniṣad.
What was said earlier about the subject-object relationship is explained in depth in the concluding part of the Kaṭhopaniṣad. How do we remove the ear of grain from the stalk? And how do we draw the pith from the reed? Similarly, we must draw the subject that is the Self from the object that is the body, says the Kaṭhopaniṣad. "Desire, anger, hatred, fear—all these appertain to the mind, not to the Self. Hunger, thirst and so on appertain to the body—they are not 'mine'." By constant practice we must learn to reject all such things as do not belong to the Self by "objectifying them". If we do so with concentration, in due course we will be able to overcome the idea that has taken root in us that the body and the mind constitute the "we". We can then exist as the immaculate Self without the impurities tainting the body and the mind.
The Kaṭhopaniṣad compares the spiritual exercise of separating the Self from the body and the mind to that of drawing off the pith, bright, pure and soft, from the reed. Before you is the spadix of a plantain. When it wilts do you also droop? Think of the body as a lump of flesh closer to you than this spadix of the plantain. This spadix is not the subject that is "we", but the object. On the same lines you must become accustomed to think of the body as an object in relation to the subject that is the Self. During our life in this world itself—during the time we seem to exist in our body—we must learn to treat the body as not "me", not "mine". Mokṣa or liberation does not necessarily mean ascending to another world like Kailāsa or Vaikuṇṭha. It can be attained here and now. What is mokṣa? It is everlasting bliss that comes of being freed from all burden. He who lives delighting in his Self in this world itself without any awareness of his body is called a "jīvanmukta". The supreme goal of the Vedas and Vedānta is making a man a jīvanmukta.
Kṛṣṇa Paramātman speaks of the same idea in the Gītā. He who, while yet in this world ("ihaiva"), controls his desire and anger before he is released from his body ("prak śarīravimokṣaṇāt")—he will remain integrated (in yoga) and achieve everlasting bliss. "Ihaiva" = "iha eva", while yet in this world. If you realise the Self, as an inner experience, while yet in this world, at the time of your death you will not be aware that your body is severed from you. The reason is that even before your death, when you are yet in this world, the body does not exist for you. So is there any need for what is called death to destroy it? There is no death for the man who has absolute realisation of his body being not "he" (when you mention the body the mind is also included in it). Where is the question of his dying if he knows that the body is not "me" (that is "he")? The death is only for his body.
The man who has no death thus becomes "amṛta" ("immortal"). Hymns like the Puruṣasūkta which appear in the karmakāṇḍa of the Vedas also speak of such deathlessness. This idea recurs throughout the Upaniṣads. The body, and the mind that functions through it, are the cause of sorrow. All religions are agreed that liberation is a state in which sorrow gives place to everlasting happiness. However, according to religious traditions other than Advaita (non-dualism), a man has to go to some other world for such bliss after his death. Śankara Bhagavatpāda establishes that true liberation can be won in this world itself if one ceases to identify oneself totally with the body and remains rooted in the Self.
"Tadetat aśarīratvam mokṣākhyam," so he proclaims in his Sūtrabhāṣya (1.1.4). The word "aśarīri" is popularly understood as a voice we hear without knowing its origin (disembodied voice). It means to be without a body. "Aśarīratvam", bodylessness (being incorporeal), is a state in which one is not conscious of the existence of one's body. This is liberation, says the Ācārya. To remain bodyless, disincarnate, does not mean committing suicide. When we reduce our desires little by little a stage will be reached when they will be totally rooted out. When they are thus eradicated, consciousness of the body will naturally cease too. The Self alone will remain then, shining. To arrive at such a state is not necessary to voyage to another world. It is this idea that the Vedas and Vedānta refer to when they say "ihaiva, ihaiva" (Here itself, here itself)—the ideal of liberation here and now.
After the Kaṭhopaniṣad comes the Praśnopaniṣad, the Muṇḍakopaniṣad and the Māṇḍūkyopaniṣad, all three being from the Atharvaveda. "Praśna" means "question". What is the origin of the various creatures? Who are the deities that sustain them? How does life imbue the body? What is the truth about wakefulness, sleep and the state of dream? What purpose is served by being devoted to Om? What is the relationship between the Supreme Godhead and the individual self? These questions are answered in the Praśnopaniṣad.
