Taittiriya Upanishad
Illumination, Heroism and Harmony
The task of preparing teaching-learning material for value oriented education is enormous. There is, first, the idea that value-oriented education should be exploratory rather than prescriptive, and that the teaching-learning material should provide to the learners a growing experience of exploration.
Secondly, it is rightly contended that the proper inspiration to turn to value-orientation is provided by biographies, autobiographical accounts, personal anecdotes, epistles, short poems, stories of humour, stories of human interest, brief passages filled with pregnant meanings, reflective short essays written in well-chiselled language, plays, powerful accounts of historical events, statements of personal experiences of values in actual situations of life, and similar other statements of scientific, philosophical, artistic and literary expression,
Thirdly, we may take into account the contemporary fact that the entire world is moving rapidly towards the synthesis of the East and the West, and in that context, it seems obvious that our teaching-learning material should foster the gradual familiarisation of students with global themes of universal significance as also those that underline the importance of diversity in unity. This implies that the material should bring the students nearer to their cultural heritage, but also to the highest that is available in the cultural experiences of the world at large.
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Fourthly, an attempt should be made to select from Indian and world history such examples that could illustrate the theme of the upward progress of humankind. The selected research material could be multi-sided, and it should be presented in such a way that teachers can make use of it in the manner and in the context that they need in specific situations that might obtain or that can be created in respect of the students.
The research team at the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER) has attempted the creation of the relevant teaching-learning material, and they have decided to present the same in the form of monographs. The total number of these monographs will be around eighty.
It appears that there are three major powers that uplift life to higher and higher normative levels, and the value of these powers, if well illustrated, could be effectively conveyed to the learners for their upliftment. These powers are those of illumination, heroism and harmony.
It may be useful to explore the meanings of these terms illumination, heroism and harmony — since the aim of these monographs is to provide material for a study of what is sought to be conveyed through these three terms. We offer here exploratory statements in regard to these three terms.
Illumination is that ignition of inner light in which meaning and value of substance and life-movement are seized, understood, comprehended, held, and possessed, stimulating and inspiring guided action and application and creativity culminating in joy, delight, even ecstasy. The width, depth and height of the light and vision determine the degrees of illumination, and when they reach the splendour and glory of synthesis and harmony, illumination ripens into wisdom. Wisdom, too, has varying degrees that can uncover powers of knowledge and action, which reveal unsuspected secrets and unimagined skills of art and craft of creativity and effectiveness.
Heroism is, essentially, inspired force and self-giving and sacrifice in the operations of will that is applied to the quest, realisation and triumph of meaning and value against the
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resistance of limitations and obstacles by means of courage, battle and adventure. There are degrees and heights of heroism determined by the intensity, persistence and vastness of sacrifice. Heroism attains the highest states of greatness and refinement when it is guided by the highest wisdom and inspired by the sense of service to the ends of justice and harmony, as well as when tasks are executed with consummate skill.
Harmony is a progressive state and action of synthesis and equilibrium generated by the creative force of joy and beauty and delight that combines and unites knowledge and peace and stability with will and action and growth and development. Without harmony, there is no perfection, even though there could be maximisation of one or more elements of our nature. When illumination and heroism join and engender relations of mutuality and unity, each is perfected by the other and creativity is endless.
Amongst the various texts of ancient India, the Taittiriya Upanishad has a special place, as it devotes an entire section to education. The Taittiriya Upanishad begins with Śikṣāvalli. Śikṣāvalli means, literally, that portion which is connected with the process of teaching and learning. It aims at summarising the essential points that are to be the content of that process of teaching and learning.
It can be seen that the Vedic system of education aims at comprehending the entire universe of knowledge. It aims at the knowledge of the physical world (bhur), the vital world (bhuvar), and the mental world (swar). But it does not stop here. It speaks also of a fourth world, mahas, or the supramental.
Amongst the contents of knowledge we find also the knowledge of the self, which is considered the culmination of the curriculum. In the Brahmānandavalli, the Taittiriya Upanishad itself analyses different levels of self-consciousness, and based on the knowledge of the relationship between Purusa consciousness and Prakriti consciousness, it speaks of three levels of the lower self and two levels of the higher and highest consciousness
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of the self. The three lower levels of consciousness of the self are described as those of annamaya Puruṣa, prānamaya Puruṣa, and manomaya Puruṣa. A transition needs to be made, according to the Taittiriya Upanishad, from the lower self to the higher self, and this transition is the main subject of the discipline that involves cultivation of truth-consciousness and consciousness of right action, (kavikratu). As a result, one is able to attain to the consciousness of vijnānamaya Purusa, the consciousness of the Purusa that is appropriate to the Supramental consciousness. This is followed by the highest state of self-realisation, the realisation of the ānaṇdamaya Purusa.
And finally, in the Bhṛguvalli, we find a very interesting dialogue between Bhrigu and his father Varuna. Bhrigu is like an ideal student who is enthusiastic about his quest for wisdom and illumination. He approaches his father as his pupil, and addresses his father as his teacher. His question concerns the highest knowledge, the knowledge of the Eternal. In the dialogue that follows we find that Varuna, the teacher, does not answer the question directly or in fullness. He pronounces a few words, which appear to be enigmatic, and asks the pupil to meditate on them. The secret of learning lies in the power of concentration in thought. This important message about the methodology of teaching and learning is to be found in the Bhṛguvalli of the Taittiriya Upanishad.
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In this book, we have used six illustrations of flowers under which their special spiritual significance is mentioned. The spiritual significance of these flowers was identified by The Mother. She said, "Flowers speak to us when we know how to listen to them. It is a subtle and fragrant language."
The names of these flowers and their spiritual significance are as follows: Canna Xgeneralis (Physical Centre), Dendranthema Xgrandiflorum (Life Energy or Vital Energy), Thevetia Peruviana (Mind), Leucaena Leucocephala (Knowledge), Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis (Ananda). There is also a picture of Anthocephalus Cadamba (Supramental Sun).
The relevance of the flowers in this book is to be found in the fact that the Taittiriya Upanishad speaks of five levels of consciousness, physical, vital, mental, supramental and blissful. The picture Supramental Sun corresponds to vijnānamaya of the Taittiriya Upanishad.
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Dakshinamurti (Kanchipuram)
I
Just as the Kathopanishad belongs to the Krishna (Black) Yajurveda, even so the Taittiriya Upanishad also belongs to the same Veda. Both these Upanishads have internal connection. In particular, the knowledge of the soul, which we find in the Kathopanishad, is confirmed and elucidated in the Taittiriya Upanishad. And it is to this aspect that we may turn at once.
The Kathopanishad speaks of three fires and five fires, indicating that the soul that is fire is to be found at three levels, the level of the body, the level of the vital being, and the level of the mental being. The Kathopanishad also tells us that the mental being is not the highest, since the faculty of knowledge is even higher than the mind. It further tells us that there is even a greater self higher than the faculty of knowledge. Both these higher levels are accessible to the ascending fire of the soul, and when the soul ascends to these two, the fire of the soul does no more remain three-fold but becomes five-fold.
In the Taittiriya Upanishad we have a more explicit statement of the ascension of the soul on all the five planes. There are, according to this Upanishad, five sheaths, koshas, and our soul is encaged in these koshas. The first is called the
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annamaya, which refers to the physical sheath; the second is called the prāṇamaya, which refers to the vital sheath; the third is called, the manomaya, which refers to the mental sheath. These three are familiar to all of us who have risen above the animal level of existence and have even gone above the level of passions and desires so as to lead the life of reflections, reasoning and understanding. But these three levels belong to the plane of Ignorance, because while living on these levels we grope blindly in search of knowledge. Knowledge, even when achieved, is only mental in character; it is besieged by error and is uncertain. We are always in need to verify our conclusions in various ways; and even verified knowledge does not give us the total sense of certainty.
But when the soul ascends to a higher sheath, knowledge is found to be its very natural characteristic. Here knowledge is not only jnana, realisation of the essence, but also vijnāna, realisation of the entire manifestation. This level is, therefore, called by the Upanishad the level of vijnānamaya, which refers to the sheath of holistic knowledge. But higher than this is the ānaṇdamaya kosha, which refers to the sheath of the blissful, which is described at length as that of inexpressible delight from which all creations burst out.
Let us go to the original text of this Upanishad and listen to the relevant words of it on this important subject.¹
"Food is the eldest of created things and therefore they name it the Green Stuff of the universe. [...] From food all creatures are born and being born they grow² by food. Lo, it is eaten and it eats; yea, it devours the
creatures that feed upon it, therefore it is called food from the eating.ˮ
"Now there is a second and inner Self which is other
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¹. All translations in this chapter are from Sri Aurobindo's The Upanishads, Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, Volume 12, 1972.
². Or, increase, (foot-note from original text)
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than this that is of the substance of food; and it is made of the vital stuff called Prana. And the Self of Prana fills the Self of food. Now the Self of Prana is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, [...] Prana is the life of created things and therefore they name it the Life-Stuff of the All. And this Self of Prana is the soul in the body of the former one which was of food,ˮ
"Now there is yet a second and inner Self which is other than this that is of Prana, and it is made of Mind. And the Self of Mind fills the Self of Prana. Now the Self of Mind is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it in the image of the man. [...] And this Self of Mind is the soul in the body to the former one which was of Prana.ˮ
"Now there is yet a second and inner self which is other than this which is of Mind and it is made of Know/edge. And the Self of Know/edge fills the Self of Mind. Now the Knowledge Self is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it in the image of the man. [...] And this Self of Knowledge is the soul in the body to the former one which was of Mind.ˮ
"Now there is yet a second and inner self which is other than this which is of Knowledge and it is fashioned out of Bliss. And the Self of Bliss fills the Self of Knowledge. Now the Bliss Self is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it made in the image of the man. [...] And this Self of Bliss is the soul in the body to the former one which was of Knowledge.ˮ
The Upanishad then proceeds to describe the experience of bliss.
