The Chandogya Upanishad : CH-2, SEC-4. THE PRIMACY OF BEING-4.2., POST-2. Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Monday, November 02, 2020. 12:00.PM.

Chapter Two : Uddalaka's Teaching Concerning the Oneness of the Self -4.2

Section-4. Threefold Development - 2.

Post-2

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Yadagne rohitam rupam tejasas tadrupam yat cuklam tadapam yat krsnam tadannasya apagad agner agnitvam vacarambhanam vikaro namadheyam trini rupanityeva satyam.

Yad adityasya rohitam rupam tejasas tad rupam yat cuklam tadapam yat krsnam, tadannasya apagad adityasya adityatvam vacarambhanam vikaro namadheyam trini rupanityeva satyam.

Yat candramaso rohitam rupam tejasas tad rupam yat cuklam tadapam yat krsnam tad annasya apagad candrat candratvam vacarambhanam vikaro namadheyam trini rupani ityeva satyam.

Yad vidyuto rohitam rupam tejasas tad rupam, yat cuklam tad apam yat krsnam tad annasya apagad vidyuto vidyuttvam vacarambhanam vikaro namadheyam, trini rupanityeva satyam.

Every object in creation has been reduced to its constituents, and it has been discovered that there is nothing in an object except its constituents. This is a law that can apply to every object, whatever its character be. The difference in the contour or the shape of the object is not very important. What is important is the nature of the substance out of which it is formed. You know very well that from the point of view of shape, a walking stick is different from a table, but from the point of view of the substance, both of them are made of the same wood. So, the knowledge of the walking stick would imply the knowledge of the table also, irrespective of their differences structurally. In a similar manner, the rule can be applied to everything in the world, and the Upanishad points out to us that all things in the world are permutations and combinations of the original untriplicated elements—fire, water and earth. The redness in the sun, says the Upanishad, is a vibration that is emitted from the fire that is in the sun. The whiteness that dazzles us is due to the water principle, and the darkness there is due to the earth principle. So is the case with the moon, so is the case with the lightning, and so is the case with every other object.

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The colours mentioned here are not the colours as we understand them in our ordinary language. A colour is a capacity which is present in something structurally, which emits certain vibrations causing a perception of a kind of colour in its body. So the colour is only a reaction that is set up in the process of perception. This reaction is caused by the nature of the object that is inherent in the thing, which actuates the perceiving eye to recognise it in the form of the colour that we appreciate. So is the case with the redness and the whiteness or the blackness that the Upanishad speaks of in respect of objects. They are not merely abstract qualities, but are substances in essentiality, and the Upanishad is trying to analyse the substance of an object and is not merely giving information on colour in the way we understand it in the world. The redness in the sun referred to here is something substantially present in the sun. It is the body or the orb of the sun partially, and if it looks red to us it does not mean that it has a character of redness apart from the substance that it is. It is the substance itself that is presented before our eyes in the form which we interpret as redness. So, the colour of an object is not something different from the object, as it is the way in which the object sets up vibratory reaction in respect of the perceiving apparatus. What the Upanishad points out is that the three colours that we see in objects are really the threefold presence of the elements-fire, water and earth-so that if these elements are to be withdrawn from the object, there will be no object left at all. If you really know the wood that is in a table, there would be no table. And so is the case with any other complex substance which is in turn constituted of particulars, and if every particular element within it is withdrawn, the object is no more there. This is the case with every object in this world. We are under the impression that there are millions of things in this world; many things, uncountable, we think, is the number of the objects of the world. What is the importance of this countlessness? They are all but various dimensions of one single mass of triplicated elements and, because of the difference in the dimensions and the proportion of the mixing of the elements, we mistake one object to be something different from the other. Essentially they are the same. The difference of the object is notional; it is not physical. Physically, substantially, essentially or basically, they are identical. But we are unable to perceive this basic essence on account of our weddedness to the complexity of perception and our belief in the externality of things. The otherness in the object is the cause of our belief in the diversity of things. We have separated ourselves as perceivers, separating ourselves from the atmosphere of the object.

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To be continued ....

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