"Muṇḍana" means "tonsure". Only sannyāsins, ascetics with a high degree of maturity, are qualified to study the Muṇḍakopaniṣad—that is how it came to be so called. This Upaniṣad speaks of the Akṣarabrahman, akṣara meaning "imperishable" and also "sound". We speak of "Pañcākṣara", "Aṣṭākṣara" and so on. The source of all sound is "Praṇava", or "Omkāra". Praṇava is a particularly efficacious means to attain the Akṣarabrahman.
One mantra in the Muṇḍakopaniṣad asks us to string the bow of Omkāra with the arrow of the Ātman and hit unperturbed the target called the Brahman. Like the arrow you must be one with the Brahman. It is also in this Upaniṣad that the individual self and the Paramātman are compared to two birds perched on the body that is the pippala tree. The jīvātman (individual self) alone eats the fruit (of karma) and the Paramātman bird is merely a witness. This is the basis of the biblical story of Adam (Ātman) and Eve (jīva). Adam does not eat the apple (pippala) but Eve does.
The motto of the Union of India—"Satyameva Jayate"—is taken from this Upaniṣad. There is also a mantra which speaks of sannyāsins who, after being jīvanmuktas in this world, become "videhamuktas" (liberated without their body). It is chanted when ascetics are received with honour with a "pūrṇa-kumbha".
The Muṇḍakopaniṣad speaks of the jñānin thus: "Different rivers with different names lose their names and forms in the ocean. Similarly the knower (jñānin) freed from name and form unites inseparably with the Brahman."
Next is the Māṇḍūkyopaniṣad. "Māṇḍūka" means "frog". Why the name "Frog Upaniṣad"? One reason occurs to me: the frog does not have to go step by step. It can leap from the first to the fourth step. In the Māṇḍūkyopaniṣad the way is shown to reach the turīya or fourth state from the state of wakefulness through the states of sleep and dream. By devoting oneself to (by intense meditation of) Om (that is by akṣara upāsanā) one can in one bound go up to the fourth state. That perhaps is the reason why this Upaniṣad is called "Māṇḍūkya". According to modern research scholars, the Māṇḍūkyopaniṣad belonged to a group of people who had the frog as their totem! (It is also said that the sage associated with the Upaniṣad is Varuṇa who took the form of a frog.)
The text of the Māṇḍūkyopaniṣad is very brief and contains only twelve mantras. But it has acquired a special place among seekers because it is packed with meaning. It demonstrates the oneness of the individual self and the Brahman through the four feet (pāda-s) of Praṇava. There is a famous passage occurring towards the end of this Upaniṣad which describes the experience of the turīya or fourth state in which all the cosmos is dissolved in "Śiva-Advaita" (Śivo' dvaita). Śankara Bhagavatpāda's guru's guru, Gauḍapādācārya, has commented on this Upaniṣad (Māṇḍūkyopaniṣad-Kārikā) and Śankara has written a further commentary on this work.
Now the Taittirīya Upaniṣad. I had referred earlier to the misunderstanding that developed between Vaiśampāyana and his disciple Yājñavalkya. In his anger the teacher asked his student to eject the Veda he had taught him. Yājñavalkya did as bidden. Later the sun god taught him the Śuklayajurveda which had until then not been revealed to the world.
It was with the power acquired through mantras that Yājñavalkya became a gander to throw up the Veda he had first learned from Vaiśampāyana. Now that master's other disciples, bidden by him, assumed the form of tittiri birds (partridges) and consumed what had been ejected by Yājñavalkya. Thus this recension of the Yajurveda came to be called "Taittirīya Śākhā". The name "Taittirīya" is also applied to the Saṃhitā, Brāhmaṇa and Āraṇyaka of this śākhā. The Taittirīya Upaniṣad is part of the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka and it is perhaps studied more widely than any other Upaniṣad. Many mantras employed in rituals are taken from it. There are three parts to it—"Śikṣāvallī", "Ānandavallī" and "Bṛghuvallī".
