Prasna Upanishad—Answers to the Sixth Student’s Questions
Peace is non-existent; Truth is scarce;
Fear of weapons has mounted.
Selfishness is the cause of these harmful trends.
These words convey the truth.
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God is truth and wisdom, and is infinite. Akshara, Paramatma, paratatwa, Brahma, kshetrajna—these terms are merely synonyms for the universal soul. Names are based on place, time, and situation. Every being aspires to be happy, to keep misery at bay. Although man desires joy and peace, why is he compelled to experience sorrow and difficulties? Sorrow, unrest, and fear are nothing but reflections of joy and peace. Without sorrow, joy has no value. If unrest did not exist, why would you yearn for peace? These dualities follow each other and are interdependent.
We spoke of Om yesterday. We saw that the three sounds—a, u, and m—represent Bhurloka (the physical world), Bhuvarloka (the astral world) and Suvarloka (the solar world). Also, the Rig-veda, Yajur-veda, and Sama-veda merely elaborate whatever is contained in Om. To attain the principle of Om—namely, the unity of the three modes (a, u, and m), Vedas, and worlds—three paths are available.
Chanting, Feeling, and Spiritual Effort
First, chant the name of the Lord. Second, add feeling. Third, engage in spiritual effort. By chanting the divine name, you can experience the pleasures of the Bhurloka, that is, worldly comforts and amenities. All worldly pleasures can be obtained through chanting the name. However, these are temporary and unreal.
Next, cultivate feeling. What does feeling mean? Appreciating that a divine power runs the world of living and non-living entities, making this conviction central to your daily activities, and contemplating upon that power, is feeling. By treading the path of feeling, one reaches Chandraloka [the lunar world]. To trust that there is a basis for the gross world is feeling. Chandraloka is the realm of the mind, where man enjoys peace and contentment.
Through chanting the divine name, you get physical comforts; through feeling, mental peace. You remain dissatisfied with these two joys and proceed to the third stage, spiritual effort. Such effort takes him to Suvarloka, the realm of the sun or the soul principle, characterized by the highest awareness and consciousness, by the highest wisdom born of divine vision. In this wisdom, which reveals the unity of everything, there is peace.
Bhurloka and Bhuvarloka pertain to the physical world, which is fleeting and unreal. Bhurloka is gross, while Bhuvarloka is subtle. The body is gross, the mind is subtle. Bhurloka and Bhuvarloka relate to the body and the mind. Suvarloka is the domain of the soul. Through chanting the divine name, cultivating feeling, and engaging in spiritual effort, these three planes of existence are attained. When these three paths are followed, you can reach a state beyond the three worlds—a state of supreme peace and bliss. This is the goal of human life. These were the answers given by Sage Pippalada to [his student] Sathyakama.
The Lord of all with 16 Attributes
At this time, Sukesa, son of Sage Bharadvaja, rose and prayed, “Swami, all scriptures declare that there is a divine being, Purushottama [the Lord of all], who is a reservoir of 16 attributes. Who is this being? What are the 16 attributes? Where are they found? Please appease my curiosity.”
Pippalada smiled, “Son, Sukesa, Purushottama is not limited to some secluded place. He is present as awareness in every being and experiences bliss in that form. He is sat-chit-ananda—being, awareness, and bliss.”
Sat means one who is changeless, true, and permanent—one to whom nothing can be added. The one who recognizes complete awareness is chit. The one who experiences sat and chit is the embodiment of ananda [bliss]. Names and forms may vary, but sat and chit lead to the same goal. The right and left eye are distinct, no doubt. But when you open both of them, left and right merge in your vision. Similarly, the unity of sat and chit is ananda. These three are present within every human being.
Sat-chit-ananda is one possessing all 16 attributes. Now, these attributes have been expounded upon by the scriptures in various ways, confusing the common man. The attributes are not meant to be earned by you, but instead, they are natural to you.
Space carries sound, causing wind. Wind gives birth to fire and brightness, through which water is made possible. The grosser aspect of water is itself earth. The 5 elements are space, air, fire, water, and earth. The 5 life forces in our body are prana [the force of respiration], apana [the force of elimination], samana [the force of digestion], udana [the upward-directing force], and vyana [the force of circulation]. Together, the elements and life forces form 10 attributes. The 5 organs of perception—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin—bring the total to 15. The mind is the 16th. These attributes shine in every human being.
The Lord
The attributes are all-encompassing and full. The one who experiences these attributes in all their fullness, employs them to recognize the state of fullness, and attains it, qualifies for the title of purusha [in the Vedas, purusha means God] or Purushottama [purusha + uttama, where uttama means “best among”.]
Who is a purusha? This term does not mean one who wears pants and a shirt, namely, a male [purusha is also the common term for male in Sanskrit and many Indian languages]! That consciousness, that awareness, that divine power, pulsating from top to toe in the body, is called purusha. Also, the one who experiences this awareness is a purusha; however, the one who appears in everyone, or the collective consciousness throughout the cosmos, is Purushottama. In other words, the individualized awareness is purusha, while the collective awareness is Purushottama.
What must the purusha do to sanctify his time in the body? Sound, air, fire, water, and earth—the five elements—must be regarded as manifestations of God and used appropriately.
Sacred Use of the Senses
God has bestowed on man the five organs of perception (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin). Sight is fire. Your eyes must be directed along the proper path. See good; only then will this attribute become a divine instrument. The second organ is the ears. You must employ your ears to hear only words that encourage awareness of your pure, transcendental nature. The third organ is the nose. Sweet fragrances do not just confer joy but are conducive to health as well. Bad odors lead to bad health and disturb mental peace. Good smells are God’s manifestations in the air.
