The Chhandogya Upanishad - CH-2, SEC-8, POST-5. Swami Krishnananda.
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Monday, April 19, 2021. 10:49. AM.
Chapter Two: Uddalaka's Teaching Concerning the Oneness of the Self
SECTION 8: CONCERNING SLEEP, HUNGER, THIRST AND DYING-5.
POST-5.
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The whole difficulty is to locate where that Self is. Is It inside or outside, is It in me or in you, or is It somewhere else? This is a point which will be discussed in the next chapter of this Upanishad. This movement of the world and the tendency of things to move, the whole process of the absorption of the effect into the cause, is ultimately an indication that everything is pulled by the Self towards Itself. The subtlest of all things is the Being, pure and simple, and this Being which we call Sat is also the Atman of all things. There is a hint given here as to where the Self is, though it is not pointedly explained as to where It is. You have already been told as to where Being is, and now the Being is identified with the Atman, the Self. So naturally where Being is, there Self also has to be. And we have already said that the Sat, the pure Being, is the Sattasamanya, and therefore, it must be everywhere. So the Self is everywhere. Now, where is it that you are going when you are pulled by the Self towards Itself? What is it that pulls you, which object? Everything pulls you from every side. So it is not an entry of one thing into another thing, not even of the individual into the cosmic. It is not anything internal in an empirical sense, internal in the sense of something being inside another thing physically. It is a metaphysical internality, a spiritual internality, inconceivable by the mind. It cannot be calculated in a mathematical way as if something is contained in something else; not at all. It is the Self of all things in a novel manner, impossible to describe in words, and it is this universal Selfhood which is the cause of all things and towards which everything is moving.
Sa ya esho'nima aitad atmyam-idam sarvam, tat satyam, sa atma: tat-tvam-asi, svetaketo, iti; bhuya eva ma, bhagavan, vijnapayatv-iti, tatha, saumya, iti hovaca.
"O Svetaketu, my dear boy! You cannot be separated from That; you cannot stand outside this Being. As everything has come from that, you too have come from That. By the triplicated process of the elements your body has been formed, and everything that you are individually is a shape taken by that Being through the triplication of the three elements. So what you call 'yourself' or 'myself' or anything, refers to the Self and is a shape or form taken by the Being, and these shapes in turn cannot stand outside the Being. That is the Self of all Beings, and therefore, naturally you too are that. You cannot stand outside it, or external to it, or different from it. That is your Self; you yourself are That. O Svetaketu, the great conclusion to which you come by the analysis of the three elements is the existence of pure Being as the background of all that exists." So says Uddalaka.
Bhuya eva ma, bhagavan, vijnapayatv-iti: "This is something very difficult to understand," says Svetaketu. "These are things that I have not heard of from my preceptors earlier, and I require further instruction in greater detail about this Being, regarding which you have instructed me just now. You have startled me by saying that I am one with Being. It is more difficult to understand when you say that this Being includes other beings also which you call different objects of creation. You have merged me with other objects, and taken me into this Being, as everything is put together in a menstruum, as it were, and melted into a pot where all beings have become one. I require further explanation. How is it that everything becomes one in Being, and what type of Being is this where we all go and become united? What is this process of unification? How do all beings get together and melt, as it were, into this Being when they reach It?" The following sections contain Uddalaka's further explanation.
End.
NEXT- Chapter - 9.The Indwelling Spirit
To be continued ...
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