Śikṣāvallī contains matters relating to education, rules of the brahmacaryāśrama (the celibate student's stage of life), its importance, order of Vedic chanting, meditation on Praṇava. The "Āvāhantī homa" is in Śikṣāvallī. It is performed by the ācārya to ensure that disciples come to learn from him without any let or hindrance. We know from our own experience that, even today, as a result of performing this sacrifice, Vedic schools which were in decay have received a new lease of life with the admission of many new students.
Śikṣāvallī mentions "Ātma-svarājya"—that is eternal, a state which transcends in meaning the "svarājya" we are familiar with in politics.
"Satyaṃ vada, dharmaṃ cara" (Speak the truth, do your duty according to dharma): such exhortations to students are contained in this Upaniṣad. Students are urged not to neglect the study of the Vedas at any time. They are asked to marry and beget children so that Vedic learning will be kept up from generation to generation. "Mātṛ-devo bhava, pitṛ-devo bhava, ācārya-devo bhava, atithi-devo bhava" (Be one to whom your mother is a god; be one to whom your father is a god; be one to whom your teacher is a god; be one to whom your guest is a god)—all such mantras are in this Upaniṣad. The importance of charity and dharma is specially stressed here.
Earlier I spoke to you about a "multiplication table" of bliss in which each successive type of bliss is a hundredfold greater than the previous one. Ānandavallī is the part of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad in which you see this. The highest form of bliss or ānanda in this "table" is Brahmānanda (the bliss of realising the Brahman).
Different sheaths (kośas) of man are mentioned in this Upaniṣad. The first is the "annamayakośa" (the sheath of food), the flesh that grows with the intake of food. Inside it is the "prāṇamayakośa" (the sheath of vital breath). Then comes the "manomayakośa" (the sheath of mind) that gives rise to thoughts and feelings. The fourth is "vijñānamayakośa" (the sheath of understanding). And, finally, the fifth, the "ānandamayakośa" (the sheath of bliss). It is here that the Self dwells in blessedness. Each sheath is personified as a bird with head, wings, body, belly—there is a philosophical significance in this. This Upaniṣad contains the oft-quoted mantra ("Yato vāco... "). It says: "He who knows the bliss of the Brahman, from which speech and mind turn away unable to grasp it, such a man does not have to fear anything from anywhere."
Bṛghuvallī is the teaching (upadeśa) imparted by Varuṇa to his son Bṛghu. "Upadeśa" here is not to be understood as something dictated by the guru to his student. Varuṇa encourages his son to ascend step by step through his own experiments and experience. Bṛghu performs austerities and thinks that the sheath of food is the truth. From this stage he advances gradually through the sheaths of breath, mind and understanding and arrives at the truth that is the sheath of bliss. He realises as an experience that the Ātman (the nature of bliss) is the ultimate truth.
This does not mean that the Taittirīya Upaniṣad rejects the factual world represented by the sheath of food. While being yet in this world, taking part in its activities, we must become aware of the supreme truth. For this we must strive to make life more dhārmic, as a means of Ātmic advancement. That is why even those who have attained the sheath of bliss are admonished: "Do not speak ill of food. Do not throw it away. Grow plenty of food." Even the government has used this mantra for its grow more food campaign. The Taittirīya Upaniṣad concludes with the mantra which says: "I am food, I am food, the one who eats it..."
The Aitareya Upaniṣad forms part of the Aitareya Āraṇyaka of the Ṛgveda. The name is derived from the fact that it was the sage Aitareya who made it widely known. A jīva (individual self) originating in the father, says the Upaniṣad, enters the womb of the mother. He is born in this world and goes through his life of meritorious and sinful actions. Then he is born again and again in different worlds. Only by knowing the Ātman does he find release from the bondage of phenomenal existence.
The sage called Vāmadeva knew about all his previous births when he was in his mother's womb. He passed through all fortresses and, like an eagle soaring high in the skies, voyaged seeking liberation. In this context prajñāna, direct perception of the Ātman, is spoken of in high terms. It is not merely that one attains the Brahman through such jñāna (prajñāna)—the fact is such prajñāna itself is the Brahman. And this is the mahāvākya of the Ṛgveda: "Prajñānam Brahma".