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"When he has got him this delight, then it is that this creation becomes a thing of bliss; for who could labour to draw in the breath or who could have strength to breathe it out, if there were not that Bliss in the heaven of his heart, the ether within his being? It is He that is the fountain of bliss; for when the Spirit that is within us finds the Invisible, Bodiless, Undefinable and Unhoused Eternal his refuge and firm foundation, then he has passed beyond the reach of Fear. But when the Spirit that is within us makes for himself even a little difference in the Eternal, then he has fear, yea, the Eternal himself becomes a terror to such a knower who thinks not.ˮ
We now come to the full exposition of Bliss. Says the Upanishad;
"Behold this exposition of the Bliss to which ye shall hearken. Let there be a young man, excellent and lovely in his youth, a great student; let him have fair miners, and a most firm heart and great strength of body, and let all this wide earth be full of wealth for his enjoying. That is the measure of bliss of one human being. Now a hundred and a hundredfold of the human measure of bliss, is the one bliss of men that have become angels in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of angelic bliss is one bliss of Gods that are angels in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and hundredfold of this measure of divine angelic bliss is one bliss of the Fathers whose world of heaven is their world for ever. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A
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hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of bliss of the Fathers whose worlds are for ever, is one bliss of the Gods who are born as Gods in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of bliss of the firstborn in heaven, is one bliss of the Gods of work who are Gods, for by their strength of their deeds they depart and are Gods in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of bliss of the Gods of work, is one bliss of the great Gods who are Gods for ever. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of divine bliss, is one bliss of Indra, the King in Heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of Indra's bliss is one bliss of Brihaspati, who taught the Gods in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of Brihaspati's bliss, is one bliss of Prajapati, the Almighty Father. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of Prajapati's bliss, is one bliss of the Eternal Spirit. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not.ˮ
"The Spirit who is here in a man and the Spirit who is there in the Sun, it is one Spirit and there is no other. He who knows this, when he has gone away from this world, passes to this Self, which is of food; he passes to this Self which is of Prana; he passes to this Self which is of Mind, he passes to this Self which is of Knowledge; he passes to this Self which is of Bliss. [...]ˮ
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''The Bliss of the Eternal from which words turn back without attaining and mind also returns baffled: who knows the Bliss of the Eternal, he fears not for aught in this world or elsewhere. Verily, to him comes not remorse and her torment saying, "Why have I left undone the good and why have I done that which was evil?ˮ For he who knows the Eternal, knows these¹ and delivers from them his Spirit; yea, he knows both evil and good for what they are and delivers his Spirit, who knows the Eternal. And this is Upanishad, the secret of the Veda.ˮ
II
There are five sheaths of our being, beginning with the material and culminating in the blissful. This was the main substance of the Taittiriya Upanishad's section Brahmānandavalli, which was summarised in the last note.
Corresponding to these five sheaths, there are five cosmic planes of the manifestation of the Eternal. This is the main substance of Bhṛguvalli, which is the last section of the Taittiriya Upanishad. It consists of a dialogue between Bhrigu, Varuna's son, with his father.
Let us see how the dialogue begins. It will show how the Upanishadic teachers used to teach their pupils, — not by giving discourses, but by suggesting a few key words and leaving the pupils to meditate thereon and to explore by thought and askesis.
"Bhrigu, Varunaʼs son, came unto his father Varuna and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal.ˮ And his father declared it unto him thus, "Food and Prana and Eye
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¹. Or, knows that they are alike, (foot-note from original text)
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and Ear and Mind — even these.ˮ Verily he said unto him, "Seek thou to know that from which these creatures are born, whereby being born they live and to which they go hence and enter again; for that is the Eternal.ˮ And Bhrigu concentrated himself in thought and by the askesis of his broodingˮ.
There is, we might say, a psychological law of development. According to this law, there are two approaches to the seeking of the Highest. The first is synthetic, which is spontaneous in the intuitive consciousness. In this consciousness, there is inherent harmony, stability and delight. But often this consciousness in our infancy is not self-conscious. It operates rhythmically in our mind and there is no questioning. The being is luminously self-absorbed in a state of harmony and the play of life is guided spontaneously by that harmony. But in the course of evolution of our mind, there is the inevitable urge for self- consciousness. And this urge tends in mental consciousness to manifest by breaking the original spontaneous harmony. Once this harmony is broken, there comes into operation the second law, the law of ascending from below upwards, which builds up in our psychology, a knowledge of all terms of existence, one by one, one adding upon another, from the lowest to the highest. This law operates not by intuitive consciousness of the totality, but by concentration and by askesis, a process of laborious ascent. There is in this process of development a questioning and strenuous gathering of knowledge step by step.
The teacher, aware of this process which was valid for the development of Bhrigu, places before the pupil the ascending terms of existence, Food, that is Matter, Prana, that is Life, and Eye and Ear, which represent the senses, the first appearances of the operation of consciousness, and next, the Mind. The teacher then asks the pupil to find out which of them, if any, is more fundamental and therefore the Eternal.
The pupil is thus given a programme of search. Evidently, the teacher does not want to give the answer, but wants the
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pupil to find out the answer through his own effort. The teacher has only given a riddle and a hint. The rest is for the pupil to work out,
The first answer that Bhrigu arrived at was that Food, that is Matter is the Eternal. Indeed, matter is so pervasive and so directly seizeable by our senses that the easiest position to take for the sense-bound consciousness is that Matter is the only Reality. As Bhrigu declares to his teacher:
"From food alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by food, and into food they depart and enter again.ˮ
"annam brahmaˮ — Matter is Brahman, — this is the first formulation of thought in its ascent. This is materialism.
But Bhrigu did not stop here. He came back to his father and said "Lord, teach me the Eternal.ˮ But the teacher gave only an enigmatic answer: "By askesis do thou seek to know the Eternal, for askesis is the Eternal.ˮ
Bhrigu went back to concentrate in thought and by energy of his brooding he ascended to the next step in the hierarchy of planes of Existence. He discovered that Prana, Life, is the Eternal. This is the position of vitalism, which finds that the whole world is pulsation of Life-Force, as is declared, in our modern times, by the French philosopher, Bergson.
But Bhrigu did not stop here. He made a further ascent. And he declared that mind is the Eternal. In our times, philosophies which regard mind to be the original principle of existence are called variations of idealism, since they all regard Idea to be the formative and creative principle of universe.
In the history of thought, most of the philosophies have moved between materialism, vitalism and idealism. Certain religious or spiritual philosophies have gone one step farther and have conceived of the Spirit as the Eternal. But often Spirit is conceived as static and not dynamic. Spirit, therefore, is regarded not as a creative principle, but only as a state of ultimate
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peace and release from all dynamic creativity.
But the Veda and the Upanishads had discovered between the Spirit and the world of Matter, besides Life and Mind, an intermediate creative principle, which they called Vijnāna, comprehensive knowledge (as distinguished from Mind, which is the principle of piecemeal, analytical and partial knowledge).
Therefore, we find Bhrigu making a further ascent from the Mind and discovering Vijnāna. As the Upanishad states:
"He knew Knowledge for the Eternalˮ (vijnānam brahma iti vyajānāt).
But even beyond vijnāna, there is a greater and higher principle of creativity to which Bhrigu ascended and came to know that Bliss is the Eternal. This is how the Taittiriya Upanishad describes the discovery of Bhrigu:
"He knew Bliss for the Eternal. For from Bliss alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by Bliss and to Bliss they go hence and return. This is the lore of Bhrigu, the lore of Varuna who hath his firm base in the highest heaven. Who knows, gets his firm base, he becomes the master of food and its eater, great in progeny, great in cattle, great in the splendour of holiness, great in glory.ˮ
Discovery of the ascending series of existence does not end in annulling the lower principles of existence. Discovery of Bliss is not the rejection of Matter, as the Upanishad declares:
"Thou shalt not reject food; for that too is the vow of thy labour.ˮ
It may, indeed, be said that the Taittiriya Upanishad is the foundation of the philosophy of total affirmation and synthesis, — synthesis of the Divine Bliss and Matter, what may properly be called Divine Materialism.
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III
We have briefly touched upon two parts of this Upanishad. One more part remains yet to be studied. This part is called Śikṣāvalli. In fact, the Taittiriya Upanishad begins with this Śikṣāvalli, although we are only approaching it now.
Śikṣāvalli means, literally, that portion which is connected with the process of teaching-learning. It aims at summarising the essential points that are to be the content of that process pf teaching-learning. There are twelve Anuvaks (lessons) in this part.
1. The first lesson contains the prayer and vow of the teacher, which may be for the whole course of instruction or for separate hours of instruction or lessons. This prayer is addressed to Mitra, Varuna, Indra, Brihaspati, Vishnu, Aryaman, Vayu and Brahman. Then the teacher takes a vow:
"Thou, thou art the visible Eternal and as the visible Eternal I will declare thee. I will declare Righteousness! I will declare Truth!ˮ
And then comes the prayer again:
"May that protect me! May that protect the speaker! Yea, may it protect me! Nay it protect the speaker. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!ˮ
2. The second lesson is an extremely short statement of the elements of Śikṣā: Syllable and Accent; Pitch and Effort;
Even Tone and Continuity.
3. The third lesson begins with a prayer, where the teacher prays for both himself and the pupil taken together. The prayer is:
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"Together may we attain glory, together to the radiance of holiness.ˮ
Next comes the exposition of the secret meaning of Samhita whereof there are five subjects:
i) concerning the Worlds;
ii) concerning the shining Fires;
iii) concerning the Knowledge;
iv) concerning Progeny;
v) concerning Self.
The brief exposition is quite symbolic and would need a long effort of interpretation.
4. The fourth lesson begins with the short description of the Supreme Reality that is referred to symbolically as the bull in the Veda. A prayer is offered to Indra, which makes it clear that Indra is the lord of luminous intelligence and intellect, who can grant strength. Next is the aspiration to attain to immortality and energy in the body and sweetness in expression and speech, as also the power to receive inspirations of all kinds of knowledge. Then is the prayer to Indra who is described as the sheath of the Eternal and the Veil that covers the Eternal by means of the workings of the brain. The prayer calls upon him to preserve the whole of the knowledge studied by the teacher.
Next is the prayer of the teacher who aspires to teach. He says:
"May the Brahmacharins come unto me. Swaha! From here and there may the Brahmacharins come unto me. Swaha!
May the Brahmacharins set forth unto me. Swaha!
May the Brahmacharins attain self-mastery. Swaha!
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May the Brahmacharins attain to peace of soul. Swaha!
May I be a name among the folk! Swaha! May I be the first of the wealthy! Swaha!
O Glorious Lord, into that which is thou may I enter. Swaha!
Do thou also enter into me, O shining One. Swaha!
Thou art a river with a hundred branching streams, O Lord of Grace, in thee may I wash me clean. Swaha!
As the waters of a river pour down the steep, as the months of the year hasten to the old age of days, O Lord that cherisheth, so may the Brahmacharins come to me from all the regions. Swaha!
O Lord, thou art my neighbour, thou dwellest very near me. Come to me, be my light and sun.
5 The fifth lesson gives an account of the three worlds of Matter, Life and Mind, and declares that Rishi Mahachamasya made known the fourth world, which is Mahas, the Vast. This account is again highly symbolic and would need a great deal of interpretation.
6. The sixth lesson reveals the presence of the golden Immortal, who is seated within the cave or inner heart. In a symbolic manner the location of Indra, Agni, Vayu and Surya is indicated.
7. The seventh lesson describes the "Earth, sky, heaven, the quarters and the lesser quartersˮ This is a symbolic description of the macrocosm.
This is followed by the statement of senses and parts and elements of the physical body, the microcosm.
8. The eighth lesson expounds the meaning of OM.
9. The ninth lesson gives a list of duties:
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i) Righteousness with the study and teaching of the Veda
ii) Truth with the study and teaching of the Veda;
ii) Askesis with the study and teaching of the Veda;
iv) Self-mastery with the study and teaching of the Veda;
v) Peace of Soul with the study and teaching of the Veda;
vi) The household fires with the study and teaching of the Veda;
vii) The burnt offering with the study and teaching of the Veda;
viii) Progeny with the study and teaching of the Veda;
ix) Joy of thy child's mother with the study and teaching of the Veda;
x) Children of the children with the study and teaching of the Veda.
