The Chandogya Upanishad : CH-2, SEC-1. POST-1. Swami Krishnananda

Sunday, June 28, 2020. 8:38. AM.

Chapter Two: Uddalaka's Teaching Concerning the Oneness of the Self

SECTION 1: PRELIMINARY

Mantram-1.

Aum, svetaketur ha’runeya asa, tam ha pitovaca :

"Svetaketo, vasa brahmacaryam, na vai, saumya,

asmat-kulino’ nanucya brahma-bandhuriva bhavatiti."

There was a great sage called Uddalaka, the son of Aruni. He had only one boy, his son by name Svetaketu. For some reason or the other the father was not in a position to school him, teach him personally or give him instruction. The boy was loitering, running about here and there with children of the neighbourhood, and never knew what study was; what learning was; what education was. 

The father, one day, called the boy and said : 

"My dear son, in our family nobody is a Brahmin merely by name. He has to be worth his name, which means to say that he has to be filled with the real knowledge of the Brahmin, and we should not call ourselves so, merely by name in the social sense. You are here a relative of a great man; you need to be a great person. You should not just be in a position to say, "I am the friend of so-and-so, I am the son of such-and-such a father." 

You should also be equal inside. So, you must go to a gurukula and study, and then come back.

" Aum svetaketur ha'runeya asa, tam ha pitovaca: svetaketo, vasa brahmacaryam : "Be a student." Here, brahmacharya means the role of a student in a gurukula. 

Na vai, saumya, asmat-kulino' nanucya brahma-bandhur iva bhavatiti.

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Mantram-2.

 "Sa ha dvadasa-varsa upetya caturvimsati varsah,

sarvan vedan adhitya mahamana anucana-mani." 

The boy was sent. The boy went to a gurukula for study and he underwent the whole course of education. He was twelve years old when he went from the house of the father. When he returned after education he was twenty-four years old. So, he studied for twelve years. He studied all the Vedas, all the Shastras, all the scriptures, and there was practically nothing religious which he had not learnt. 

Now, this learning had some other effect also, that of swelling up the head of this boy with an immense pride. He began to feel that nobody was equal to him in learning; that he knew all things, was almost omniscient. 

So, when he came, at the age of twenty-four, to the father at home, he would not speak because of the learning that was in his head. He was very dignified looking and sat without uttering a word even to the father. He started behaving very conceitedly. He did not utter one word because of the so-called depth of his knowledge. 

The father observed what had happened to his son. He does not speak; he sits arrogantly; he is very proud; he is puffed up with learning and he thinks he knows everything. It is very strange indeed. 

So, having observed this, the father calls the boy one day and says: 

"You don't speak, you seem to be very learned and you put up a very arrogant appearance; I can't understand what it means. Have you learnt everything from your Guru, which makes you feel that you know everything and are now so full of pride? Do you know everything, have you studied everything?"

To be continued ...

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