The Chāndogya and Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣads are the last two of the ten major Upaniṣads and are also the biggest. They are bigger than all the other eight of the ten put together. The first is part of the Chāndogya Brāhmaṇa of the Sāmaveda. "Chāndogya" means relating to "chandoga", one who sings the Sāman. The Tamil Tēvāram refers to Parameśvara as "Caṇṭogan kaṇ". The Zoroastrian scripture called the Zend-Avesta could be traced back to "Chandoga-Avesta."
Just as there are passages in the Gītā from the Kaṭhopaniṣad, so has the Brahmasūtra passages from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad. In these two Upaniṣads the teachings of a number of sages are put together.
The introductory mantras of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad refer to Omkāra as "udgīta" and explain how one is to meditate on it. A number of vidyās are mentioned like "Akṣi", "Ākāśa", "Madhu", "Śāṇḍilya", "Prāṇa", and "Pañcāgni". These help in different ways in knowing the Ultimate Reality. "Dahara vidyā" is the culmination of all these: it means perceiving the Supreme Being manifested as the transcendent outward sky in the tiny space in our heart. A number of truths are expounded in this Upaniṣad in the form of stories.
From the story of Raikva we learn about the strange outward behaviour of one who has realised the Brahman. There is then the famous story of Satyakāma who does not know his gotra, but is accepted as a pupil by Gautama. The guru thinks that Satyakāma must be a true brāhmaṇa since he does not hide the truth about himself. Before the pupil is taught he is made to undergo many tests. The guru's wife, out of concern for the pupil, speaks to her husband for him. When we read such stories we have before us a true picture of gurukula-vāsa in ancient times.
In character Śvetaketu was the opposite of Satyakāma and was proud of his learning. His father Uddālaka Āruṇi teaches him to be humble and in the end imparts to him the mantra, "Tat tvam asi" (That thou art), the mantra which proclaims the non-difference between the individual self and the Brahman. "Tat tvam asi" is the mahāvākya of the Sāmaveda.
Unlike Śvetaketu, the sage Nārada, who had mastered all branches of learning, was humble and full of regret that he had remained ignorant of the Ātman. He finds enlightenment in the teachings of Sanatkumāra which are included in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad. In the Taittirīya Upaniṣad Bṛghu is taught to go step by step to obtain higher knowledge [from the sheath of food to the sheath of bliss]. Here Sanatkumāra teaches Nārada to go from purity of form to purity of the inner organs ("antaḥkaraṇas"). That is the time when all ties will snap and bliss reached.
Another story illustrates how different students benefit differently from the same teaching according to the degree of maturity of each. Prajāpati gives the same instruction to Indra, the king of the celestials, and to Virocana, the king of the asuras. This is what Prajāpati teaches them: "He who sees with his eyes, he is the Self". He subtly hints at the object that is behind the eye, knowledge, etc., and that is the basis of all these. Without understanding this, the two see themselves in a mirror and take the reflection to be the Self. You see only the body in the mirror and Virocana comes to the conclusion that that is the Self. It is from this idea that atheism, materialism and the Lokāyata system developed. Although Indra also took this kind of wrong view from his reflection, eventually [similar to the story in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad of Bṛghu advancing from the sheath of food to the sheath of bliss] he goes in gradual stages from the gross body to the subtle body of sleep and later to the turīya or fourth state mentioned in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad—the turīya is the Self.
The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad comes last. "Bṛhad" means "great". It is indeed a great Upaniṣad—Bṛhadāraṇyaka. Generally, an Upaniṣad comes towards the close of the Āraṇyaka of the śākhā concerned. While the Īśāvāsyopaniṣad occurs in the Saṃhitā of the Śuklayajurveda, the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is in the Āraṇyaka of the same Veda: as a matter of fact, the entire Āraṇyaka constitutes this Upaniṣad. There are two recensions of it: the Mādhyaṃdina Śākhā and the Kāṇva Śākhā. Śaṅkara has chosen the latter for his commentary.
This Upaniṣad consists of six chapters. The first two are the "Madhukāṇḍa", the next two are the "Muni-kāṇḍa" in the name of Yājñavalkya, and the last two are the "Khila-kāṇḍa". Madhu may be understood as that which is full of the flavour of bliss. If we have the realisation that all this world is a personification of the Parabrahman it would be sweet like nectar to all creatures—and the creatures would be like honey to the world. The Ātman then would be nectar for all. This idea is expressed in the Madhu-kāṇḍa.
