Prasna Upanishad—Answers to the Second and Third Students’ Questions
Just as the reflection is not stuck to the mirror,
Just as lotus leaves are not wet by the water they dwell in,
Sins cannot stick to a devotee.
Birth and death are an inseparable pair,
Like the two wheels of a chariot.
If one of them ceases to exist, so will creation.
This is the secret of the cosmos.
( Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 )
The One has become many. The will of Prajapati [Lord of creatures] created the pairs of basis and based, inert and conscious, life force and living being, matter and energy.
The interaction of these dualities resulted in the living and non-living universe. The foundation of the world is the union of the sun and moon principles. The sun represents the life force, and the moon, the living being. This wisdom was imparted by Sage Pippalada to Kabandhi [Kabandhi Katyayana], who heard the sage’s words attentively, appreciated the secrets of creation, and experienced bliss.
The Cycle of Birth and Death
At this time Bhargava [Bhargava Vaidarbhi], a disciple from the kingdom of Vidarbha, entered the hermitage. Bhargava saluted Sage Pippalada and asked, “Swami, birth and death seem to be incurable diseases. All the scriptures propagate that death follows birth and vice versa. Is existence nothing but this cycle of life and death? Is there no end to this cycle?”
Pippalada said, “My child, God is without beginning and end. The living and non-living world is transitory. Although there is truth in this transient world, it is formless. Everything must perish one day.”
Sun’s North-Southward Passages
The sun causes days, seasons, and years. They are cogs in the wheel of time. The path of the sun is the basis for time. These divisions of time go according to Prajapati’s will. Time is a form of Prajapati.
Time is divided into two halves: uttarayana and dakshinayana. Ayana means “journey.” When the sun travels [across the sky] toward the north [from about December 21 to June 21], this period of time is called uttarayana. The sun’s southward trajectory [from about June 21 to December 21] occurs during dakshinayana. Uttarayana is characterized by brightness, peace, contentment, fearlessness, and purity; dakshinayana, by darkness, unrest, fear, and delusion.
Those who seek to travel during dakshinayana perform various rituals and acts of charity and embark in the “southerly” direction. Their journey takes them to the moon, which represents matter. In other words, with impressions of worldly desires, you will attain only the material world, not God. As long as the results of your good deeds permit, you stay in chandraloka (the lunar plane of existence). When that store of merits is exhausted, you return to this world. The scriptures say that depletion of merits forces a return to the world of mortals.
Take an example. The victor in a political election becomes a member of the legislative assembly for five years. As each year passes, he recedes further and further away from the assembly. His membership ceases after five years. Similarly, man earns time in chandraloka with his good deeds, but returns for rebirth in the physical world when the fruit of his merit are exhausted.
If you travel during uttarayana, you acquire attachment to Brahman, leading to knowledge of Brahman. Then you will reach the surya mandala (solar plane of existence). The surya mandala represents the life force. Only when your life force is merged into the universal life force, do you escape from birth and death. As long as you have delusion, you cannot attain God. Cultivate the feeling of Brahma and reach the world of the sun. The one who recognizes Brahman becomes Brahman Himself. Thus, understand the link between uttarayana, dakshin-ayana, and rebirth. Journeying during dakshinayana brings rebirth, while traveling during uttarayana leads to immortality.
Bright and Dark Fortnights
There are twelve months. In each month, the sun enters a specific house. As the sun traces its path through these houses, its radiance changes and gives birth to the seven colors. Every month has two fortnights: the bright half of the month and the dark half. What are the bright and dark halves?
The moon is in front of the sun and catches the sun’s aura, shining with 16 aspects—meaning that because of its proximity to the sun (symbolizing the life force), the moon (representing the living being) shines brightly with all its aspects. This is called the full moon.
During the new moon day, the moon merges into the sun and is unseen. The dark fortnight is the period from full moon to new moon, when the moon’s brightness wanes. From the new moon to the full moon, the brightness of the moon increases. This is the bright half of the month. The bright fortnight is the life force and the dark fortnight is the living being. The combination of life force and living being is this divine world. All these occurrences are merely the results of Prajapati’s will.
Living being and Life Force
The One manifests as many. How? When you sow one seed in the earth, it becomes a gigantic tree with thousands of fruit, each of which contains innumerable seeds. These seeds, in turn, give birth to many other trees. Thus, one seed becomes many trees. One life force has become countless living beings. Creation has no bounds.