10. In the tenth lesson there is the declaration of self- knowledge pronounced by Trishanku:
"/ am He that moves the Tree of the Universe and my glory is like the shoulders of a high-mountain. I am lofty and pure like sweet nectar in the strong, I am the shining riches of the World. I am the deep thinker, the deathless One who decays not from the beginning.ˮ
11. The eleventh lesson contains the commandments of the teacher to his disciple after the Veda has been taught. These commandments are very famous and even today they are remembered often in the convocation ceremonies of Universities. We may therefore state them in full:
"Speak truth, walk in the way of thy duty, neglect not the study of Veda, When thou hast brought to thy Master the wealth that he desires, thou shalt not cut short the long thread of thy race. Thou shall not be negligent of truth; thou shalt not be negligent of
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thy duty, thou shalt not be negligent of welfare; thou shall not be negligent towards thy increase and thy thriving; thou shalt not be negligent of the study and teaching of Veda.
"Thou shalt not be negligent of thy works unto the Gods or thy works unto the Fathers. Let thy father be unto thee as thy God and thy mother as thy Goddess whom thou adorest. Serve the Master as a God and as a God the stranger within thy dwelling. The works that are without blame before the people, thou shalt do these with diligence and no others. The deeds we have done that are good and righteous, thou shalt practise these as a religion and no others.
"Whosoever are better and nobler than we among the Brahmins, thou shalt refresh with a seat to honour them. Thou shaft give with faith and reverence; with- out faith thou shalt not give. Thou shalt give with shame, thou shalt give with fear; thou shall give with fellow-feeling.
"Moreover, if thou doubt of thy course or of thy action, then to whatsoever Brahmins be there who are careful thinkers, devout, not moved by others, lovers of virtue, not severe or cruel, even as they do in that thing, so do thou. Then as to men accused and arraigned by their fellows, whatsoever Brahmins be there who are careful thinkers, devout, not moved by others, lovers of virtue, not severe or cruel, even as they are towards these, so be thou.
"This is the law and the teaching. These are the Commandments. In such wise shalt thou practise religion yea, verily, in such wise do ever religiously.ˮ
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12. The twelfth lesson is a prayer to Mitra and other gods.
We may end this note with the prayer that occurs in the Taittiriya Upanishad several times and is very well known all over the country:
"Hari OM. Together may He protect us, together may He possess us, together may we make unto us strength and virility. May our study be full to us of light and power. May we never hate. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!ˮ
Rishi Vasishtha
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SHIKSHAVALLI
Chapter One
हरिः ॐ | | शं नो मित्रः शं वरुणः | शं नो भवत्वर्यमा | शं न इन्द्रो बृहस्पतिः | शं नो विष्णुरुरुक्रमः | | नमो ब्रह्माणे | |नमस्ते वायो | त्वमेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्मासि | त्वामेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्म वदिष्यामि | ऋतं वदिष्यामि | सत्यं वदिष्यामि | तन्मामवतु | तदुक्तारमवतु | अवतु माम् | अवतु वक्तारम् | ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः | |
Hari OM. Be peace to us Mitra. Be peace to us Varuna. Be peace to us Aryaman, Be peace to us Indra and Brihaspati. May far-striding Vishnu be peace to us. Adoration to the Eternal. Adoration to thee, O Vayu. Thou, thou art the visible Eternal and as the visible Eternal I will declare thee. I will declare Righteousness! I will declare Truth! May that protect me! May that protect the speaker! Yea, may it protect me! May it protect the speaker. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!
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Chapter Two
ॐ शीक्षां व्याख्यास्यामः | वर्णः स्वरः | मात्रा बलम् | साम सन्तानः | इत्युक्तः शीक्षाध्यायः | |
OM. We will expound Shiksha, the elements. Syllable and Accent, Pitch and Effort, Even Tone and Continuity; in these six we have declared the chapter of the elements.
Chapter Three
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Together may we attain glory, together to the radiance of holiness. Hereupon we will expound next the secret meaning of Sanhita whereof there are five capitals. Concerning the Worlds: Concerning the Shining Fires; Concerning the Knowledge: Concerning Progeny: Concerning Self. These are called the great Sanhitas.
Now concerning the Worlds. Earth is the first form, the heavens are the second form; ether is the linking; air is joint of the linking. Thus far concerning the Worlds.
Next concerning the Shining Fires, Fire is the first form, the Sun is the latter form; the waters are the linking; electricity is the joint of the linking. Thus far concerning the Shining Fires.
Next concerning the Knowledge. The Master is the first form, the disciple is the latter form. Knowledge is the linking. Exposition is the joint of the linking. Thus far concerning the Knowledge.
Next concerning Progeny. The mother is the first form; the father is the latter form. Progeny is the linking, act of procreation is the joint of the linking. Thus far concerning Progeny.
Next concerning Self. The upper jaw is the first form; the lower jaw is the latter form; speech is the linking; the tongue is the joint of the linking. Thus far concerning Self.
These are the great Sanhitas. He who knows thus the great Sanhitas as we have expounded them, to him are linked progeny and wealth of cattle and the radiance of holiness and food and all that is of food and the world of his high estate in heaven.
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Chapter Four
The bull of the hymns of Veda whose visible form is all this Universe he above the vedas who sprang from that which is deathless, may Indra increase unto me intellect for my strengthening. O God, may I become a vessel of immortality. May my
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body be swift to all works, may my tongue drop pure honey. May I hear vast and manifold lore with my ears. O Indra, thou art the sheath of the Eternal and the veil that the workings of brain have drawn over Him; preserve whole unto me the sacred lore that I have studied.
She brings unto me wealth and extends it, yea, she makes speedily my own raiment and cattle and drink and food now and always; therefore carry to me Fortune of much fleecy wealth and cattle with her. Swaha!
May the Brahmacharins come unto me. Swaha!
From here and there may the Brahmacharins come unto me. Swaha!
May I be a name among the folk! Swaha!
May I be the first of the wealthy! Swaha!
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Hermitages in Bharhut sculptures (c. 2nd century B.C
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Chapter Five
Bhur, Bhuvar and Suvar, these are the three Words of His naming. Verily, the Rishi Mahachamasya made known a fourth to these, which is Mahas. It is Brahman, it is the Self, and the other gods are his members.
Bhur, it is this world; Bhuvar, it is the sky; Suvar, it is the other world: but Mahas is the Sun. By the Sun all these worlds increase and prosper.
Bhur, it is Fire; Bhuvar, it is Air; Suvar, it is the Sun; but Mahas is the Moon. By the Moon all these lights of heaven¹ increase and prosper.
Bhur, it is the hymns of the Rig-veda; Bhuvar, it is the
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¹.Or, shining fires
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Anthocephalus Cadamba (Supramental Sun)
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hymns of the Sama; Suvar, it is the hymns of the Yajur; but Mahas is the Eternal. By the Eternal all these Vedas increase and prosper.
Bhur, it is the main breath; Bhuvar, it is the lower breath; Suvar, it is the breath pervasor; but Mahas is food. By food all these breaths increase and prosper.
These are the four and they are fourfold; — four Words of His naming and each is four again. He who knows these knows the Eternal, and to him all the Gods carry the offering.
Chapter Six
Lo, this heaven of ether which is in the heart within, there dwells the Being who is all Mind, the radiant and golden Immortal. Between the two palates, this that hangs down like the breast of a woman, is the womb of Indra; yea, where the hair at its end whirls round like an eddy, there it divides the skull and pushes through it.
As Bhur He is established in Agni, as Bhuvar in Vayu, as Suvar in the Sun, as Mahas in the Eternal. He attains to the kingdom
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of Himself; He attains to the Lord of Mind; He becomes Lord of Speech, Lord of Sight, Lord of Hearing, Lord of the Knowledge. Thereafter this too He becomes, — the Eternal whose body is all ethereal space, whose soul is Truth, whose bliss is in Mind, who takes His ease in Prana, the Rich in Peace, the Immortal. As such, O son of the ancient Yoga, do thou adore Him.
Chapter Seven
Earth, sky, heaven, the quarters and the lesser quarters; Fire, Air, Sun, Moon and the Constellations; Waters, herbs of healing, trees of the forest, ether and the Self in all; these three concerning this outer creation.
Then concerning the Self. The main breath, the middle breath, the nether breath, the upper breath and the breath pervasor;
Eye, ear, mind, speech and the skin; hide, flesh, muscle, bone and marrow. Thus the Rishi divided them and said, "In sets of five is this universe; five and five with five and five He relates."
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Chapter Eight
OM is the Eternal, OM is all this universe. OM is the syllable of assent: saying, OM ! let us hear,' they begin the citation. With OM they sing the hymns of the Sama; with OM SHOM they pronounce the Shastra. With OM the priest officiating at the sacrifice says the response. With OM Brahma begins creation.¹ With OM one sanctions the burnt offering. With OM the Brahmin ere he expound the Knowledge, cries "May I attain the Eternal." The Eternal verily he attains.
Chapter Nine
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¹.Or-, With OM the chief priest gives sanction.
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Righteousness with the study and teaching of Veda; Truth with the study and teaching of Veda; askesis with the study and teaching of Veda; self-mastery with the study and teaching of Veda. Peace of soul with the study and teaching of Veda. The household fires with the study and teaching of Veda. The burnt offering with the study and teaching of Veda. Progeny with the study and teaching of Veda. Joy of thy child's mother¹ with the study and teaching of Veda. Children of thy children with the study and teaching of Veda — these duties. "Truth is first," said the truth-speaker, the Rishi, son of Rathitara. "Askesis is first," said the constant in austerity, the Rishi, son of Purushishta. "Study and teaching of Veda is first," said Naka, son of Mudgala. For this too is austerity and this too is askesis,
Chapter Ten
"I am He that moves the Tree of the Universe and my glory is like the shoulders of a high-mountain. I am lofty and pure like sweet nectar in the strong, I am the shining riches of the world, I am the deep thinker, the deathless One who decays not from the beginning." This is Trishanku's voicing of Veda and the hymn of his self-knowledge.
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¹.Or, act of procreation
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When the Master has declared Veda, then he gives the commandments to his disciple.
Speak truth, walk in the way of thy duty, neglect not the study of Veda. When thou hast brought to the Master the wealth
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that he desires, thou shalt not cut short the long thread of thy race. Thou shalt not be negligent of truth; thou shalt not be negligent of thy duty, thou shalt not be negligent of welfare; thou shalt not be negligent towards thy increase and thy thriving; thou shalt not be negligent of the study and teaching of Veda.
Thou shalt not be negligent of thy works unto the Gods or thy works unto the Fathers. Let thy father be unto thee as thy God and thy mother as thy Goddess whom thou adorest. Serve the Master as a God and as a God the stranger within thy dwelling. The works that are without blame before the people, thou shalt do these with diligence and no others. The deeds we have done that are good and righteous, thou shalt practise these as a religion and no others.
