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sanchita is destroyed by the fire of knowledge in the case of a person who has attained
Self-realisation. So there is no rebirth for him.
Thus the distinction is drawn between a person who ascends to the Reality consciously
by self-transcendence and the other one who merely dies for taking another birth. This
is, in essence, the teaching of Uddalaka to Svetaketu, in this section.
First, the sage starts by giving an explanation of the process of creation, how the
objective universe is created from the Supreme Being, the Sat, and by means of the
triplicated elements of fire, water and earth, how everything in the world in all creation
is constituted of these three elements only in spite of the variety of particulars. He then
explains that inside the body also these very same principles work and that what the
world outside is made of, of that this body also is made. Then he describes how the mind
and the pranas are also influenced tremendously by the activity of these three
elements, fire, water and earth, so that the external universe as well as the individual
within are both constituted of the same elements, and that essentially they are
indistinguishable. He has explained how this one Being is present both outwardly in the
universe and also inwardly in the individual. Then he has told us that this Being is the
goal of realisation of all individuals and that this Being is present subtly in every
particular manifestation. He has also said that It is invisible to the eyes, because It is the
Subject of all knowledge, that It is the all-pervasive principle, It is the subtlest essence
and that It is the background of all existence, and therefore, the senses and the mind
cannot perceive It. Ordinary knowledge, he has said, is inadequate here and It can be
known only through the grace and guidance of one s own Guru or master; and when a
knower lives in the world with this body as other people live in this body, we draw a
distinction between the former s way of living and conducting himself and the ordinary
people s way of living. For all practical, outward purposes, the liberated man and the
bound man look alike. One cannot know who is a Jivanmukta and who is a bound one,
for both speak in the same way, eat in the same way, live in the same way. The
distinction is within. It is that the liberated one knows what he is, whereas in the other
case he does not know what he really is. So, here is the distinction between knowledge
and ignorance, and here is also the explanation of the path to liberation as propounded
by Sage Uddalaka.
The Chhandogya Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
80
CHAPTER THREE
SANATKUMARA S INSTRUCTIONS ON BHUMA-VIDYA
In the course of the study of the Panchagni-Vidya in the first chapter, we have
discovered that life is ultimately all sorrow on account of one being subjected to the
process of transmigration. It is a fact that there are higher pressures exerted upon the
individual and that these pressures compel one to be driven along the course of
creativity. As long as the cause of this pressure is not realised as identical with one s own
Self, one is not going to attain ultimate freedom from samsara, the cycle of
metempsychosis. This cause for ultimate freedom is the Self of all, the realisation of
which bestows true freedom. And that Self is the Universal Reality. This has been told to
us in the subsequent section dealing with the Vaisvanara-Vidya in the same chapter.
Then in the second chapter which corresponds to the sixth chapter of the Upanishad,
the subject has been continued in a different fashion altogether. There it has been
explained through various analogies, comparisons and illustrations as to how there can
be only one Being and that every detail in creation is only a form taken by this one Being
in the process of creation, so that there is really only one Being and not two, and that
Being is the Self, the Atman.
Now, we are moving towards the seventh chapter of the Upanishad, which is a very
prominent one because it expounds the magnificent doctrine of the Bhuma, the
Absolute, the plenum of Being, the fullness of Reality, and this is done in a Socratic
manner, gradually taking the mind of the student from the lowest reality conceivable to
the highest, stage by stage, indicating thereby that nothing is lost when the Absolute is
realised. When God is attained, nothing of the world is lost, just as when we catch the
original we cannot be said to have lost the shadow. Everything is gained in a
supersensible manner. The shadow may be said to be a part of the original. It is included
in the original. All the lesser degrees of Reality are only forms of Its manifestation. Every
name and form in this creation is a lesser degree of manifestation of the Reality. The
lower degree is not excluded from the higher degree, as the higher includes the lower,
and the highest is everything and is all-inclusive. This is the subject of this chapter
which begins with the great sage Narada approaching the master Sanatkumara for
spiritual instructions and spiritual solace.
Narada was not only learned in all the arts and sciences, but was himself a great saint
and a sage. There was practically nothing that he did not know. He is renowned in all
the epics and the Puranas as a unique personality in many ways. He could travel
throughout this earth, the atmosphere and the heavens and talk to the gods personally.
He had, therefore, a free passport, as it were, to move through every realm and every
plane of Being. Such was his capacity, such was his greatness, and such was his
knowledge and power. Such a renowned person now comes as a disciple, a student, to
the son of Brahma, Sanatkumara; he pleads his ignorance, and expresses his grief over
the fact that he knows so many things but does not have peace of mind in spite of all this
knowledge. There is something missing in spite of every kind of learning of which he is a
master and in which he has specialised.  Great Sir, teach me. I have come to you as a
humble student. This is how Narada, a master, a sage himself, approaches the divine
The Chhandogya Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
81
teacher Sanatkumara.
SECTION 1
NAME
1. Adhihi, bhagavah, iti, hopasasada sanatkumararam naradah, tam
hovaca: yad-vettha tena mopasida, tatas-ta urdhvam vaksyamiti, sa
hovaca.
2. Rgvedam, bhagavah, adhyemi, yajurvedam, samavedam, atharvedam
caturtham, itihasa-puranam pancamam, vedanam vedam, pitryam,
rasim, daivam, nidhim, vakovakyam, ekayanam, devavidyam, brahma-
vidyam, bhuta-vidyam, ksatra-vidyam, naksatra-vidyam,
sarpadevajana-vidyam, etat, bhagavah adhyemi.
Narada approaches Sanatkumara and says:  Great Sir, master, divine sage, here I am at
your feet. Teach me. It was a very simple request.  Teach me.  What should I teach
you? What is your difficulty? You are yourself a very learned person. Let me know what
you already know. And if there is anything left, I shall tell you that. What is the
education that you have already acquired? Tell me that. Then I will speak to you Yad- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]