Next comes the skin. The sense of touch is very pure. It must not be used indiscriminately. To sanctify the sense of touch, the ancient sages left villages and towns, sought solitude in forests, and spent their time in silent meditation. There is a divine power in your body called chitshakti [the principle of intelligence]. This power is like a current. With touch, currents in bodies are exchanged. It is very likely that in this process, your good qualities will be depleted and bad qualities increased! Therefore, it is advisable to touch only pious and great individuals, especially their feet, to ensure that your virtues flourish and your vices subside.
When you sit for meditation, ensure that you are not close to others, that you do not touch another’s body. Sit alone, focus on your innate potential, express it in behavior, and mentally enjoy the divine power that is within you and outside you. God is inside, outside, everywhere. When you cultivate friendships and attachments indiscriminately, you drain your divinity day by day. The ancient sages used the five elements and sense organs in sacred ways and transformed themselves into divine personages.
Our body has 720 million nadis [astral channels of life energy described in traditional Indian medicine]. The life force called vyana pervades every nadi uniformly. The divine force of vyana ensures health, joy, and enthusiasm. Vyana manifests as a thousand-petaled lotus in the crown of the head [the crown chakra]. When the kundalini energy journeys from the root chakra to the crown chakra, the petals of this lotus blossom. Then the kundalini glows with infinite effulgence in the thousand petals. Man today, drained of this divine energy, is susceptible to all kinds of sorrow. The sages were made of stronger material. They purified the root chakra, awakened the kundalini power, made it traverse the path to the crown chakra, and redeemed the purpose of their birth. Therefore, the five life forces must be utilized properly. Only then can you attain the state of divinity.
The Source is Within
Thus, although man has the 16 attributes within himself, he is unable to use them properly, unable to recognize his divinity.
When you have kamadhenu [the wish-fulfilling cow] granting milk upon mere request,
Why pay money to buy an ordinary cow?
When the wish-fulfilling tree is with you,
Why crave for the wild weeds growing around your house?
When you have a golden mountain shining with infinite brightness,
Why search for nuggets of silver and gold?
Although man is an embodiment of the divinity expressed as 16 attributes and contains these attributes within himself, he does not recognize their divine significance, so he performs actions that wreck his peace of mind. Besides not attaining the state of purusha or Purushottama, he slips downward into animal and demonic tendencies. Why? He does not use the 16 attributes in the right way.
Give up Selfishness
Yes, you may not be well versed in the Vedas, epics, and Puranas [ancient Sanskrit texts]. But you do not put into practice basic morals in your daily life. You must speak the truth and speak it sweetly. Speak words that instill joy in others. Never hurt others with words. You know these teachings, but you fail to practice them! Why? Selfishness, selfishness.
In the anxiety to realize selfish goals, men use the 16 attributes in detrimental ways. Everyone is endowed with 16 attributes that are full. If a man sanctifies these attributes and recognizes their divine significance, he qualifies to be called Purushottama. If he wastes his attributes, he is the lowest among men.
The answer to Sukesa’s question was that Purushottama is not a separate being residing in a secret place. God is not in some other place, but in your own body! Similarly, sin does not reside outside, but in your ruinous actions. Your actions alone turn you into a purusha, Purushottama, man, demon, or animal. They can lead you to higher states or can drag you down into hellish existence.
Nature of Avatars
The Puranas declare that one who has completely sanctified the 16 attributes is a Purushottama. Therefore, avatars alone can apply the 16 attributes with total, unalloyed selflessness. Whatever is done, seen, spoken or thought by avatars is absolutely selfless. No avatar, at any time, has ever used his five organs of perception, life forces, elements, or his mind for selfish ends. While conducting himself as an ordinary man, the avatar unmistakably displays purity, truth, and eternal qualities through unselfish actions. Man is blind to such subtle truths and thus is unable to understand his humanness.
Invisible Awareness
Pippalada bestowed these grand teachings upon Sukesa. He told him to inquire about the unity of the gross and the subtle. The gross is perishable, and the subtle, indestructible. The world is perishable, and the soul, imperishable. Life is perishable, God is imperishable. Only when you grasp the significance of these two principles can you understand the 16 attributes in their fullness.
The entire cosmos, mobile and immobile, has emerged from the indestructible principle. This principle has given birth to the world, sustains the world, and ultimately, merges the world into itself. The indestructible principle is the unity of the individual soul and God, the combination of the temporary and the permanent.
The 16 attributes are sanctified when they are dedicated to the soul. Let your vision not be restricted to the external, physical sight but proceed inward to the soul. Foster the feeling that your physical sight is made possible only by the light of the soul. Do not misconstrue your organs of action to be the source of awareness. Your ears are able to hear only because of the power of the soul. The invisible cause is the power of the soul, called intuitive wisdom.
Our external vision beholds the world. The inner vision and the dream and deep-sleep states pertain to intuitive wisdom. This highest knowledge gives birth to effulgence. Whatever you do, see, think, and say, you must dedicate to the soul. Then the attributes will blossom to their full capacity. How? Rivers with distinct names and forms flow in their respective directions. But ultimately, all rivers acquire the name, form, and qualities of the ocean.
Similarly, the five elements are distinct streams. So are the five life forces and organs of perception. Lastly, the mind is the most turbulent river of all! When all these streams are offered to the soul, they merge into the highest knowledge. Then they lose their individual names and forms and acquire the immaculate qualities of the soul—formless, true, eternal, and unsullied. Hence, to become a Purushottama, you must use the 16 attributes meaningfully.
Source: Summer Showers in Brindavan, 1991
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