Whosoever are better and nobler than we among the Brahmins, thou shalt refresh with a seat to honour them. Thou shalt give with faith and reverence; without faith thou shalt not give. Thou shalt give with shame, thou shalt give with fear; thou shalt give with fellow-feeling.
Moreover if thou doubt of thy course or of thy action, then to whatsoever Brahmins be there who are careful thinkers, devout, not moved by others, lovers of virtue, not severe or cruel, even as they do in that thing, so do thou. Then as to men accused and arraigned by their fellows, whatsoever Brahmins be there who are careful thinkers, devout, not moved by others, lovers of virtue, not severe or cruel, even as they are towards these so be thou.
This is the law and the teaching. These are the Commandments. In such wise shalt thou practise religion yea, verily, in such wise do ever religiously.
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Chapter Twelve
Be peace to us Mitra. Be peace to us Varuna. Be peace to us Aryaman. Be peace to us Indra and Brihaspati. May far-striding Vishnu be peace to us. Adoration to the Eternal. Adoration to thee, O Vayu. Thou, thou art the visible Eternal and as the visible Eternal I have declared thee. I have declared Righteousness; I have declared Truth. That has protected me. That has protected the speaker. Yea, it protected me; it protected the speaker. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace !
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BRAHMANANDAVALLI
Hari OM. Together may He protect us, together may He possess us, together may we make unto us strength and virility. May our study be full to us of light and power. May we never hate. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!
OM. The knower of Brahman attains the Highest; for this is the verse that was declared of old, "Brahman is Truth, Brahman is Knowledge, Brahman is the Infinite, he finds Him hidden in the cavern heart of being; in the highest heaven of His creatures, lo, he enjoys all desire and he abides with the Eternal, ever with that cognisant and understanding Spirit."
This is the Self, the Spirit, and from the Spirit ether was born; and from the ether, air; and from the air, fire; and from the fire, the waters; and from the waters, earth; and from the
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earth, herbs and plants; and from the herbs and plants, food; and from food man was born. Verily, man, this human being, is made of the essential substance of food. And this that we see is the head of him, and this is his right side and this is his left; and this is his spirit and the self of him; and this is his lower member whereon he rests abidingly. Whereof this is the Scripture.
Verily, all sorts and races of creatures that have their refuge upon earth, are begotten from food; thereafter they live also by food and it is to food again that they return at the end and last. For food is the eldest of created things and therefore they name it the Green Stuff of the universe. Verily, they who worship the Eternal as food, attain the mastery of food to the
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uttermost; for Food is the eldest of created things and there fore they name it the Green Stuff of the universe. From food all creatures are born and being born they grow¹ by food. Lo, it is eaten and it eats; yea, it devours the creatures that feed upon it, therefore it is called food from the eating.
Now there is a second and inner Self which is other than this that is of the substance of food; and it is made of the vital stuff called Prana. And the Self of Prana fills the Self of food. Now the Self of Prana is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it in the image of the man. The main Breath is the head of him, the breath pervasor is his right side and the lower breath is his left side; ether is his spirit which is the self of him, earth is his lower member whereon he rests abidingly. Whereof this is the Scripture.
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¹ Or, increase
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The Gods live and breathe under the dominion of Prana and men and all these that are beasts; for Prana is the life of created things and therefore they name it the Life-Stuff of the All. Verily, they who worship the Eternal as Prana, reach¹ Life to the uttermost; for Prana is the life of created things and there fore they name it the Life-Stuff of the All. And this Self of Prana is the soul in the body of the former one which was of food.
Now there is yet a second and inner Self which is other than this that is of Prana, and it is made of Mind. And the Self of Mind fills the Self of Prana. Now the Self of Mind is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it in the image of the man. Yajur is the head of him and the Rig-veda is his right side and the Sama-veda is his left side; the Commandment is his spirit which is the self of him, Atharvan Angiras is his lower member whereon he rests abidingly. Whereof this is the Scripture.
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¹Or, attain mastery of
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The delight of the Eternal from which words turn away without attaining and the mind also returns baffled: who knows the delight of the Eternal, he shall fear nought now or hereafter. And this Self of Mind is the soul in the body to the former one which was of Prana.
Now there is yet a second and inner self which is other than this which is of Mind and it is made of Knowledge. And the Self of Knowledge fills the Self of Mind. Now the Knowledge Self is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it in the image of the man. Faith is the head of him. Law is his right side. Truth is his left side; Yoga is his spirit which is the self of him; Mahas¹ is his lower member whereon he rests abidingly. Whereof this is the Scripture.
Knowledge spreads the feast of sacrifice and knowledge
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¹ Or, the material world
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spreads also the feast of works; all the gods offer adoration to him as to Brahman and the Elder of the Universe. For if one worship Brahman as the knowledge and if one swerve not from it neither falter, then he castes sin from him in this body and tastes all desire. And this Self of Knowledge is the soul in the body to the former one which was of Mind.
Now there is yet a second and inner self which is other than this which is of Knowledge and it is fashioned out of Bliss. And the Self of Bliss fills the Self of Knowledge. Now the Bliss Self is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it made in the image of the man. Love is the head of him; Joy is his right side; pleasure is his left side; Bliss is his spirit which is the self of him; the Eternal is his lower member wherein he rests abidingly. Whereof this is the Scripture.
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One becomes as the unexisting, if he know the Eternal as negation; but if one knows of the Eternal that He is, then men know him for the saint and the one reality. And this Self of Bliss is the soul in the body to the former one which was of Knowledge. And thereupon there arise these questions. "When one who has not the Knowledge, passes over to that other world, does any such travel farther? Or when one who knows, has passed over to the other world, does any such enjoy possession?"
The Spirit desired of old, "I would be manifold for the birth of peoples." Therefore He concentrated all Himself¹ in thought, and by the force of His brooding He created all this universe, yea, all whatsoever exists. Now when He had brought it forth. He entered into that He had created. He entering in became the Is here and the May Be there; He became that which is defined and that which has no feature; He became this housed thing and that houseless; He became Knowledge and He became Ignorance; He became Truth and He became false hood. Yea, He became all truth, even whatsoever here exists. Therefore they say of Him that He is Truth. Whereof this is the Scripture.
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¹Or, strength
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In the beginning all this Universe was Non-Existent and Unmanifest, from which this manifest Existence was born. Itself created itself; none other created it. Therefore they say of it the well and beautifully made. Lo, this that is well and beautifully made, verily, it is no other than the delight behind existence. When he has got him this delight, then it is that this creation becomes a thing of bliss; for who could labour to draw in the breath or who could have strength to breathe it out, if there were not that Bliss in the heaven of his heart, the ether within his being? It is He that is the fountain of bliss; for when the Spirit that is within us finds the Invisible, Bodiless, Undefinable and Unhoused Eternal, his refuge and firm foundation, then he has passed beyond the reach of Fear. But when the Spirit that is within us makes for himself even a little difference in the Eternal, then he has fear, yea, the Eternal himself becomes a terror to such a knower who thinks not. Whereof this is the Scripture.
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Through the fear of Him the Wind blows; through the fear of Him the Sun rises; through the fear of Him Indra and Agni
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and Death hasten in their courses. Behold this exposition of the Bliss to which ye shall hearken. Let there be a young man, excellent and lovely in his youth, a great student; let him have fair manners, and a most firm heart and great strength of body, and let all this wide earth be full of wealth for his enjoying. That is the measure of bliss of one human being. Now a hundred and a hundredfold of the human measure of bliss, is the one bliss of men that have become angels in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of angelic bliss is one bliss of Gods that are angels in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of divine angelic bliss is one bliss of the Fathers whose world of heaven is their world for ever. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of bliss of the Fathers whose worlds are for ever, is one bliss of the Gods who are born as Gods in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this mea sure of bliss of the firstborn in heaven, is one bliss of the Gods of work who are Gods, for by their strength of their deeds they depart and are Gods in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hun dred and a hundredfold of this measure of bliss of the Gods of work/ is one bliss of the great Gods who are Gods for ever. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of divine bliss, is one bliss of Indra, the King in Heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of Indra's bliss is one bliss of Brihaspati, who taught the Gods in heaven. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of Brihaspati's bliss, is one bliss of Prajapati, the Almighty Father. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose
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soul the blight of desire touches not. A hundred and a hundredfold of this measure of Prajapati's bliss, is one bliss of the Eternal Spirit. And this is the bliss of the Vedawise whose soul the blight of desire touches not.
The Spirit who is here in a man and the Spirit who is there in the Sun, it is one Spirit and there is no other. He who knows this, when he has gone away from this world, passes to this Self which is of food; he passes to this Self which is of Prana; he passes to this Self which is of Mind; he passes to this Self which is of Knowledge; he passes to this Self which is of Bliss. Whereof this is the Scripture.
The Bliss of the Eternal from which words turn back without attaining and mind also returns baffled: who knows the Bliss of the Eternal, he fears not for aught in this world or elsewhere. Verily, to him comes not remorse and her torment saying, "Why have I left undone the good and why have I done that which was evil?" For he who knows the Eternal, knows these¹ and delivers from them his Spirit; yea, he knows both evil and good
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¹ Or, knows that they are alike
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for what they are and delivers his Spirit, who knows the Eternal. And this is Upanishad, the secret of the Veda.
Together may He protect us, together may He possess us, together may we make unto us strength and virility. May our reading be full of light and power. May we never hate. OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!
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BHRIGUVALLI
Hari OM. Together may He protect us, together may He possess us, together may we make unto us force and virility! May our reading be full of light and power! May we never hate! OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!
Bhrigu, Varuna's son, came unto his father Varuna and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal." And his father declared it unto him thus, "Food and Prana and Eye and Ear and Mind — even these." Verily he said unto him, "Seek thou to know that from which these creatures are born, whereby being born they live and to which they go hence and enter again; for that is the Eternal." And Bhrigu concentrated himself in thought and by the askesis of his brooding
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He knew food for the Eternal. For from food alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by food, and into food they depart and enter again. And when he had known this, he came again to Varuna his father and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal." And his father said to him, "By askesis do thou seek to know the Eternal, for askesis¹ is the Eternal." He concentrated himself in thought and by the energy of his brooding
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¹ Or, concentration in thought
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Canna Xgeneralis (Physical Centre)
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Dendranthema Xgrandiflorum (Life Energy or Vital Energy)
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He knew Prana for the Eternal. For from Prana alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by Prana and to Prana they go hence and return. And when he had known this, he came a gain to Varuna his father and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal." But his father said to him, "By askesis do thou seek to k now the Eternal, for askesis in thought is the Eternal." He concentrated himself in thought and by the energy of his brooding
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Thevetia Peruviana (Mind)
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He knew mind for the Eternal. For from mind alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by mind, and to mind they go hence and return. And when he had known this, he came again to Varuna his father and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal." But his father said to him, "By askesis do thou seek to know the Eternal, for concentration in thought¹is the Eternal." He concentrated himself in thought and by the energy of his brooding
¹ Or, concentration of force
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He knew Knowledge for the Eternal. For from Knowledge alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by Knowledge and to Knowledge they go hence and return. And when he had known this, he came again to Varuna his father and said, "Lord, teach me the Eternal." But his father said to him, "By askesis do thou seek to know the Eternal, for concentration of force is the Eternal." He concentrated himself in thought and by the energy of his brooding
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Leucaena Leucocephala (Knowledge)
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He knew Bliss for the Eternal. For from Bliss alone, it appears, are these creatures born and being born they live by Bliss and to Bliss they go hence and return. This is the lore of Bhrigu, the lore of Varuna, which hath his firm base in the highest heaven. Who knows, gets his firm base, he becomes the master of food and its eater, great in progeny, great in cattle, great in the splendour of holiness, great in glory.