In the very beginning, there was only the living being and life force. Their union brought about the universe. The world has no beginning or end. Since people see diversity in this manifestation of God’s will, they see it as finite. Creation, sustenance and destruction are not solely God’s will; human effort also matters to a certain extent. Depending on his actions and thoughts, man achieves the good or bad destination he has chosen for himself. The man born of God has forgotten his divinity. Thus, he becomes a demon, behaves like an animal, and wastes his innate potential.
Death is inescapable. However, man has the capacity to prevent further rebirth. Take a seed of green gram. When sown, it becomes a plant with many fruit. But no one knows the seed’s parents, its grandfather, great-grandfather, and so on. No one knows how long it has been born as a green gram seed. Thus, the beginning is beyond your reach. But if you pop the seed in your mouth and chew it, its life ends. The beginning is beyond you, but the end is in your control. Similarly, no one can tell when a man began his existence, or in what manner. The end, however, is dependent on his spiritual effort. When you journey during uttarayana, you become one with Brahman.
A paddy seed is covered with husk. As long as the husk remains, you can plant and water it, and it will germinate. This is repeated birth and death. Remove the husk, and the seed becomes [a grain of] rice. Rice will never germinate in soil, no matter how much you try [to make it grow]. It has no more rebirths. Paddy is reborn, rice is not. The husks that distinguish paddy from rice represent desires. Desires compel you to take birth again and again. Without desires, you are free.
You spend your entire life on matter, matter, matter … This is the “moon.” In the Upanishads, the moon does not refer to the planetary body circling the earth. The “Purusha Sukta, a [Vedic] prayer to Lord Narayana (the primordial personality of the Godhead), says that from His mind emerged the moon and from His eyes, the sun.
Rebirth is unavoidable as long as the mind harbors thoughts and counter thoughts. When you nullify both likes and dislikes in the awareness of Brahman, you destroy the mind and conquer rebirth. “Therefore, O Bhargava,” said Sage Pippalada, “do not fear that birth and death are grim finalities. There is a state beyond birth and death, and it is possible to attain it.” These were Pippalada’s beautiful words.
Life Forces in Living Beings
Then the third disciple, Asvalayana [Kausalya Asvalayana], entered and prostrated to the guru. “Swami, in each living being, what kind of life forces sustain and protect the life energy?” he asked. “Who is the most exalted of all beings? What is the power that pervades the various limbs of a living being?”
Pippalada replied, “Son, wind [air], fire, water, and earth take birth from ether [producing the five elements]. Their manifestations in the human body are speech, vision, hearing, and mind. These four faculties protect the living being. Of these, the sun principle or chief life force is primary. Without it, the eyes cannot see, the ears cannot hear, the mouth cannot speak, and the mind cannot think. The chief life force is more important than any other part of the body. The body is its home, its dwelling place, its temple. The body is the temple; the indweller is the eternal One. This life force is eternal. It takes shelter in the temporary body.
The body contains thousands of nadis (channels of life force in the astral body). Do not consider the human body as ordinary. Truly, there are 720 million nadis in the human body. Vyana [a lesser life force responsible for circulation] travels in these nadis. Without vyana, the nadis cannot function. There is another such life force, udana [the swallowing force], that witnesses the good and bad actions done by man and takes him to the corresponding destinations. Your state of existence depends on your actions. Thus, the scriptures advise you not to be elated in joy or depressed in sorrow, but to follow the eternal principle of equanimity.
Life Forces under the Chief Life Force
Difficulties are not caused by someone else. Joys are also not favors done for you by others. Because of weakness, you blame others for your grief and praise them for your joy—but both [these behaviors] are baseless. Only your thoughts and actions are responsible for joy and sorrow, profit and loss, honor and dishonor. Sin does not exist somewhere, waiting to grab you. God also does not reside in some secluded corner. Both God and sin dwell in your own body, in your actions. You attain heaven, hell, liberation, or any other after-death state based only on your karma. The principle of udana decides this destination.
There are five types of life forces (pranas)—prana [the sensory force], apana [the excretory/generative force], samana [the digestive force], udana and vyana. Besides being in the body, they reside in the five elements outside. The sun is composed of prana. From the earth emanates apana; from the sky or ether, samana; from the wind [air], udana; from fire, vyana. In each of the five elements, its corresponding force is immanent. Clinging inseparably to the five forces are the repercussions of the good and bad done by man.
You Reap What You Sow
The secrets of creation are not easily explained by anyone. Every object has a shadow associated with it. The results of karma follow the chief life force like a shadow. Wherever this life force ventures, karma follows. The results of karma are attached to your present body as well. When the chief life force leaves your body and dons another one, the karmic shadows go to the new body instead of staying with the dead body.