It is in this Upaniṣad that the celebrated statement occurs that the Ātman is "neither this, nor this" ("Neti, neti"). The Self cannot be described in any way. "Na-iti"—that is "Neti". It is through this process of "Neti, neti" that you give up everything—the cosmos, the body, the mind, everything—to realise the Self. After knowing the Ātman in this manner you will develop the attitude that the phenomenal world and all its creatures are made up of the same essence of bliss.
The first kāṇḍa contains the teachings received by the brāhmaṇa Gārgya from the kṣatriya Ajātaśatru. This shows that kings like Ajātaśatru and Janaka were knowers of the Brahman. We also learn that women too took part on an equal footing with the sages in the debates in royal assemblies on the nature of the Brahman. There was, for instance, Gārgī in Janaka's assembly of the learned. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad also tells us about Yājñavalkya's two wives: of the two, Kātyāyanī was like any housewife and the second, Maitreyī, was a brahmavādinī (one who inquires into the Brahman and speaks about it). The instruction given by Yājñavalkya to Maitreyī occurs both in the Madhukāṇḍa and the Muni-kāṇḍa. Here we have a beautiful combination of story-telling and philosophical disquisition.
When Yājñavalkya is on the point of renouncing the world, he divides his wealth between his two wives. Kātyāyanī is contented and does not ask for anything more. Maitreyī, on the other hand, is not worried about her share. She tells her husband: "You are leaving your home, aren't you, because you will find greater happiness in sannyāsa than from all this wealth? What is that happiness? Won't you speak about it?"
Yājñavalkya replies: "You have always been dear to me, Maitreyī. Now, by asking this question, you have endeared yourself to me more." He then proceeds to find out what is meant by the idea of someone being dear to someone else. His is indeed an inquiry into the concept of love and affection. He says: "A wife is dear to her husband not for the sake of the wife but for the sake of his Self. So is a husband dear to his wife for the sake of her Self. The children too are dear to us not for their sake but for the sake of the Self. So is the case with our love of wealth. We have affection for a person or an entity because it pleases our Self. It means that this Self itself is of the nature of affection, of love, of joy. It is to know this Self independently of everything else that we forsake all those who are dear to us and take to sannyāsa. When we know It—the Self or the Ātman—we will realise that there is nothing other than It. Everything will become dear to us. To begin with, when we had affection for certain people or certain things, we had dislike for certain other people and certain other things. If we cease to be attached to those people or to those things that we loved and realise the Ātman, then we will become aware that there is nothing other than the Ātman. Then, again, we will dislike none and will love all without any distinction."
Before renouncing the world, Yājñavalkya held disputations on the Ultimate Reality with Kahola, Uddālaka Āruṇi and Gārgī in Janaka's royal assembly. These debates, together with the teachings he imparted to Janaka, are included in Muni-kāṇḍa. The concept of Antaryāmin (Inner Controller) belongs to Viśiṣṭādvaita (qualified non-dualism). The basis for this is to be found in Yājñavalkya's answer to a question put to him by Uddālaka Āruṇi.
According to non-dualism all this phenomenal world is Māyā. The idea behind the concept of Antaryāmin is that if the world is the body, the Paramātman dwells in it as its very life. Though Yājñavalkya accepts this concept on a certain level, at all other times his views are entirely in consonance with non-dualism. In his concluding words to Maitreyī, the supreme Advaitin that he is, Yājñavalkya remarks: "Even if you be little dualistic in your outlook, it means that you look at something other than yourself, smell, taste, touch and hear something other than yourself. But when you have realised the Self experientially, all these 'other things' cease to exist. That which is the source of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and so on—how can you see, hear, taste, smell That?" Expounding non-dualism Yājñavalkya tells Janaka (4.3.32), "Like water mingled with water all become one in the Paramātman." "He who is freed from all desire exists as the Brahman even when he is in the world (with his body) and when he dies is united with the Brahman."
The two concluding chapters that form the Khila-kāṇḍa of the Upaniṣad bring together scattered ideas. (If a thing is broken or divided it is called "khila". That which is whole and unbroken is "akhila".)