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Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis (Ananda)
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Thou shalt not blame rood; for that is thy commandment unto labour. Verily, Prana also is food, and the body is the eater. The body is established upon Prana and Prana is established upon the body. Therefore food here is established upon food. He who knows this food that is established upon food, gets his firm base, he becomes the master of food and its eater, great in progeny, great in cattle, great in the radiance of holiness, great in glory.
Thou shalt not reject food; for that too is the vow of thy labour. Verily, the waters also are food, and the bright fire is the eater. The fire is established upon the waters and the waters
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are established upon the fires. Here too is food established upon food. He who knows this food that is established upon food, gets his firm base, he becomes the master of food and its eater, great in progeny, great in cattle, great in the radiance of holiness, great in glory.
Thou shalt increase and amass food; for that too is thy commandment unto labour. Verily, earth also is food and ether is the eater. Ether is established upon earth and earth is established upon ether. Here too is food established upon food. He who knows this food that is established upon food, gets his firm base. He becomes the master of food and its eater, great in progeny, great in cattle, great in the radiance of holiness, great in glory.
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Thou shalt not reject any man in thy habitation, for that too is thy commandment unto labour. Therefore in whatsoever sort do thou get thee great store of food. They say unto the stranger in the dwelling, "Arise, the food is ready." Was the food made ready at the beginning? To him also is food made ready in the beginning. Was the food made ready in the middle? To him also is food made ready in the middle. Was the food made ready at the end and last? To him also is the food made ready at the end and last, who has this knowledge. As prosperity in speech, as getting and having in the main breath and the nether, as work in the hands, as movement in the feet, as discharge in the anus, these are the cognitions in the human. Then in the divine; as satisfaction in the rain, as force in the lightning, as splendour in the beasts, as brightness in the constellations, as procreation and bliss and death conquered in the organ of pleasure, as the All in Ether. Pursue thou Him as the firm foundation of things and thou shalt get thee firm foundation. Pursue Him as Mahas, thou shalt become Mighty; pursue Him as Mind, thou shalt become full of mind; pursue Him as adoration, thy desires shall bow down before thee; pursue Him as the Eternal, thou shalt become full of the Spirit. Pursue Him as the destruction of the Eternal that ranges abroad, though shalt get thy rivals and thy haters perish thick around thee and thy kin who loved thee not. The Spirit who is here in man and the Spirit who is there in the Sun, lo, it is One Spirit and there is no other. He who has this knowledge, when he goes from this world having passed to the Self which is of food; having passed to the Self which is of Prana; having passed to the Self which is of Mind; having passed to the Self which is of Knowledge; having passed to the
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Self which is of Bliss, lo, he ranges about the worlds, he eats what he will and takes what shape he will and ever he singes the mighty Sama. "Ho! ho! ho! I am food! I am food! I am food! I am the eater of food! I am the eater! I am the eater! I am he who makes Scripture! I am he who makes! I am he who makes! I am the first-born of the Law; before the gods were, I am, yea, at the very heart of immortality. He who gives me, verily, he preserves me; for I being food, eat him that eats. I have conquered the whole world and possessed it, my light is as the sun in its glory." Thus he sings, who has the knowledge. This, verily, is Upanishad, the secret of the Veda.
Together may he protect us, together may he possess us, together may we make unto us strength and virility! May our study be full of light and power! May we never hate! OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!
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Introduction
In my search for the Indian systems of education which have dealt with the centrality of education for spiritual development, I found the relevance of the text of the Taittiriya Upanishad, which has a special section (with several chapters) on education titled Śikṣāvalli.
In this paper I have tried to study the aspect of education for spiritual development as can be discerned in this section of the Taittiriya Upanishad and draw out those points which are relevant to education for spiritual development in liberal and democratic societies in contemporary times.
Background
At the outset, I would like to point out that ancient Vedic texts have been variously interpreted as having ritualistic (Cf. Sayana), naturalistic, philological (Cf. Muller) and more recently, psychological and spiritual meanings. We shall concern ourselves with the psychological and spiritual interpretation, which is relevant to our purpose.
It is to be noted that the dates of the ancient history of India are uncertain, but at a conservative level, Vedas can be
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said to belong to 2000 B.C.E., and Upanishads to 1000 B.C.E.. The oldest Upanishads like the Taittiriya Upanishad and the Isha Upanishad may be even older than 1000 B.C.E.. (Between the Vedas and the Upanishads there had intervened a period during which Brahmanas were composed. Brahmanas advocated the view that the Vedic system was principally ritualistic and it contained rules and regulations of conducting ritualistic sacrifices. The Vedic system was thus reduced to karma kānda, and thus the Vedic content which consisted of a vast body of spiritual knowledge came to be disregarded and even obliterated. It was in opposition to this obliteration that a number of sages revolted, and by means of fresh spiritual practices rediscovered the system of knowledge that was contained in the Veda. Their compositions have been called the Upanishads. (Since the Upanishads uphold the inner core of knowledge of the Vedas I have referred to the Vedic and Upanishadic systems interchangeably.)
As I studied the Upanishads, I found them not to be easily comprehensible. After I studied some literature about the Vedic and Upanishadic texts and consulted some scholars, I realised that there are certain aspects of the language, style and symbolism of the Vedic and Upanishadic texts which make them very difficult to understand. The texts are written in Sanskrit, a language which is far removed from the modern languages. The turn and style of exposition belong to a climate of spiritual experience, and therefore, not easily comparable to the modes of expression with which we are normally familiar. Since the tradition of communication at that time was primarily oral, the texts were highly brief and compact, even aphoristic. The texts were often written in verse to impose brevity (Sareen and Paranjape, 2004, p. 12). Thus the Upanishads may be regarded as short notes, without detailed explanations of their meanings; these notes were meant to be communicated and explained by the living teacher to the pupil. The symbolism of the Upanishads has lost much of its comprehensibility because of long passage of time. It is only in recent scholarship that this
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symbolism is being uncovered. But even when the symbolism is unveiled, there are certain ideas which are incomprehensible. Moreover, the Upanishads are not intellectual statements and therefore there are no transitions easily obtained as there would be in intellectual expositions. In an intellectual exposition, one would go step by step, starting with a premise, middle terms and intermediate argument and conclusion, and so on. But the Upanishads are not intellectual expositions; they may more fitly be called expressions of illumination, "of intuition and spiritual experience" (Joshi, 2001, pp. 99-100) and they are somewhat like giant steps in which the middle steps between one and the other are crossed over very rapidly. Despite these limitations, my discussions with scholars and study of Sri Aurobindo's Vedic interpretation, I could derive from the Taittiriya Upanishad some relevant insights.
The following is a brief exposition of the Śikṣāvalli of the Taittiriya Upanishad, and the endeavour is to underline those aspects which are relevant to education for spiritual development.
Chapter One: The Starting Point
The starting point of the Śikṣāvalli of the Taittiriya Upanishad is a prayer. This prayer is addressed to several gods. In order to answer the question as to who are these gods or what these gods represent, we may note that Upanishadic wisdom held that the Ultimate Reality is one, but it manifests itself in its various aspects which are primarily cosmic, and each one of them represents the Supreme Being of the Ultimate Reality or God; these cosmic beings are described as gods. The prayer starts with an address to Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, and then to Indra, Brihaspati, Vishnu, Brahman and Vayu. These cosmic
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beings are considered (in the psychological interpretation) to be the manifestations of those powers and qualities which are directly related to the aims and processes of knowledge that facilitate widening of consciousness and discipline and austerity as also through progressive harmonisation of various trends of consciousness. Mitra stands for harmony, Varuna for wideness, and Aryaman for austerity or tapasya (Sri Aurobindo, 1971, pp. 438-464). Again, as the aim of education is to sharpen and clarify the intellect and lead it to the state of illumination, and since illumined consciousness manifests itself in expressions of revelatory word, the prayer is addressed to Indra who is considered to be the cosmic being of the illumined intelligence (Ibid., pp. 241-262), and to Brihaspati who is considered the master of the revelatory word, the word which emanates from the depth of the soul (Ibid., pp. 303-313). The three other gods who are objects of the prayer are Vayu, Vishnu and Brahman. According to the Vedic and Upanishadic symbolism, Vayu represents the cosmic being that dynamises the inertia of matter and leads consciousness to higher realms of knowledge and power (Ibid., pp. 294-302). Vishnu has been described as the supreme comprehensive eye of divine knowledge (Ibid., pp. 331-338); and Brahman symbolises the essence of the being and also the stuff of the universe, and therefore the ultimate object of all the cognitive, affective, and conative processes (Ibid., pp. 303- 313). It will be observed that the prayer of the Taittiriya Upanishad is a symbolic expression of those powers and processes which are directly relevant to the aims of education.
We also need to note that prayer in the Upanishad was regarded as a process by which the individual is facilitated in connecting himself or herself with the objects that are to be attained. The prayer in the Upanishad was not considered a mechanical process or a ritualistic process, but a process by which consciousness is psychologically awakened and put into an operation by which the individual and the object of realisation can be linked. The linking process, when effectively accomplished, brings about the state of peace. It is also important to
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note that both in the Veda and the Upanishad, the word "OM" has been considered as an effective sound that vibrates with the consciousness which is creative and which is comprehensive. The word "Hari" is a word that symbolised the Supreme Reality which is the Object of Knowledge. Hence the prayer with which the Taittiriya Upanishad commences, reads as follows: "Hari OM. Be Peace to us Mitra. Be peace to us Varuna. Be peace to us Aryaman. Be Peace to us Indra and Brihaspati. May far-striding Vishnu be peace to us. Adoration to the Eternal. Adoration to thee, O Vayu.ˮ (Chapter One)¹
After addressing the prayer to the gods, the teacher speaks to the pupil. He says, "Thou, thou art the visible Eternal and as the visible Eternal I will declare thee. I will declare Righteousness! I will declare Truth!ˮ (Chapter One). That is to say, the teacher tells the student that he or she is in essence the Eternal or the Ultimate Reality and that the teacher perceives the student as the visible form of the Eternal. This attitude of the teacher towards the pupil underlines the sense of reverence that the teacher should have towards the pupil, so that the pupil is treated as a closed bud of the lotus of knowledge, which can unfold petal by petal, under the uplifting influence of the teacher. And while the pupil is expected to manifest inner enthusiasm to learn, the teacher is seen only as an aid in providing the necessary elements by means of which the lotus of knowledge which is enclosed in the bud can flower into its fullness. The teacher then declares that he² shall speak to the student of the truth, satyaṃ vadiśyāmi, and he shall speak to the student of righteousness, ṛtaṃ vadiśyāmi. These two words which have been used, ṛtaṃ and satyaṃ, are central in the process of education.