Where does the life force go? After death, it does not just acquire a random body. It attains the kind of body determined by your actions. You obtain a good rebirth only when you perform good actions and entertain good thoughts. Can you expect sweet mangoes to emerge from bitter lemon seeds? You forget this truth.
“I will do this, I will attain that”—
Do not tire yourself in such planning.
Whatever seeds you have sown yesterday,
You will get the corresponding results today.
When your seeds do not fit the fruit you expect,
How can your ambitions be achieved?
All your actions are recorded, one by one,
Whether good or bad, without exception.
Brahma sends with you a heavy necklace—
The necklace of the results of past karma.
At birth, no necklace is seen around your neck.
There isn’t a string of pearls adorning you,
Nor a gold chain,
Nor a set of diamonds shining brilliantly,
or an ornament of green emeralds.
But it is there—an unbreakable necklace,
Putting together the results of past karma.
Brahma sends with you a heavy necklace—
The necklace of the results of past karma.
Therefore, O men, your joys and sorrows are repercussions of your own good and bad actions. First, recognize this truth. Then engage in good thoughts, words, and deeds to obtain a good life and afterlife. You reap what you sow—no more, no less. Whatever you eat, you experience its belch! When you eat a cucumber, is it possible to taste mango in your burp? God is not responsible for your joys or sorrows. God is merely a witness.
Devotion Burns away Karma
Having said that, bear in mind: No matter how large the pile of your bad karma, if you pray to God with genuine feeling emanating from the depth of your heart, all karma disappears like snow on a summer day.
The reflection appears inside the mirror, but it is not stuck to the mirror. The lotus dwells in a lake, but its leaves are not wet by the water. Similarly, no karma, however heinous or numerous, can trouble man when he has pure devotion. A small spark can consume mountains of cotton. The tiniest spark is enough. Therefore:
You cry for wife, children, friends,
Wealth, business, pleasures, name, and fame.
If you yearn for Krishna’s [God’s] lotus feet for a moment,
You can easily cross the terrible doors of death.
For the amount of time you spend on crying for wife, children, friends, and fame, if you set aside just a moment—a single moment—for heartfelt contemplation on the Lord, it is said that the terrible doors of hell can be transcended. How can you expect peace if you do not even dedicate a fraction of your time to meditate on God?
Dedicate Actions to the Lord
Therefore, the life force is most important. You need to follow a specific path. Merge your senses into your mind. Merge your mind into your atma [soul]. In other words, whatever actions you perform, dedicate them to the atma. Perform actions with the motivation to become dear to the Lord. Do not be inactive.
You can be a lawyer, doctor, banker, or businessman. Whatever your vocation, work is transformed into worship with this pure outlook. Transform work into worship; offer it to the Lord. With work done in this manner, you will have no rebirth.
It is not enough to repeat “Krishna-arpanam [dedication to God]” with your tongue. It must come from your heart. Dedication through mere words will produce mere verbal results. How? For example, if you tell Me, “Swami, please grace my home with a visit,” my reply is, “Definitely, I will come.” But if, in reality, you are not inviting Me, I’m not going to come! When you call me from the core of your heart, I will definitely come—with all My heart. As is your feeling, so is the result you experience.
As is your desire, so is your feeling. As is your feeling, so is the result you experience. It is important that whatever you do, you do with your heart. The heart is the junction of all nadis in the human body. When pious intentions emerge in the heart, the entire body is filled with enthusiasm and divinity. Everything originates in the heart—not the physical heart, but the spiritual heart. The way to overcome birth and death is to harness this heart through love.
Thoughts—the Root Cause
Thus, six students approached Pippalada with basic doubts that assail every human being. The great sage gave them detailed and satisfactory answers. The first question was put by Kabandhi, “What is the cause of creation?” And Pippalada replied, “Thought is the cause of creation.” He gave a simple analogy. “Son,” he said, “what causes dreams? Some people think that indigestion causes dreams. Others say it is excess thoughts or weakness in the body. None of these are true. Sleep alone causes dreams. One without sleep can never have dreams. Therefore, thought causes creation. When thought is destroyed, creation is no more. Then the sight becomes the seer. Everything is perceived as One, full of bliss.” Pippalada taught his disciples to gradually limit thoughts and to control the mind.
Source: Summer Showers in Brindavan, 1991
( Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 )