A story in the Khila-kāṇḍa illustrates how the same teaching is interpreted differently according to the degree of maturity of the aspirants. The devas (the celestial race), humans and the demons (asuras) seek instruction from Prajāpati (the Creator). Prajāpati utters just one syllable, "Da", as his teaching. The devas who do not possess enough control over their senses take it to mean "damyata" ("control your senses"). Humans who are possessive understand the syllable as "datta" ("give", "be charitable"). The asuras who are cruel by nature take the same as "dayadhvam" (be compassionate).
A mantra occurring in the concluding part of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad seems to me not only extremely interesting but also comforting. What does it say? "If a man suffers from fever it must be taken that he is practising austerities (tapas). If he recognises illnesses and afflictions to be tapas, he passes on to a very high world" (5.11.1).
What is the meaning of this statement and what is interesting about it? And how is it comforting?
By observing vows, by fasting, by living an austere life and by suffering physically, we will become less attached to the body, and the sins accumulated in our past lives will diminish. Tapas is a way of expiating the sins of past lives. The offences committed with our body are wiped away by the very body when it undergoes suffering (that is by bodily tapas).
That is why the Purāṇas speak of great men having performed austerities. Ambikā herself—she is the mother of the universe—performs tapas. Not heeding the word of her husband Parameśvara, she (as Satī) attends the sacrifice conducted by her father Dakṣa. Because of the humiliation she suffers there she immolates herself in the sacrificial fire and is reborn as the daughter of Himavān. As atonement for disobeying her husband's command during her past life and for the purpose of being united with him again, she performs severe austerities. Kālidāsa gives a beautiful and moving account of this. How bitterly cold it will be during the winter in the Himālaya. But in that season Pārvatī (that is Ambikā) performs austerities seated on icy rocks or standing on frozen lakes. In the summer, when the sun is beating down harshly, she does tapas with fires burning all round her. Performing austerities with the fires on four sides and with the sun burning above is called "pañcāgni-tapas".
Many great men have performed such severe austerities.
How about ourselves? If they, the great men, were guilty of one or two lapses, we cannot even keep count of our sins. But we have neither the will nor the strength to perform a fraction of the austerities that they went through. How then are we going to wipe away our sins?
It is when we are troubled by such thoughts that we find the foregoing Upaniṣadic mantra comforting. Since ours is not a disciplined life we keep suffering from one ailment or another. The Upaniṣadic mantra seems to be directed to us: "You must learn to think that the affliction you are suffering from is tapas. If you do so you will be freed from your sins and liberated." Though the message is not given in such plain terms, such is the meaning of the mantra.
We often speak of "jvara-tāpa" or "tāpa-jvara" (literally "hot fever"). "Tāpa" means "boiling" or "cooking". The root is "tap"—to burn. "Tāpana" is one of the names of the sun. Even if we do not perform the austerities mentioned in the śāstras, we must take it that the fever contracted by us is the tapas Īśvara has awarded us to become free from our sins.
When we are down with malaria we keep shivering in spite of covering ourselves with blankets. Our attitude now must be to suffer the affliction in lieu of the tapas we ought to perform in the winter months remaining on snow. Do you feel that your body is being roasted when you are suffering from typhoid or pneumonia and a running temperature of 105° or 106°F? You must comfort yourself, believing that God has given you the fever as a substitute for the pañcāgni-tapas you are unable to perform.
You will in due course learn to take such an attitude and develop the strength to suffer any illness. Instead of sending for the doctor or rushing to the medicine chest you may take it easy, telling yourself, "Let the illness take its course." When we happen to fall ill as a means of reducing our burden of sin, is it right to seek a cure for it? Also we save on doctor's fees, medicine, etc. The gain bigger than all the rest is that of learning to take the high attitude of treating suffering as not suffering. This is called "titikṣā".
All this is briefly indicated in the Upaniṣadic mantra. When we keep lamenting that we are unable to expiate our sins—when we are unable to perform tapas—we may take comfort from the fact that when we suffer from a disease it is God's way of making us perform austerities.
In the last chapter of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad we have strong proof of the fact that Vedānta is not opposed to the karmakāṇḍa. Here are mentioned the pañcāgni-vidyā and the rites to be performed to beget virtuous children (suprajā).