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¹. All passages from the Taittiriya and Katha Upanishad which are cited here are taken from Sri Aurobindo's translations which are to be found in his book titled The Upanishads, Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, volume 12.
². While referring to the ancient texts, I have used the pronoun 'he' to refer the teacher, since instructors were usually men, and their wives, who were also revered as teachers, were in charge of the material care of the disciples.
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The emphasis on the truth and on righteousness in the Upanishads and their connection are similar to what we find in the Famous doctrine of Socrates, "Virtue is Knowledge". While virtue can be equated to ṛtaṃ, knowledge may be equated with satyaṃ. Some scholars even believe that the Socratic doctrine was derived from Upanishadic knowledge, but it is not in the scope of our discussion to enter into that debate. We are aware that in the Platonic system of education, education of the Guardian can be seen to emphasize both ṛtaṃ and satyaṃ. The Guardian is supposed to be the wisest, and therefore capable of guiding and controlling and also harmonising the entire society in order to secure the ends of justice. This concept of the guardian corresponds very well with the Vedic concept of kavikratu (RigVeda 1.1.5), of one who combines within oneself wisdom and the will which is guided by wisdom, one who has attained to ṛtaṃ and satyaṃ. According to Plato, the education of the guardian is supposed to be of the nature that leads one to the vision of the truth, beauty and goodness. The underlying idea is that, one who has the vision of the truth will voluntarily do the right thing. Right action will follow from the right knowledge. And this is precisely the idea of the Vedic concept of kavikratu, and in this idea, the two key principles of ṛtaṃ and satyaṃ are interrelated, — ṛtaṃ flowing automatically from satyaṃ. The entire Śikṣāvalli of the Taittiriya Upanishad is centred on the declaration of the teacher that he will teach the student what is righteousness and what is the truth.
It is also significant that towards the end of the Śikṣāvalli, when the educational process conducted by the teacher ends, the teacher declares and summarises the principles which should guide the life of the disciples: "Speak truth, walk in the way of thy duty, neglect not the study of Vedaˮ (Chapter Eleven). This is the climax of the educational process. In other words, the final fruit of educational process is presented in the ideal formulation of satyaṃ and ṛtaṃ are emphasised at the beginning of the process of education; they are also underlined in the final message.
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Chapters Two and Three: Contents of Knowledge
Next, let us take a look at the contents of knowledge which are given in the Taittiriya Upanishad.
The first lesson is devoted to mastery over speech. Indeed, sound, language and speech can be considered to be mysterious and inexplicable vehicles of communication. How sounds and words are able to convey a meaning that refers to an object or the truth of the object seems to be a mystery, and in modern times increasing attention is being paid to the importance of language and the study of linguistics has gained greater and greater significance in contemporary philosophical thought. Wittgenstein's theory of language, Chomsky's theory of language and similar other theories seem to acknowledge that objectivity of knowledge can be measured through language which is shared in common by a number of people. These theories constitute the evidence of the contemporary interest in the mystery of language. Philology has also gained prominence in recent decades. It may therefore not be surprising that both in the Vedas and the Upanishads, the study of language was given primary importance. The underlying idea was that, if well developed, a language would be found to consist of root sounds, which are not arbitrary but which are expressions of subjective apprehension of the truth. At a deeper level, sound or vāk was perceived as the cry of the soul and carried with it the apprehension of an objective truth. Language was therefore considered to be a vehicle of an expression of the spirit, and perfection in the pronunciation, in the tone, in the pitch, in chanting, was considered to be a part of sacredness of life and an expression of spirituality. It is for this reason that the very first lesson that has been described in the Taittiriya Upanishad refers to the speech. The teacher says, "We will expound Shiksha [education], the elements. Syllable and Accent, Pitch and Effort, Even Tone and Continuity; in these six we have declared
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the chapter of the elementsˮ (Chapter Two).
Next to the language, the Upanishads speaks of the main contents of knowledge. These are: "Concerning the Worlds:
Concerning the Shining Fires: Concerning the Knowledge: Concerning Progeny: Concerning Self ˮ (Chapter Three).
The teacher further explains these five but it must be acknowledged that the symbolic meanings of these five have been greatly lost. Let us, first of all, make a general exploration, based on our limited understanding, of the knowledge concerning the worlds.
Concerning the Worlds, we are told in chapter three itself that the "Earth is the first form, the heavens are the second form; ether is the linking; air is the joint of the linking.ˮ If these lines are to be taken in a purely literal form, it explains the fact that in the ancient Indian system of education a great emphasis was given to the study of astronomy. However, since we have accepted that the Vedas and the Upanishads have not only literal but psychological symbolisms, let us explore further.
The earth was understood to include all that is physical in character, and it included even the stars and suns and farthest galaxies and the totality of the physical universe' which was called Brahmānḍa. The sky or the heaven symbolised the principle of the mind and the mental world, since according to the Upanishadic knowledge, the physical world is not the sole existing reality. In fact, according to the Upanishadic system of knowledge, there are seven worlds, — the physical, the vital, the mental, the supramental, and three still higher worlds of bliss, consciousness, and ultimate essence. But the Upanishad, in the first place, begins with the knowledge of three worlds, the physical, the vital, and the mental, and while the word "heaven" refers to the mental world, the word "antariksaˮ or "ether" refers to the vital world, and which is intermediate between the physical and the mental and therefore it is called the world that links to other worlds.
In a subsequent chapter, chapter five, we find a further exposition of these three worlds, and here these three worlds
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have been designated as Bhur, Bhuvar, and Swar, which are, respectively, synonyms of prithvi, antarikṣa and dyau, or the physical, the vital, and the mental. In this fifth chapter, the Upanishad speaks of the fourth world, and points out that that fourth world was revealed by Rishi Mahachamasya, a great teacher of that time, and the fourth world was named Mahas. Hence, the Upanishad proposes the study of four worlds, — the physical, vital, mental and the supramental.
The discovery of Mahas or of the Supramental was also ascribed in the earlier Vedic period to a great Rishi named Ayasya. In the Rig Veda, in the seventh mandala and in the 76th sukta, it is pointed out that Ayasya discovered turiyam svid, the fourth plane, and that Ayasya became vishvajanya, universal in his being. According to the Vedic system of knowledge, the discovery and experience of turiyam svid, the fourth plane, which has been termed as Mahas in the Taittiriya Upanishad, is indispensable for attaining one of the highest levels of universal consciousness or cosmic consciousness. It is interesting that in our own times, the experience of cosmic consciousness is being recognised increasingly, and we find references to it in William James' Varieties of Religious Experience (2004, pp. 344-345) and in many other descriptions of spiritual experiences (Vide Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, pp. 21-22).
Apart from the knowledge of the four worlds, which was an important part of the contents of the curriculum of the Upanishadic system of education, there are several other subjects to which reference has been made in chapter three, namely, Shining Fires, Knowledge, Progeny, and the Self. The words "Shining Fires" seems to refer to three forms of fire, the fire that we see in the physical world, which is jaḍa agni, the fire that is blazing flame which imparts heat and light. The second form is that of electricity, vidyut agni and the third form is the solar fire, saura agni, the fire which is ignited in the sun by means of atomic fusion, as has been discovered in contemporary science.
As far as the word "Knowledge" is concerned, the Vedic
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and Upanishadic systems refer to jnāna, which is. knowledge by identity of the subject and the object (Isha Upanishad verse 7). To use the modern terminology, jnāna is the subject matter of epistemology, which discusses various modes of knowledge, namely, knowledge by description, knowledge by acquaintance or as in the epistemology of Sri Aurobindo, "knowledge by identity, a knowledge by intimate direct contact, a knowledge by separative direct contact, a wholly separative knowledge by indirect contact" (Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, p. 525). There is in the Vedic and Upanishadic literature, a good deal of reference to the theme of knowledge, and there are words like vidyā and avidyā or knowledge and ignorance, citti and acitti or consciousness and unconsciousness and samudra or the ocean of consciousness.
Next, the subject concerning progeny appears to have been greatly developed in the ancient Indian systems that govern the problems connected with the science of reproduction, care of the child in the womb and prenatal education, and transmission to the new generations the lessons learnt from the cultural experience of the past, and also studies that would enhance advancement of culture in the future.
Finally, the study of the self was considered the culmination of the curriculum. It is well known that the dictum "know thyself" was not merely the motto of the ancient Greek civilisation, but the message of that motto was greatly emphasised in the ancient Indian civilisation also. The Taittiriya Upanishad itself analyses different levels of self-consciousness {Brahmānandavalli, Chapters 1-5), and based on the knowledge of the relationship between Puruṣa consciousness (the consciousness which refers to originating consciousness, controlling consciousness and witnessing consciousness) and Prakrit! consciousness (the consciousness which tends to execute and accomplish the will and command of Puruṣa consciousness), it speaks of three levels of the lower self and two levels of the higher and highest consciousness of the self. The three lower levels of consciousness of the self are described as those
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of annamaya Puruṣa (Puruṣa consciousness that controls the physical consciousness), prāṇamaya Puruṣa (Puruṣa consciousness that controls the vital consciousness), and manomaya Puruṣa (Puruṣa consciousness that controls the mental consciousness). A transition needs to be made, according to the Taittiriya Upanishad, from the lower self to the higher self, and this transition is the main subject of the discipline that involves cultivation of truth-consciousness and consciousness of right action, (kavikratu). As a result, one is able to attain to the consciousness of vijnānamaya Puruṣa, the consciousness of the Puruṣa that governs Supramental consciousness. This is followed by the highest state of self-realisation, the realisation of the ānaṇdamaya Puruṣa, the description of which is to be found in the eighth chapter of the section titled Brahmānandavalli of the Taittiriya Upanishad.
In the remaining chapters of the Śikṣāvalli of the Taittiriya Upanishad (5-10), details have been expounded which reiterate the account of the three worlds of matter, life and mind, and of the fourth world, the Supramental or Mahas, or the Vast, and reveal the knowledge of the presence of the golden Immortal who is seated within the cave or inner heart. There is also an exposition of the meaning of the sacred syllable "OM" and a list of duties which include askesis, self-mastery, and the study and teaching of the knowledge contained in the Veda. The culminating point of the contents of knowledge is reached when the supreme status of consciousness is described in the words of Trishanku, a sage of the Upanishadic times. In the concluding portions, the Upanishad contains the commandments of the teacher to the disciples after the completion of the program of studies. The Upanishad ends with a prayer to Mitra, the cosmic being of harmony and others to whom prayer was offered at the beginning of the Upanishad.
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Chapter Four: The Aspiration of the Teacher
There is also an instructive statement describing the aspiration that should constantly be kept alive by the teacher. In this connection, the teacher is counselled to connect himself with "the bull of the hymns of the Vedaˮ, who symbolises the Supreme Reality. The teacher is also to aspire to immortality and for swiftness in all works in the body. Finally, the teacher aspires to share his knowledge with pupils, and prays for the coming of pupils to him from all quarters.
This important section concerning the teacher's aspiration, his prayer and his call to the pupils throws considerable light on the qualities which teachers of the Upanishadic times were , required to cultivate. The prayer of the teacher is stated as follows: "The bull of the hymns of Veda whose visible form is all this Universe, he above the Vedas who sprang from that which is deathless, may Indra increase unto me intellect for my strengthening. O God, may I become a vessel of immortality. May my body be swift to all works, may my tongue drop pure honey. May I hear vast and manifold lore with my ears. O Indra, thou art the sheath of the Eternal and the veil that the workings of brain have drawn over Him; preserve whole unto me the sacred lore that I have studiedˮ (Chapter Four).
As pointed out above, "the bull of the hymns of the Veda" refers to the Supreme Reality. According to the Vedic knowledge, the whole world or the universe originates from the Supreme Reality which is itself above the whole universe and which is also the stuff and form of the universe. Hence, the teacher has to understand the bull or the Supreme Reality of whom the whole universe is a visible form. This knowledge is facilitated by Indra, since Indra is supposed to be, as we said earlier, the lord of illumined intellect, or gomat, meaning, possessor of light.
The teacher says next: "O God, may I become a vessel of immortalityˮ To become one with the Supreme is the great task
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to be done by the teacher. In ancient India, teachership was not assigned to someone who has not aspired for this and who has not worked for it. It may be understood from these lines that for the purpose of education for spiritual development in ancient India, this was considered to be the qualification cut the teacher. The pupils contact with the teacher who is seated so high, who has aspired so high in his life was a part of spiritual education. Not merely through any scriptures.
Next the teacher prays, "May my body be swift to all worksˮ. It may be understood that immortality can only be attained when one accomplishes one's works and when works are; performed through the instrumentality of the body.
Next the teacher prays: "may my tongue drop pure honey.ˮ Honey is symbolic of the energy that flows from the bliss generated from the consciousness of the truth, the right and the vast (satyaṃ, ṛtaṃ, bṛhat). The cosmic being that symbolises the bliss of the Reality is named in the Veda, Soma, which is compared to the intoxicating wine of the realisation of the Supreme. The Vedic knowledge points out that when one reaches ;Soma or bliss, then one is able to manifest sweetness. One's tongue becomes sweet, one's relations become sweet, one's speech becomes sweet. And one can be considered truly sweet when one's whole being drips with sweetness.
The teacher further prays: "May I hear vast and manifold lore with my earsˮ. This prayer celebrates the faculty of inspiration through which vast and multisided knowledge is heard, just as the great poets in their state of inspiration seem to hear the words that are vibrant with knowledge and right expressions of the knowledge.
This entire prayer, which speaks of accomplishment of works, attainment of sweetness, and revelation through inspiration of the vast knowledge can be clearly seen as the composite result of a synthesis of yoga (that is, karma yoga or the yoga of works, jnāna yoga or the yoga of knowledge, and bhakti yoga or the yoga of love) or Integral yoga. The underlying message is that the teacher can arrive at the "Bull" when these three
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yogas are practiced in a synthetic manner and are united.
The teacher further addresses a prayer to Indra, who, as mentioned earlier, represents illumined mind and whose help is necessary for the attainment of the Eternal: "O Indra, thou art the sheath of the Eternal and the veil that the workings of brain have drawn over Him; preserve whole unto me the sacred lore that I have studied.ˮ
According to the Upanishadic teaching, the Eternal is one and is the unity of all manifestation. However, unity is not seen clearly because we are ruled by the brain. Our brain is actually engaged in multiplicity. And there is a veil drawn over our brain which can be uncovered only by Indra who is the keeper of the veil or the sheath. It is only when Indra takes away the veil that the totality and unity of the knowledge becomes attainable.
It is only when the teacher has been able to attain all this that he now invites the Brahmacharins, or the pupils. To invite pupils was considered a very responsible task and the teacher should possess the necessary qualifications of various attainments or at least the aspiration for the highest attainments. It is at this stage that the teacher addresses to the students and he invites them: "May the Brahmacharins come unto me. Swaha! From here and there may the Brahmacharins come unto me. Swaha! May the Brahmacharins set forth unto me. Swaha! May the Brahmacharins attain self-mastery. Swaha! May the Brahmacharins attain to peace of souls. Swaha!ˮ
It is only after the teacher has imparted the knowledge which he has to the students that he prays that he may become one with the Supreme Reality. He prays: "O Glorious Lord, into that which is thou may I enter. Swaha!ˮ It was understood that a good teacher is not allowed to enter into the Supreme unless he has paid the price of giving his knowledge to the pupils. Once he has done that, then he can enter into the Supreme.
There is a dialogue in the Rig Veda, between Indra and the sage Agastya which is very instructive. In this dialogue, Agastya aspires too impatiently to reach the Supreme Lord. It is at this point that Indra comes to stop him. Agastya complains, and says
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to Indra, that he being the power of pure Intelligence should help him in effecting the perfection towards which he is striving instead of obstructing him. But Indra says to Agastya, "Why, O brother Agastya, art thou my friend, yet softest thy thought beyond me?" (Rig Veda 1.170.3). He explains that he intends no obstruction to Agastya but being his friend and brother he wants to help him in achieving his goal, namely, the realisation of the Eternal. He points out to Agastya that he mistakenly believes that he can attain his goal only by thought powers (Maruts), but the object of his attainment can be facilitated only by the powers of the illumined mind, which is the special domain of Indra. He, therefore, invites Agastya to receive his help for the attainment of his goal. In giving this message to Agastya, Indra also counsels him that in his journey to the ultimate goal, he should share his thought powers so as to enrich humanity. This message also indicates that, according to the secret processes of expansion of faculties and attainment of the goal, one should not be centred on oneself but should impart the gains of one's efforts with pupils and with humanity. According to the colloquy between Indra and Agastya, on receiving the instruction from Indra, Agastya agrees to fulfil the message of Indra and to spread his knowledge with humanity. It was only then that Agastya was able to enter into unity with the Supreme Lord.
Reflections
What is given here is an extremely brief statement, but it will be seen that the Taittiriya Upanishad contains valuable insights into the ancient Indian system of education. As we reflect upon these insights, we may gain some useful hints from this ancient text, certain points which may be considered relevant to education for spiritual development in our own times.
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Introductory Remarks
1) The Relevance of the Upanishads
There are three reasons why the Taittiriya Upanishad is relevant to the purpose I have in view. Although the Vedas and Upanishads belong to a great antiquity, they have continued to influence various domains of Indian culture, and, when examined through the psychological and spiritual interpretation, they appear to be storehouses of knowledge concerning various domains, and in any case, to the domain of spiritual knowledge. Even when the Vedic knowledge came to be lost under the heavy burden of ritualism, Upanishads have continuously been looked upon right from the early stages of their growth and development as Books of Knowledge (jnāna kānda).
The living influence of the Upanishads can be evidenced by the fact that the greatest leaders of Indian renaissance have attempted to study the Upanishads and have declared their contemporary relevance to the needs of developing modern India, and particularly in developing a new system of education in India. The writings of Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo have underlined the importance of the Upanishads, and have even advocated the redesigning of contemporary Indian system of education in the light of the Upanishads.
The second reason of relevance is that Upanishads have made a clear distinction between religion with its emphasis on rituals, ceremonies and prescribed acts, on the one hand, and spirituality with its emphasis on the cultivation of psychological faculties through the science of yoga, on the other. The concepts, methods and goals advocated in the Upanishads are not based on any dogma but on the basis of repeatable and verifiable knowledge. This aspect of the Upanishads is extremely relevant to any educational researcher who seeks guidance from the past experiences, so that relevant insights can be found which can be applicable to the theme of education for spiritual development or education in spiritual values, which are not
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tied up with dogmatism and which can lift up proposals for the relevant education from the conflict of religions, which is a dominant factor in the contemporary pluralistic society.
The third point of relevance is that the Upanishads provide us not only with suggestions as to what should be the contents and themes of education, but they also indicate methods and practices of discipline which can be useful even today. They also underline the importance of atmosphere as well as the attitudes and qualities that teachers should possess. The relationship between the rishi and the brahmacharin has been so deeply imprinted in the Indian culture that there has been a constant effort and practice in India to resurrect that image, and therefore the study of that image is indispensable to the educational researcher of today who wants to serve the highest interests of educational innovations.
ii) Other Considerations or Contemporary Demands
There are two aspects in respect of which the model of the Upanishadic system of education may not seem to be applicable to the demands of our contemporary situation. This is not surprising, considering that the Upanishadic system was a very ancient system, and we cannot legitimately expect from that ancient system all that we need today. But even then, it may be said that our contemporary society is largely democratic, and the model of education that we are looking for needs to be relevant to education in democratic societies. But, apart from the democratic form of government, democracy implies also democratic way of life. Essentially, democratic way of life upholds individual freedom. In this context, it is to be emphasised, that in the Upanishadic age, freedom of thought and freedom of experimentation designed towards individual growth was greatly stressed, although, as in modern times, freedom, in order that it may not degenerate into injurious license, was subjected to the prescriptions of law of dharma.
Finally, it may be remarked that in the Vedic and the Upanishadic age, there was probably a general consensus in the
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society in respect of the acceptance of the system of education that we find depicted in the pages of the Upanishads. This consensus was a favourable condition in that ancient society for developing a common system of education.
iii) The Methods of Teaching and Learning
The methods of teaching and learning are not expounded in the Śikṣāvalli of the Taittiriya Upanishad, but there is another section in the same Upanishad which is entitled Bhṛguvalli in which we get some indication of the method of teaching and learning. This section deals with the dialogue between Bhrigu, and his father, Varuna. Bhrigu approaches his father as his pupil, and addresses his father as his teacher. The question concerns the Eternal. The teacher does not answer the question directly or in fullness. He pronounces a few words, which appear to be enigmatic, namely, "Food and Prāṇa and Eye and Ear and Mind.ˮ But he adds the following "Seek thou to know that from which these creatures are born, whereby being born they live and to which they go hence and enter again; for that is the Eternal.ˮ (Bhṛguvalli, Chapter One)
The method by which the pupil proceeds to find the answer is stated in the following words: "And Bhrigu concentrated himself in thought and by the askesis of his brooding he knew food for the Eternalˮ (Bhṛguvalli, Chapter One-two). Bhrigu reports to his teacher his finding and asks his teacher once again to teach him the Eternal. The teacher asks him to meditate again and explains that meditation or concentration in thought is itself the Eternal and that it is by concentration in thought that the knowledge of the Eternal can be attained. The pupil continues the process of concentration from stage to stage and he discovers, successively, that breath or life-force is the Eternal, that mind is the Eternal, that the supermind is the Eternal and that bliss is the Eternal. At the end of the culmination of his discovery, the teacher asks his pupil to pursue the Self which, when discovered to be the bliss, brings about the perfection and one attains to the very heart of immortality.
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The secret of learning lies in the power of concentration in thought. This secret of concentration was discovered and underlined in the Veda, and it can be seen in the celebrated prayer of Vishwamitra (a prominent sage of the Vedic period), which singles out the faculty of intelligence and of thought to be of supreme importance, and which enjoins that faculty of intelligence and thought to be concentrated on the highest Object of Knowledge, namely, the Sun, which symbolises the Supermind. This prayer of Vishwamitra is the famous Gayatri mantra, which reads as follows: "tat savitur vareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayaātˮ Or "We meditate on the supreme light of the Sun so that our intelligence is activated and directed by it.ˮ in fact, the entire science of yoga, which is found to be vastly expounded in the Veda, is based on the secret knowledge of the process of concentration and the methods by which concentration can be achieved on the object of knowledge in order that the contents, powers and states of knowledge concerning that object become manifest and can be possessed or realised by the seeker.
In a later exposition of yoga (Yoga Sutra), in that of Patanjali, the process of concentration which is identified with yoga, is defined as that state of consciousness in which all the vibrations of the stuff of consciousness attain to cessation (cittavṛ̣tti nirodhaḥ̣). In a still later development of the system of jnāna yoga (yoga of knowledge) the process of realisation of the Object of Knowledge consists of four steps: śravaṇa, hearing the word that discloses the Object of Knowledge, manana, cogitation and reflection on the Object of Knowledge, nididhyāsana, dwelling in concentration on the Object of Knowledge, and sākṣātkāra, realisation of the Object of Knowledge.
Indian literature on yoga has described various methods by which concentration can be attained. Speaking of the application of the powers of concentration in the processes of education, Swami Vivekananda once said that if he knew early enough the secret of concentration, he would have first attempted to master concentration rather than to read a number of books,
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since, by the employment of concentration, knowledge can be gained more easily and readily. In his book The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo lays central importance on concentration and speaks of four principal methods by which concentration can be attained, namely, meditation, contemplation, witnessing the passage of thoughts as they pass through the mind, and quieting and silencing the mind. There are also dynamic methods of meditation, in which the light of higher knowledge is introduced into lower states of consciousness and even of impulses and vibrations of desires, so that the latter can be enlightened and transformed.
An important point to be noted is that the process of concentration is a psychological process; it involves no rituals or ceremonies, and it is free from any doctrines of religion. Hence, the cultivation of the powers of concentration is independent of any religious activity necessitating faith, belief or religious prescriptions. Hence, the process of concentration can be scientifically experimented with, and if the Object of Knowledge on which concentration is employed is that which transcends the body, life and mind and is thus spiritual in character, the spiritual reality can be realised independent of any religious activity, purely by a process of concentration, ending in knowledge and illumination. It can be said that it is on account of the method of concentration which has been emphasised in the Upanishad as a process of education that today, when we are looking for methods of spiritual education, which are free from various prescriptions of religious practices, the relevance of the Upanishads becomes more direct.
iv) The Contents of Knowledge
There are, it seems, four important domains to which the educational system described in the Taittiriya Upanishad appear to refer prominently. First is the language; second is the universe including details of various worlds, and topics such as those of the principle of light and heat, the processes and ends of knowledge, generation and continuation of the human
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species, and the self; the third is the subject relating to immortality; and the fourth is the normative aspiration and conduct towards the ideals of the truth and righteousness. The goals of education are the attainment of self-realisation, and cultivation of the capacity for truth and righteousness which can lead to immortality, which requires the synthesis of the powers of harmony, vastness, and austerity through the instrumentality of the illumined mind and the power of the expression of the soul. The role of the teacher is accomplished when he has led the pupils to the discovery of the truth and righteousness and when he has been able to communicate to the pupil the essential principle of the Eternal and spoken to them of the Eternal and of the path to immortality. The teacher is expected to aspire to become himself a vessel of immortality and to attain to a state in which the honey of the highest delight is manifested.
The Vedic system of education aims at comprehending the entire universe of knowledge. It aims at the knowledge of the physical world (bhur), the vital world (bhuvar), and the mental world (swar); it also aims at covering the knowledge of the fourth world (mahas). Underlying these four worlds, the Upanishads affirms the knowledge of the Brahman, the Reality, which is at once transcendental and universal, and which is also the self of the individual. The Brahman is also described as the self of all the cosmic beings, the gods, who manifest as aspects of the universal consciousness. The Brahman is also described as Ānanda, the Supreme Bliss, — since Ānaṇda contains within itself the union of Cit (Consciousness Force), and Sat, the essential being. Taittiriya Upanishad gives a vivid description of ānaṇda in one of its chapters.
But based on the knowledge of these various domains, the Upanishad aims at the study of right action. It speaks of the teaching of Veda and this study is related to righteousness, truth, askesis, self-mastery, discovery of the soul and the peace of the soul, the secret of sacrifice and secret of all the duties related to oneself and the others, including the wife and children. The concluding portion of the Taittiriya Upanishad
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underlines the values of the truth and of right action and the duties in regard to welfare and relationships with the universe, society and the family. The question of conflict resolution is also addressed, and the Upanishad counsels that when there is a doubt in regard to the right course of action, one should be guided by those learned people who are "careful thinkers, devout, not moved by others, lovers of virtue, not severe or cruelˮ (Chapter Eleven).
The contents of knowledge seem to be derived from the discoveries which have been recorded in the Veda. The Vedic knowledge speaks of sevenfold reality. This sevenfold reality has been described variously, and we find references to seven rivers, seven-headed thought, and in a striking image, the reality is described as one having four horns and three feet (Rig Veda, IV.58.3). The Vedic knowledge is not confined to the knowledge of Matter alone; it speaks of the discovery of the three oceans of consciousness: the inconscient, conscient, and the superconscient (Vide Rig Veda, Fourth mandala, 58th sukta, 11th verse: "Dhāman te viśvam bhuvanam adhiśritam, antaḥ samudre hṛdyantar āyuṣiˮ or "the superconscient, the sea of the subconscient, the life of the living being between the twoˮ). The famous Nāsadīya sukta, which describes the development of the inconscient (described as darkness covered by darkness), and it traces the development of Matter, which is followed by the development of Life and Mind. Vishwamitra, one of the greatest sages of the Rig Veda, describes this process of development in the Rig Veda, Third mandala, first sukta, verses 2-14, and he traces the force of development from the working of the cosmic power of heat and light (agni), and he further explains how higher levels of consciousness can even transcend the limitations of the mind and enter into the manifestation of the Supermind. Considering that the process of evolution has only recently been expounded and confirmed in modern science since 1850 when Darwin in his book Origin of Species put forth the data concerning evolution, the Vedic description of the process of development seems truly astonishing. There
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are also several instances in the Vedic verses where one finds discoveries concerning the nature of physical fire, electrical fire and solar fire and their inner connections. In one of the verses attributed to Bharadwaja the speed of light has been described as the limit in terms of which all the physical speeds can be measured (Rig Veda, VI.6.6). The fact that knowledge of the physical world was vigorously pursued is underlined by the development of astronomy in India right from the Vedic times In fact, Vedic literature is normally appended by six bodies of knowledge, which are called vedangas, namely śikṣā (science of education), kalpa (which relates to the procedures and mathematics of the rituals and ceremonies of Vedic sacrifices) vyākaraṇa (a systematic body of knowledge of grammar connected with Vedic Sanskrit), nirukta (a systematic body of the vocabulary of Vedic terms and their etymology), chanda (which is a body of knowledge connected with Vedic prosody, science of meters which are to be found in Vedic poetry), jyotiṣa (which is connected with astronomy and astrology).
Apart from the vedangas, we find in the Vedic literature four other sciences and arts which have come to be known as upavedas. The Upaveda of Rig Veda is Ayurveda, the famous medical science of India; the upaveda of Yajurveda is Dhanurveda, the ancient science of archery and warfare; the upaveda of Samaveda is Gandharvaveda, the science and art of music; the upaveda of Atharvaveda is Arthaveda, which deals with social, economic and political systems. Arthaveda also deals with architecture and various arts.
That the Upanishadic system of education was fairly comprehensive is evidenced in a dialogue between Narada, the pupil and Sanatkumar, the teacher in Chāndogaya Upanishad, where Narada points out that in spite of his having knowledge of a number of sciences and texts related to vedas, vedangas, upavedas and several other systems of knowledge, he was still not free from sorrow and that he was in search of that knowledge by which sorrow can be removed. In the Upanishadic literature, we find a distinction made between knowledge and
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ignorance (vidyā and avidyā). In the Katha Upanishad, Yama, the teacher, expounds to Nachiketas, the pupil, in the following words:
"For far apart are these, opposite, divergent, the one that is known as the Ignorance and the other the Knowledge. But Nachiketas I deem truly desirous of the knowledge whom so many desirable things could not make to lust after them.
"They who dwell in the ignorance, within it, wise in their own wit and deeming themselves very learned, men bewildered are they who wander about stumbling round and round helplessly like blind men led by the blind.ˮ (First Cycle, Second Chapter, Verses 4-5).
In the Isha Upanishad, it is laid down that that man of knowledge should also have the knowledge of ignorance, for then only one can cross over the ocean of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance and attain to the supreme knowledge by which immortality is attained. The aim of the Vedic education was to prepare the pupil to pursue the paths of that spiritual attainment by which immortality is gained. And by immortality was meant not only the discovery of the immortal Spirit but also the widening and stabilisation of the physical consciousness in the awareness and consciousness of the immortal spirit.
It can thus be seen that the Vedic system of education was an integral system of education; it covered the pursuit of sciences and arts and possession of knowledge that was discovered in that ancient time, and it wove in various threads of studies the message of values of truth and the right and the knowledge and practice by means of which the immortal spirit can be discovered and ultimately realised through a life-long education.
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Bibliography
Jamès, W. (2004), Varieties of Religious Experience. New York:
Barnes & Noble Books.
Joshi, K. (2001), Glimpses of Vedic Literature. New Delhi:
Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan,
Sareen, S. K. and Paranjape, M. (eds) (2004), Sabda. Text and Interpretation in Indian Thought. New Delhi: Mantra Books.
Sri Aurobindo. (1970), The Life Divine. (Birth Centenary Edition ed.). (Vol. 18). Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust.
Sri Aurobindo. (1971), The Secret of the Veda. (Birth Centenary Edition ed.). (Vol. 10). Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust.
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Other monographs distributed by Auroville Press Publishers
which are part of the programme of publications for Value-oriented Education by Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER), Auroville
__________________________________________
Parvati's Tapasya
Nala and Damayanti
The Siege of Troy
Alexander theGreat
Homer and the Iliad — Sri Aurobindo and Ilion
Catherine the Great
Uniting Men -Jean Monnet
Gods and the World
Joan of Arc
The Crucifixion
Nachiketas
Socrates
Sri Krishna in Brindavan
Sri Rama The beloved and victorious Hero
Other titles published by SAIIER and Shubhra Ketu Foundation
________________________________
The Aim of Life
The Good Teacher and the Good Pupil
Mystery and Excellence of the Human Body
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Printed at Auroville Press
Auroville, TN
2009
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